At the heart of the Altos de Chavon historical site, this chain-restaurant opened 24/7 is one of the unmissable places of Dominican nightlife. This atmospheric location is one that serves great pizzas and tapas by day, and turns into a relaxed, low-key hang out lounge after dinner hours are over. A wide selection of drinks and cocktails grace the menu, making it an easy pick for an evening out in La Romana. Happy hours from 6pm to 8pm and special evenings organized every week also makes this bar a very dynamic one on the island.

The undisputed best Italian cuisine in La Romana is served at family-run Restaurant Lucas, a quaint location with in- and outdoor seating available. Pasta is made fresh in-house, and a wide assortment of Italian dishes is on offer, including seafood such as lobster.

Christmas Island’s narrow reef supports bountiful marine life, including 88 coral species and more than 600 species of fish. It’s an underwater wonderland for divers, with clear warm waters, coral reefs and spectacular wall dives. Soft corals, feather stars and gorgonian corals grow along vast walls which plunge into a seemingly bottomless abyss. The fish community is distinctive because the island is a meeting place for Indian and Pacific Ocean fish species. It’s one of the few locations in the world where you’ll see Indian and Pacific Ocean fish swimming side by side. Some of these species interbreed to produce hybrids. Christmas Island has more hybrid fish than anywhere else in the world, making it a marine hybridisation zone of international significance. In addition to the hundreds of species of tropical fish, dolphins inhabit the island’s waters and whale sharks regularly visit during the wet season. Whale sharks generally first appear when the red crabs are spawning at the start of the wet season — they converge to supplement their plankton diet with crab larvae. Locations like Flying Fish Cove, Ethel Beach, Dolly Beach, West White Beach and Winifred Beach offer scuba divers and snorkellers a rewarding marine experience. At Flying Fish Cove and Ethel Beach shore diving is possible depending on the time of the year. There is excellent fishing, with sailfish, tuna and wahoo among some of the fish to be caught. You’ll find boat ramps at Flying Fish Cove and Ethel Beach.

In this historic 16th-century building you can take a closer look at the phenomenal collection of the OCMW (public social welfare centre). The house used to be a girl’s orphanage, hence its name and a lot of the items in the collection refer to this period.