The Dominican Republic offers an array of nightlife options where you can drink, socialize, dance, gamble, or celebrate the various festivals taking place throughout the country. Options range from smaller beer/pool halls, frequented predominantly by Dominican men, to large nightclubs where thousands of both tourists, foreigners and Dominicans can be found bumping and grinding to live bands or DJ's, into the wee hours of the night. Most hotels and restaurants offer casual bar/lounge settings within their establishment that offer a wide range of local and international drink selections and play internationally recognized music.

Dominican-owned bars tend to offer only locally produced drink selections and play Merengue or Bachata music.
Most tourism destinations offer beach bars that feature something for everyone, in terms of music, drink selection, and setting.
Enjoying 'Happy Hour' and watching the sunset is a very popular visitor activity at these establishments. Casinos can be found in most of the larger tourism destinations and cities throughout the country and usually provide gamblers free drinks while they take part in Black Jack, Roulette, and Poker.
The hours of operation for most casinos are from 4 pm – 4 am daily.

The most popular drink to be enjoyed in the Dominican Republic is the famous Cuba Libre, poured with a very generous amount of locally produced Dominican Rum and Coke (or Pepsi), topped off with a slice of lime. If beer is your beverage of choice, the beloved locally brewed and ice-cold, Presidente, will certainly not disappoint. If tropical cocktails are on the agenda, you'll have more than a few to select from, with Piña Coladas, Rum Punch, Banana Mamas, and Brazilian Cahpariñas, being the most popular of the bunch.
Most establishments offer a wide variety of both locally and internationally produced beers and liquors. Good wines can be a little more difficult to find unless you are in one of the higher end hotels, restaurants or bars.

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Punta Cana / Bavaro

Most hotels will feature staff-produced evening shows, with guests having the option to dance until the wee hours in the hotel discos. Nightlife will be slightly livelier at the larger hotel clusters. Bavaro Beach Resort disco, the main dance bar among the five large Barcelo Bavaro hotels, has been described as "upscale, popular, somewhat dressy." The disco opens at 11pm and usually becomes jam-packed after midnight.

With this exception, nightlife at most resorts has been described as "fairly dull" if you are looking for a party atmosphere. Most discos are small and won't attract more than 40-70 people in the evenings, mostly couples. The discos will play current dance music so you can bring your own CDs, gather a group of people and turn a small hotel disco into your own personal party.

The only big show in town is Tropicalissimo, staged at the Barcelo Bavaro Casino in the style of the old Tropicana of Cuba.

Most guests do not mind the lack of nightlife as they retire early, exhausted from a day at the beach. Regardless, there are bars in Plaza Bavaro (near Barcelo and Melia hotels) where you can meet the locals, mostly people who work in the area. The atmosphere at these places should be lively but don't expect too much. If you will be staying in the area of Iberostar or Riu hotels, Disco Pachá is the place. They charge admission for those not staying at Riu hotels. Another area disco is America Latina.

For those staying at Catalonia, Allegro or Natura Park and wanting to venture out at night, there is an open air, somewhat downscale, local bar called Onkle Tom's a few hundred yards down the beach, open until 5:00 AM.

There are four casinos in the area: Riu Palace, Barcelo Bavaro Casino, Paradisus Casino and the Catalonia Casino. For an overview on casinos in the DR, our Casino Page

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La Romana Nightlife

Altos de Chavon's Genesis Discotheque.

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Boca Chica

There are several discos in Boca Chica that play a combination of dance pop, house music, and of course, salsa and merengue. Couples and families usually stay at the large all inclusive hotels that have their own discos and nightly shows.

Given the large numbers of singles that flock to Boca Chica's many non all-inclusive hotels, areas in Boca Chica's downtown take on an "adults only" atmosphere at night.
Albeit, most of the single men will be foreigners and the women local. The singles usually stay at the many small hotels that dot the beach town and party at the town's bars. But days in Boca Chica are quiet compared to Nassau, Bahamas or Cancun. After all, this is a small town and the main strip is just a few blocks long.

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Juan Dolio

El Batey disco, next to Decameron Hotel. Merengue, salsa and dance beat ‘til all hours. Chocolate Bar, on access road between Decameron and Costa Caribe. Pool tables and international beers on offer.

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Puerto Plata

Puerto Plata nighttime activities range from merengue and salsa music clubs, which mainly attract locals and tourists who want to meet locals. And the resort and beach town discos.

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Playa Grande

Pueblito Principe features night time entertainment. There are also discos that attract locals and adventurous tourists in Rio San Juan and the town of Cabrera.

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Cabarete

Cabarete attracts a young crowd so expect the night life to be lively and focused on the disco scene.
Nightlife is definitely something uniquely special in Cabarete. The cuisine is multi-cultural, and there are many options available for every level of expectation and budget. After a great meal, you’ll always be able to find quite beach bars for romantic ocean views and tropical cocktails. Or, if you still have energy after your sun-filled day, you can join others in drinking a ‘cuba libre’, the infamous local drink, and dance to merengue, watch a live band, or simply meet other excited vacationers to discuss the activities of your day.

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Sosua

Sosua gets up when Puerto Plata sleeps. So expect lots of activity at Sosua's discotheques starting after 11 pm.
Live bands: At the Britannia Pub in Sosua, owners Lyndon and Barb have live music on alternate weekends.

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