Historical Centre of Puerto Plata

Photo by Roman Bruehwiler.

Historical Centre of Puerto Plata is part of the Tentative list of Dominican Republic in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The Historical Centre of Puerto Plata comprises 60 blocks of this early colonial city. It includes the 16th century Fortaleza San Felipe. Also there are a number of notable late 19th and early 20th century structures such as Carmen’s Church and private residences.

Map of Historical Centre of Puerto Plata

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The coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.

Community Reviews

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Philipp Peterer

Switzerland - 15-Nov-22 -

Historical Centre of Puerto Plata (T) by Philipp Peterer

Puerto Plata is one of the tourist hotspots in the Dominican Republic. We spent our family vacation in one of the resorts, a few minutes’ drive from the city center. The city has its own international airport and a cruise terminal. Further, Carnival’s private cruise terminal, Amber Cove, is only a few minutes outside the center.

Thanks to the massive amount of tourists the region sees each year, the old town is very well maintained. There is a large number of wooden colonial houses, all of them in colourfully painted. There is a nice square next to an unimpressive church. The fortress is San Felipe is small but in good shape. The city is clean compared to Santo Domingo and during off-season also very relaxed.

In general, there are many colonial city already on the list, but given that the Dominican Republic, despite its important place in history, has only one WHS and the number of wooden structures being rather special compared to the other colonial towns I visited, I give it a thumbs up.

From Puerto Plata it is around 1.5h drive to La Isabela, the first settlement in the new world and other TWHS in the region.


Full Name
Historical Centre of Puerto Plata
Country
Dominican Republic
Added
2001
Type
Cultural
Categories
Urban landscape - Colonial
Link
By ID
2001 Added to Tentative List

The site has 1 locations

Historical Centre of Puerto Plata (T)
WHS 1997-2024