Colonial Zone, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Important Stuff

Travel and Vacation in Dominican Republic

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The Postal Service is not very reliable in Dominican Republic. You can mail post cards and letters without many 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

Zip codes in all the other regions of Dominican Republic / Código Postal Dominicano Regiones

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)

Loteria Nacional y Internacional/ The Dominican Republic National Lottery.

LEIDSA (Lotería Electronica Internacional Dominicana, S.A.(LEIDSA)/ Dominican International Electronic Lottery). They started operations November 1977. Some of the games offered now are Lotto, Palé, Loteria Nacional, Loto Pool, and many others. Their web site has all the updates and past numbers as well. ¡Buenas Suerte!

What Will It Cost Me?

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)

660 grams of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes $110 pesos, 160 grams of Brunswick Sardines $38 pesos, 18oz Kraft BBQ Sauce $71 pesos on sale, 10 lbs Select Rice $219 pesos on sale, 26.5oz Del Monte Spaghetti Sauce $65 pesos on sale, 64 oz Welches Juice $129 pesos on sale, Marlboro Cigarettes 20 in pack $110pesos, 45 grams Gillette Speed Stick Deodorant $95 pesos on sale, 125ml Colgate Toothpaste $80 pesos on sale - $50, 12oz Presidente beer in a Colmado $50 to $60 (as of March 2011 (in pesos).

Fuel Prices

Gas prices in Dominican Republic April 2011

Premium USD $5.70 / RD $ 214.20, Regular USD $5.37 / RD $ 201.90

using the exchange rate of $37.55 usd to $1 rdp

Check the Colonial Zone News Blog for updates on the prices and more information about the Dominican Republic

Taxi from SDQ (Santo Domingo Airport to Santo Domingo is around $30 to $40 USD. Taxi within Santo Domingo - $150 to $180 pesos before 11PM after 11 all depends. Public car locally in Santo Domingo - $20 pesos (3/09)

Exchange Rate

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. I am offering two different exchange rate companies to check the rates as each are a little different sometimes.

Gracias a coinmill.com

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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)

Descriptions of the Dominican Republic peso (DOP) / Peso de Oro (pictures of the money - opens in a new window).

Paper Money- All the peso notes in Dominican Republic have a thin plastic strip holding identification numbers inside to help prevent forgery. They also have the hidden image that can be seen when held at a 45-degree angle with the letters BCRD (Banco Central República Dominicana). All the notes, except for the $20 peso note, have a special watermark of Juan Pablo Duarte, the countries founding father. They also have the notes denomination on the bottom right corner raised for the blind.

$20 pesos: Picture of Gregorio Luperón on the front. The Panteón Nacional on the back. This is the first bill made of plastic. They are planning on making more in plastic as well.

$50 pesos: Picture of The Catedral Metropolitana Santa María de la Encarnación, the first church in the Americas, on the front. The Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia on the back.

$100 pesos: Pictures of the founding fathers / Padres de la Patria, Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Matías Ramón Mella on the front. A picture of the Puerta del Conde on the back.

$200 pesos: Picture of the Hermanas Mirabal; Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa, on the front. The monument dedicated to them on the back. This, the newest bill, was created in 2007.

$500 pesos: Pictures of Salomé Ureña de Henríquez and Pedro Henríquez Ureña on the front. A picture of Banco Central de la República Dominicana on the back.

$1000 pesos: Picture of the Palacio Nacional and the back has the Alcázar de Don Diego Colón.

$2000 pesos: Pictures of José Reyes and Emilio Prud'Homme, the writers of the Himno Nacional. The back a picture of the Teatro Nacional.

Coins - All coins have the Coat of Arms/ Escudo Nacional on the back

$1 peso: Picture of the Padre de la Patria, Juan Pablo Duarte.

$5 pesos: The face of Francisco del Rosario Sánchez.

$10 pesos: The face of Matías Ramón Mella.

$25 pesos: The face of the hero of the restoration, Gregorio Luperón.

More detailed information in Spanish go to the Banco Central web site. They have not updated their information since 2008.

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..

100% Guaranteed Approval Debit MasterCard

MEDEX - Travel Medical Insurance from $1.22 per day.

Want to travel more and spend less? Try home exchange for your next vacation. 20,000+ Worldwide Listings.

The National Lottery /Lotería Nacional República Dominicana has the games Sorteo Diario and Soreto de Billetes. To check those numbers visit their page. The monies gained from this lottery helps many different social programs throughout Dominican Republic. You may see people walking the streets announcing they are selling lottery tickets or billetes. These are usually the Loteria Nacional.

Loteka Dominican Republic lottery has Mega Lotto, Mega Líneas, Mega Palé, and a Loteria Nacional. It can be played in many locations throughout the country including stores and Colmados.

Loto Real has the Super Loto, Loto Real, Quiniela Real, Super Palé Real, Pega 4 Real and more.

Here in Dominican Republic we use the Metric System of Measurement as does most of the world. Here are some basic conversions that might be helpful

1 Foot (ft) = 0.3048 meter (m)

1 acre = 0.4047 hectare

1 gallon = 3.785 Leters (1000 cm 3)

1 mile per hour (US Statute) = 1.609347 kilometer per hour (km)

1 inch (in) = 25.4 millimeter (mm) , 2.54 centimeter (cm), 0.0254 meter (m)

1 gallon (gal) = 4.546 liter

32° degree Fahrenheit (F) = 0° degree Celsius or 212°F = 100°C

to change from ° F to ° C take the degree F minus 32 ÷ by 1.8

To change from ° C to ° F take the degree C x by 1.8 + 32

Even though the main type of measurement here is in meters they do use pounds and gallons in most businesses.