Our complete exchange rate tool can be found here

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Phone Calls | Inexpensive Calling Cards | Telephone Service | Text a Cell Phone | Loteria Nacional/ National Lottery numbers | Pre Paid Master Card | Postal Zip Codes and services in Santo Domingo | Descriptions of the Dominican Republic peso/ Peso de Oro | What Will It Cost Me? | Time (Eastern Standard Time) | Exchange Rate |

To call a Dominican Republic telephone number from United States is the same as calling any US number. There is no International code. The area code for Dominican Republic is  809 and 829. So when You call dial

1 + 809 (or 829) + the 7 digit number.

It is the same when calling to USA from Dominican Republic. Just dial as you would if you were in USA.

1 + Area Code + the 7 digit number.

I have found to be one of the best and easiest to use calling cards to call Dominican Republic. They have many different options to chose from, including a card that charges by the second (this is the one I use personally). This way you get charged for exactly what you talk. There are no connection fees or monthly charger either. I have been very happy with their service and prices. Just order on line. Sometimes you have to call and verify that it was you that ordered the card for your security. They send all the information to your email. Within minutes you can be making a call using your new calling card. The prices and service are great. The card can be used to call anywhere, not only Dominican Republic. You can buy a card where you need to dial a pin number or you can get a pin free card. I highly recommend Nobel cards.

The telephone/ Communications in Dominican Republic are fairly reliable. There is basic home telephone service, internet and cell phone services. Many of the out laying areas do not have land lines and cell phone service is sporadic. In the cities there is usually no problem with service. Home telephone service can be expensive. There are different services from paying for each call to having unlimited local calling. This is why most people have cell phones and most of these are the pre paid kind. Here one must remember: when calling a cell phone from a home phone there is a charge on the home phone to make this call. this is why many pay phones will not let you call a cell phone. When calling a cell phone from a land line you must dial 1 before the number.

The phone companies in Dominican Republic:   Codetel, Tricom, Orange ,Onemax and Viva

Claro.com  (was Verizon and also CODETEL) |

Tricom Text message free | Viva Text message free

Use the telephone on the left and send a text massage to any Claro / Codetel (used to be Verizon) cellphone / celular  directly. Type in the number (no dashes), type your message(max. 150 characters). Click enviar (send). A little window will pop up so you can enter a security number they provide. then hit the button "enviar mensaje". That's it. Your message is on its way.

The Postal Service is not very reliable in Dominican Republic. You can mail post cards and letters without much problems but important things it is best to send in a more secure manner. We suggest, if you do want to receive mail from other countries to get a Post Box. There are companies ( PO Box International, CPS-Continental, Jet Pac...etc.) where you can rent a box and they are independent from the government mail service. In the USA they give you a mail box address in Miami or some other area. Then your mail is sent there. Then they bring it to Dominican Republic. For links to these services go to our links page here. These private services are faster, more reliable and much more secure.

For Zip Codes in Santo Domingo / Código Postal Dominicano Santo Domingo

El Instituto Postal Dominicano (INPOSDOM) / Dominican Republican Post website

If you are sending post cards while on vacation most gift shops sell stamps and will take care of mailing the card. The post office in Colonial Zone is on Calle Isabel la Catolica across from Colon Park inside the Palacio de Borgellá (see map)

Shown here are the daily lottery numbers from LEIDSA (Loteria Electronica Internacional Dominicana, S.A). These are updated as soon as they happen so check back and good luck!

There is also a National Lottery (Lotería Nacional República Dominicana). To check those numbers visit their page.

We will put some of the average costs of items. We will change them periodically as we get new information. This will give you an idea of the price of goods, supplies and services in Dominican Republic. The prices listed are in Dominican Pesos (DOP). Use the Exchange rate below find the price in your money.

Prices (average) as of March 2008 (in pesos)

Pinto beans per pound- $36, rice per pound- $18, cooking oil - $45, chicken, 1 pound- $32, eggs, 30 count- $90, can tuna- $25, Gouda cheese- $160, corn flakes, 18oz.- $125, Powdered milk, large can- $650, a liter of milk - $50, pack of Marlboro Cigarettes - $100

Taxi from SDQ (Santo Domingo Airport to Santo Domingo is around $30 to $40 USD. Taxi within Santo Domingo - $120 to $150 pesos before 11PM after 11 all depends. Public car locally in Santo Domingo - $15 pesos (3/09)

This is a great tool for finding the exchange rate in Dominican Republic and almost any other country you might want to travel to. All you need to do is enter the amount of money and where its coming from.

Dominican Republic is is the DOP

(Dominican Republic Peso).

The time in Dominican Republic is Eastern Standard Time (EST). The same as New York and Miami in the Eastern United States. The country did try using the Daylight Savings Time change but it did not work out well so they decided not to change the clocks like the North Americans. This means that when the states in North America change their clocks Dominican Republic does not. Thus making for an hour time difference during this time change.

Dominican Republic is located between latitude 17°  40' and 19°  56' North and longitude 68°  20' and 72°01' West of the Greenwich Meridian (GMT -4). So this means if you are using Greenwich time Dominican Republic time would be minus 4 hours (UTC/GMT -4 hours)

for more detailed information in Spanish go to the Banco Central web site.

Be safe when you travel. I highly recommend getting a pre paid Credit Card when traveling. This way if your card is lost or stolen no one can get into your real accounts and wipe you out.

You can deposit whatever amount or

money you want and use it as you

would any credit or debit card..

Locations of Bancas (note: the place you play numbers of bet is a banca, where you store your money is a banko) places where you can purchase your lottery ticket in the Colonial Zone go to our gambling page. Remember that some places sell both types of lottery tickets and some places only sell either the National or International.