San Felipe de Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

PUERTO PLATA and the nearby Playa Dorada comprise the mass tourism capital of the Caribbean. Puerto Plata is a vibrant Dominican town of 200,000 that's well worth exploring for its historic architecture and nightlife. Its core, the Old City, borders the port to the east, a narrow grid of streets that was once the swankiest neighbourhood in the country. Around the original town sprawls a patchwork maze of industrial zones and concrete barrios known as the New City, formed over the past century with the growth of the town's industry. Most visitors, though, are here for package tours to the Playa Dorada complex – located a kilometre east of the city limits – a walled-off vacation factory that pulls in over a half-million tourists each year.