Sosúa

In the early 20th century Sosúa was banana country. The United Fruit Company kept a workers' settlement, a batey, here — the origin of the name El Batey — and a private railway carried bananas from the plantations down to a small port built on the beach for export to the United States.

In 1938 Trujillo bought the whole property to house Jewish refugees. At the Évian Conference he had offered to take up to 100,000 of them; in the event about 800 German and Austrian Jews fleeing Nazi Germany received Dominican visas between 1940 and 1945 and settled in Sosúa, under an agreement with Jewish businessmen in New York. The government gave them land and resources, and after failed attempts at several crops they turned to dairy farming and meat, founding a food factory and company, Productos Sosúa. Many later moved on to the United States, but descendants still live in the town, among them a former mayor, Ilana Neumann.

Tourism arrived with the rise of the Puerto Plata coast in the 1980s and turned the quiet farming settlement into a resort. In the late 1990s and 2000s the town also became known as a destination for sex tourists from Europe and North America. In January 2026 the local government announced RD$50 million for renovating the Jewish museum and its synagogue, and in August 2026 President Luis Abinader announced plans for a new museum building.

Sosúa's identity is a mixture. The refugee settlers left the town its synagogue, its museum and its dairy and meat industry, and descendants remain an important part of the community, although it has grown small: an officiant leads Shabbat services about once a month. El Batey, where they lived, is now the tourist quarter, with expatriate bars and restaurants run by residents from Europe and North America.

Los Charamicos, at the other end of the beach, is the Dominican side of town, known for its nightlife, bars and dancing. Nightlife is a large part of the town's reputation, and the bar strip along Pedro Clisante street, with its discos and clubs, is busy most evenings.

By day life turns to the bay. The sheltered water and coral reefs have made Sosúa a diving and snorkelling centre, and the main beach, with its line of food and souvenir shacks, is where residents and visitors alike come to swim.

The municipality of Sosúa had about 57,000 people at the 2022 census, most of them living outside the town in rural areas; the urban population was about 16,600. The town has three parts: El Batey, the tourist quarter on the east side of the beach; Los Charamicos, the crowded local barrio on the west; and Sosúa Abajo to the north towards the airport, where many hotel workers live.

Tourism dominates the economy, alongside the dairy and meat production introduced by the refugee settlers, which is still an important driver of the local economy. Many people commute along the coast to jobs in Cabarete's beach hotels and the Playa Dorada resorts near Puerto Plata, and Gregorio Luperón International Airport lies inside the municipality.

Daily life follows the coast highway, where guaguas and motoconchos carry people between towns. Sosúa remains a destination for sex tourism, although an effort to crack down on it from the late 2000s brought a decline.

Sosúa eats like the rest of the north coast, with a European twist. On the beach, the shacks behind the sand sell food and cold drinks, Presidente beer among them. In Los Charamicos comedores serve la bandera — rice, red beans, stewed meat and salad — and the Cibao favourites, mangú with fried cheese, salami and eggs, and chicharrón.

The refugee settlers' legacy is in the dairy and meat products: Productos Sosúa, the company the settlers founded, gave the town its dairy and meat industry, which remains important today. In El Batey, restaurants run by long-settled foreigners cook for visitors and expatriates, and Pedro Clisante street has bars serving everything from fish and chips to tapas.

Beer and rum, often in mixed drinks, are the drinks of the beach bars, and fresh fruit is sold from small fruit stores in town. Restaurants in town also serve German, Italian and English food alongside Dominican cooking.