Las Terrenas

Las Terrenas was founded in 1946, when Trujillo ordered poor residents of Santo Domingo to resettle on the north shore of the Samaná peninsula as farmers and fishermen. For decades it remained a small fishing village cut off from the rest of the country: the track to Sánchez was often impassable and was paved only in 1989, and reaching the village was an adventure.

French settlers were part of the community from its early years, and the town's name is said to come from the French la terrienne, the landowner. As the beaches became known, Europeans — mostly Spanish, Italian, French and German — became its most frequent visitors, in 1977 an American became the first foreigner to build a private home there, and the old fishermen's cabins on the beach were gradually turned into bars, restaurants and shops.

Two projects transformed access. Samaná El Catey International Airport opened in 2006 near Sánchez, and in 2012 the motorway from Santo Domingo to the peninsula was completed, cutting the drive from the capital to Las Terrenas to about two hours. Since then hotels, clubs, restaurants and shopping centres have kept being built, and the population has grown quickly.

Las Terrenas has a strong foreign presence. Its French community, sometimes called les Terrestres, has been there since the town's beginnings and is among the most influential in it, and French is the town's second language. Spanish, Italian and German visitors add to the mix, and foreigners settling in the area account for much of the town's recent growth.

The Dominican fishing village survives alongside them. Fishing boats still line the main beach, the fish market and beach fish restaurants sit by the cemetery on the point, and the Pueblo de los Pescadores is named after the fishermen who once made up most of its people. Inland, the downtown thoroughfares are busy and very noisy.

The sea shapes local life. Playa Bonita is among the country's best surfing spots, divers and snorkellers explore the reefs offshore, and the forested hills inland lead to El Limón waterfall, where a local ecotourism cooperative charges entry.

The municipality of Las Terrenas had about 25,700 people at the 2022 census, split almost evenly between the town and the countryside, and its population has grown by more than 85 per cent since 2002, much of it from foreigners settling in the area. Tourism, commerce and fishing are the main economic activities.

The town runs along two main roads that stretch inland from the beach, one-way near the sea, with the tourist businesses in the triangle where they meet the coast road and the more Dominican downtown further inland. Motoconchos fill the streets, and the downtown thoroughfares are noisy for much of the day.

Infrastructure has followed the growth: electricity reached the town only in 1994, a fibre-optic internet, television and telephone network arrived in 2012 and a new aqueduct in 2013, though parts of town still have frequent power and water cuts, and tap water is not considered drinkable. The high season runs roughly from December to March, and May to October is the low season.

Seafood is the centre of the table. Fishing boats line the main beach, the fish market sits on the point, and the beach restaurants serve pescado con coco — a whole fish in a coconut-milk sauce, one of the local specialities. Tostones, fried green plantain, are a common Dominican side.

The European community has added its own layer, with pizzerias and restaurants along the beach, while barbecue stands and small cafés in the inland downtown serve cheaper food and freshly made fruit juice, and empanadas and chimichurris, Dominican burgers, are sold for less there than near the beach. Samaná province is the country's main coconut producer, and dulce de coco, coconut fudge, is a common Dominican sweet.

In the Dominican downtown, comedores serve la bandera — white rice, red beans and stewed meat — and mangú, mashed green plantain, for breakfast. Presidente beer and rum, the country's most popular drinks, are served in the beach-hut bars around the western point.