This area on the Atlantic side of the island contains 25 climatic zones. The arid western part of the North Coast is characterized mostly by low elevations, scrub brush vegetation, and two unique national parks. The Amber Coast contains verdant low mountain forests and endless golden beaches. It also houses the greatest concentration of tourist facilities and resorts in the DR, a perfect backdrop for those interested in mountain biking, horseback riding, windsurfing, kitesurfing, diving and other sports. Another area showcase is Ocean World Marine & Water Park in Cofresi. Among other exotic attractions, the park hosts the world's largest dolphin lagoon and the world's first shark interaction pool.
Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Plata (Port of Silver) in the early 1490s. The beauty of Puerto Plata is illustrated by its nickname, La Novia del Atlantico (The Bride of the Atlantic). The port was a bustling stop for European traders by the mid 1500s but was abandoned in the 1600s and later destroyed by Spanish royal decree. In the 1740s the city was rebuilt, and the thriving port and a tobacco boom made it the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan in the Caribbean for a few decades, beginning in the 1870s. It remains the largest city on the North Coast of the country.
Many visit the city to see the site of Fuerte de San Felipe, a fort built in the 1540s, and the Victorian gingerbread-like mansions from the late 1800s. Of course there's a boardwalk, this one lined with Dominican restaurants. Other popular spots include the Amber Museum of Puerto Plata, featuring leaves, flowers, insects and reptile fossils trapped in resinous amber; the Brugal Rum Distillery, with guided tours of how their rum is made; and Mount Isabel de Torres, the mountain located just behind Puerto Plata. You can take a gondola/cable car from Puerto Plata to the top of Mount Isabel, where you'll find beautiful botanical gardens and spectacular views of the city and surrounding area.
Cabarete, located 20 minutes from the Puerto Plata International Airport, is a small charismatic beach town that attracts sports enthusiasts and sun worshippers from all over the globe. In the late 1980s, visiting surfers discovered the ideal windsurfing conditions in Cabarete Bay, and since then the town has hosted both professional and amateur international windsurfing competitions. Puerto Plata is also home to the international professional kiteboarding competition. Other sports include mountain biking, horseback riding, spelunking, scuba diving and canyoning. Nearby El Choco National Park is a lush and diverse national monument with unique geological formations as well as 862 species of flora, 12 species of bats, and 36 species of birds. If you don't feel like exploring or exerting yourself, you can just soak up the sun on golden sandy beaches. Cabarete's nightlife of restaurants, bars and discos is legendary. They say that if you're not having fun in Cabarete, you must be dead.
East of Puerto Plata is the Playa Grande - Cabrera area, with its spectacularly unspoiled white sand beach. Whether you choose to stay here or visit on a day trip from nearby Cabarete, your satisfaction is guaranteed. Playa Grande Beach was rated as 'one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world' by Condé Nast magazine. Along with the soft, powder-like sand, the beach is lined with tall coconut palms and bordered on each side by coral formations and cliffs. Its big waves make it a popular spot for surfing and body/boogie boarding. Just behind the beach are a number of food vendors offering their freshly prepared seafood dishes and refreshments, which they'll happily bring to your chair on the beach. If you enjoy golf, don't miss a round at the Playa Grande Golf Course. Designed to take full advantage of the area's beauty, it includes ten holes following the cliffs overlooking the incredibly blue Atlantic Ocean below.
Not far east of Cabrera you will find the Dudu and Blue Lagoons, fantastically clear freshwater pools. The Blue Lagoon is so clear that it shimmers. The Dudu Lagoon is in the shape of a crater and dive operators use it for classic cave scuba diving. You can jump into either one of them for a refreshing swim, then relax as you take in the breathtaking scenery that surrounds you.