Budget/Backpacker Travel Guide: Santo Domingo
Experience authentic local culture on a shoestring budget with hostels, street food, and public transport
Daily Budget: 1850-4700 Dominican pesos ($32-82) per day
Complete breakdown of costs for budget/backpacker travel in Santo Domingo
Accommodation
800-2000 Dominican pesos ($14-35) per night
Dormitory beds in well-established hostels near the Zona Colonial or simple, family-run guesthouses a short walk from the Malecón waterfront. Rooms are basic. Fans push humid air. Mattresses yield. They put you right in the thick of the city's rhythm.
Browse budget/backpacker accommodation →Food & Dining
600-1500 Dominican pesos ($10-26) per day
Breakfast of strong, bitter coffee with milk and a pastry from a panadería, lunch from a comida criolla stall where the scent of stewed meat and rice fills the street, dinner of crispy chicharrón or a heaping plate of mofongo. Street-side empanadas and fresh tropical fruit from Mercado Nuevo round out meals.
Transportation
150-400 Dominican pesos ($2.50-7) per day
Clattering public guaguas for longer trips, hopping on and off conchos for cross-town journeys, and walking the shaded, uneven cobblestones of the Colonial Zone. The occasional Uber for a late-night return when the shared vans have thinned out.
Activities
300-800 Dominican pesos ($5-14) per day
Wandering the echoing, sun-baked halls of the Alcázar de Colón, listening to merengue spill from open doorways in the late afternoon, people-watching in Parque Colón under the watchful gaze of the cathedral. The occasional admission fee for a major museum or a stroll across the noisy, motorized chaos of the Puente del Ozama.
Currency: $ Dominican Peso (DOP); US dollars are widely accepted in tourist areas, but you'll get better value paying in local currency for daily expenses.
Money-Saving Tips
Eat at the small, steaming food counters inside Mercado Nuevo instead of the sit-down places on Calle El Conde; a plate of the day with meat, rice, and beans typically costs half as much.
Use the concho system for trips along major avenues; it's a fraction of the cost of a taxi and you'll hear the latest bachata hits blaring from the radio.
Focus your visit on the dense Zona Colonial. You can walk to nearly all the major historical sites, museums, and plazas, eliminating daily transport costs.
Book your accommodation a few blocks inland from the Malecón. The water views command a premium. But the breeze and the sounds of the city are just as present.
Visit outside the winter months. Accommodation prices, in the colonial boutique hotels, can be twenty to thirty percent lower.
Buy your bottled water and snacks from a colmado, the ubiquitous corner store, rather than from your hotel minibar, where prices are often triple.
Common Budget Mistakes to Avoid
Taking taxis everywhere without negotiating a price first or using a rideshare app. Fares from the airport or tourist zones can be two to three times the local rate.
Eating every meal in the high-visibility restaurants of the Zona Colonial. Walking just a few blocks into the surrounding neighborhoods reveals local spots with similar quality for much less.
Changing money at the airport or your hotel. The exchange rate offered there tends to be noticeably worse than at a bank or authorized exchange house in the city.
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