After two years of restrictions due to the spread of the lethal covid-19 virus, Holy Week 2022 will once again have the characteristics of previous years, so in this total opening of recreational activities the southern region of the country has a diversity of natural attractions to offer visitors.
From San Cristóbal to Pedernales, the catalog of ecosystems ranges from beaches, waterfalls, forests, caves, and hiking for those who enjoy mountain tourism.
San Cristóbal has a diversity of options: the Ecological Park of Nigua; the Valley of God, located in the National Park Montaña La Humeadora, between the municipalities of Los Cacaos and Villa Altagracia; the Anthropological Reserve Cuevas del Pomier, a group of 55 caves that keep cave paintings; the colonial sugar mill Diego Caballero, located in Nigua; and for those who prefer a dip in the sea, nothing more attractive than the Palenque beach.
In the province of Peravia are the dunes of Baní, a spectacular desert landscape, the beaches of Punta Salina, Las Salinas, and Nizao, and the Las Yayas waterfall, for those who prefer hiking culminating with a cold fresh water bath.
San José de Ocoa, a province located in the heart of the Central Mountain Range, offers visitors a real ecotourism route. Among its attractions are the Nizao River and its chain of spas, and several agrotourism trails such as Los Martínez, the coffee route in Arroyo Prieto, Maoma and the Tesoro de Guayacán route.
In Azua there are more than 80 kilometers of coastline distributed along the beaches of Monte Río, Las Caobitas, Caracoles, Palmar de Ocoa, Caney, La Uvita and Los Negros.
This province has six protected areas: Loma 20 Forest Reserve, Barreno Forest Reserve, Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó National Park, Hatillo Forest Reserve, Manglares de Puerto Viejo Wildlife Refuge and Sierra Martín García National Park.
Barahona and Pedernales
The Caribbean coast, in the long stretch between Barahona and Pedernales, offers a variety of options to visitors.
Barahona has the well-known beaches of Los Patos, San Rafael (where the river of the same name flows), El Quemaito, La Saladilla and La Ciénaga. But in this town there is not only sand and sea. In the mountainous heights there are places of spectacular beauty such as Polo, or El Cachote, a virgin cloud forest, with low temperatures, and a flora of extraordinary beauty.
In Pedernales, the most iconic spot is Bahía de las Águilas, a protected area whose turquoise blue sea dazzles everyone who dives into its warm waters.
Other attractions of the province are El Hoyo de Pelempito, located in the Sierra de Baoruco, a vast mountainous area that is also a protected area for the importance of its flora and fauna; also the Oviedo Lagoon, and the Jaragua Park.
Contrasts in Bahoruco
This province abounds in contrasts worthy of being seen and enjoyed, from Lake Enriquillo, a body of water of 300 square kilometers, to the Natural Monument Balneario Las Marías, the coffee and wine routes, or Las Caritas, a place nestled on the side of a mountain that maintains the vestiges of pre-Columbian rock art.
