All water should be regarded as being potentially contaminated and sterilisation should be considered essential. Water used for drinking, brushing teeth or making ice should have first been boiled or otherwise sterilised. Milk is pasteurised. Only eat well-cooked meat and fish. Vegetables should be cooked and fruit peeled.

Native Dominican cooking combines Spanish influences with local produce. There is plenty of fresh fish and seafood; island-grown tomatoes, lettuce, papaya, mangoes, passion fruit and citrus fruits are delicious.

Hotel and restaurant bills automatically include a 10% service charge (on top of a 12% charge for tax purposes) but an additional tip may be given as an appreciation of good service.

Lightweight fabrics are best suited to the tropical temperatures. Waterproofs are essential during the rainy seasons. Sunglasses, sunscreen and a sunhat are essential.

Electrical sockets (outlets) in the Dominican Republic are very similar to the electrical outlets found in the United States and Canada, and if your appliance has a North American plug, it's possible that you won't need any adapter at all in order to plug in there. However, there are two potentially very important physical differences that may need to be addressed with an adapter: grounding and/or polarization. If your plug has one or both, and the socket doesn't, then the plug may not physically be able to fit into the socket without an adapter.

In the case of a North American appliance plug, grounding is accomplished by the third, round pin beneath and below the two vertical blades on the plug. Polarization is accomplished by the left vertical blade being taller than the right, so that the plug can't be inserted upside down. U.S. and Canadian sockets are required to be both grounded and polarized. But in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Japan and other areas which use U.S. style sockets, grounding and polarization often are not required, and in fact, the majority of sockets in many of these areas do not accept the taller blade and/or the third grounding pin. This will prevent a North American appliance plug from being able to plug into these sockets, if the plug is either grounded or polarized.

Electrical sockets (outlets) in the Dominican Republic usually supply electricity at between 110 and 120 volts AC. If you're plugging in a U.S. or Canadian 120 volt appliance, or an appliance that is compatible with multiple voltages, then an adapter is all you need.

But travel plug adapters do not change the voltage, so the electricity coming through the adapter will still be the same 110-120 volts the socket is supplying. If your appliance is from another part of the world, and it is built only for 220-240 volt electricity, or a Japanese appliance built for 100 volts, then a travel plug adapter by itself won't be sufficient. The voltage will have to be changed from 110-120 volts at the socket, to whatever voltage your appliance requires. This is accomplished with a voltage transformer.

Currency

Dominican Peso (DOP; symbol RD$). Notes are in denominations of RD$2,000, 1,000, 500, 100 and 50. Coins are in denominations of RD$25, 10, 5 and 1.

The import and export of local currency is limited to RD$20,000 in notes and RD$100 in coins; the import of foreign banknotes is allowed provided they are declared on arrival and if they are over US$10,000 and re-export is intended.

The peso is not available outside the Dominican Republic. Currencies of Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA may be converted into local currency. On departure, up to 30% of the exchanged currency can be reconverted into US Dollars at any bank, provided original receipts are shown. All exchange must be done through official dealers such as banks and hotels approved by the Central Bank. Most resorts quote prices in (and are happy to accept) US Dollars. Some street vendors in touristic areas also accept US Dollars although these are not legal tender in the country.

Banking

Banking hours:  Mon-Fri 08h00-15h00, Sat 09h00-13h00. In shopping centres: Mon-Fri 09h00-19h00, Sat 09h00-13h00.

American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa credit cards are all accepted.Most ATMs in the Dominican Republic accept international bank cards.Traveller's cheques are accepted by some banks. To avoid additional exchange rate charges, travellers are advised to take traveller's cheques in US Dollars.