Puerto Plata
We took a taxi into Puerto Plata, as we wanted a chance to wander around by ourselves. On the advice of our Thomson holiday rep, we made sure we told the hotel reception the we did not want a guide, when we booked the taxi (otherwise one comes as standard). All the same, two guides, one after the other, tried to get in the taxi and persuade us that we really needed a guide. The taxi driver introduced us to a third when he dropped us off at Parque Central (the town square). The guides are officially approved but do not charge a fee - they live off your tip ($5 - $15US)
A fourth guide tried to pick us up on the way to the Amber Museum. This museum is really cheap to enter, and you can see lots of different samples of amber, some with insects inside. They really make their money from the gift shop on the way out, which has a lot of amber and other jewellery on sale. We had some peace from guides for a while after that as we walked in some non-tourist streets but a fifth guide approached us at the seafront as we approached the fort.
After we saw the fort (not a highly developed attraction but nice to see and a good place from which to see the harbour), we found our taxi again and our driver kindly showed us into a tourist shop. Well he was probably on commission, but it was too early in our holiday and we weren't buying. We had a quick look, then back in the taxi and on to the cablecar station.
At the cable car we were shown to the ticket office by, you guessed it, another guide. He wanted to take us up and show us round at the top, for a small tip of course. We went up by ourselves and spent some time at the top seeing lovely views of the coast and the botanical gardens. When we went down, we went back to the hotel. We had the taxi all morning and it cost $40 US, so cheaper than the two of us going on one of the half day tours, and with the freedom (sort of) to wander around as you please.
