Things to do in San Pedro de Macorís

Landmark · The seafront and the mouth of the Higuamo

The city's promenade where the river meets the Caribbean, with the port on one side and the old sugar-boom facades on the other.

Local tip: Go at dusk when the heat breaks and the whole city walks it. The stretch nearest the river mouth has the food stalls; the far end is quieter and better for actually seeing the water.

Landmark · Parque Duarte, central

The Gothic-revival parish church on the main square, built with sugar money and the most recognisable building in the city.

Local tip: The square around it is where the guloyas gather on the feast of San Pedro at the end of June. Otherwise it is the shadiest place to sit in the centre at midday.

Culture · North of the centre

Home of the Estrellas Orientales, in a city that has sent an extraordinary number of players to the major leagues for its size — the shortstop pipeline is a real civic fact.

Local tip: The Dominican winter league runs mid-October to a January final and tickets are a fraction of a capital game's. Go for an Estrellas–Licey fixture and sit where the drums are.

Culture · Citywide, at Christmas, San Pedro's feast day and carnival

Plumed dancers, fife and drum, and a St George and the Dragon story carried from the English-speaking Lesser Antilles by the sugar-mill migrants — inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008.

Local tip: The reliable dates are Christmas week and the end of June around San Pedro's feast. Ask at the Casa de la Cultura rather than trusting a listings site; the groups are small and their schedule is community-set.

Culture · About 15 minutes north of the city

A working sugar-mill town and the settlements around it — the clearest window in the country into how the industry that built this coast actually organised people.

Local tip: Go with someone local rather than alone. These are people's homes and communities, not an attraction, and the difference between a visit and a tour is who takes you.

Nature · 20 minutes west along the coast

The province's beach strip — calm reef-protected water, a long sand shelf and the hotel and condominium market that supplies most of the region's foreign residents.

Local tip: Guayacanes at the eastern end is the local beach and Juan Dolio proper is the developed one. Weekdays are empty; on a Sunday the whole of San Pedro and half of Santo Domingo are there.