Are Cars Allowed In The Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo?

Although the colonial zone of Santo Domingo as a tourist attraction is known for its walking tours and some streets are completely pedestrianized, cars are totally allowed to circulate.

In fact, you can circulate the entire colonial zone by car, and although the streets of the colonial zone were conceived and built hundreds of years ago, where there were no cars, they are quite wide and allow the circulation of vehicles without any problem.

Previously, the entire area that is known today as the colonial city was traveled by vehicles, even by public transportation vehicles, with the passage of time, El Conde Street, which is one of the main streets of the area, was pedestrianized.

That is to say, on El Conde Street you can not travel with a vehicle, it is pedestrian, but you can cross it, of course, always giving priority to pedestrians.

The public transportation that circulates around the colonial zone does it in the periphery and does not enter the interior streets of the colonial zone, but you can enter in personal vehicles and cabs to cross the streets of the colonial zone.

Some streets are more accessible than others

This is obvious, some streets are much wider and more accessible than others, although some streets are very wide, it seems to me that all the streets in the colonial zone are one-way traffic since a section of the street is used for parking.

In some streets of the cathedral polygon, near El Conde Street, because it is the most visited and congested area, cars are parked on both sides of the street, and there is only a strip of traffic in the center.

Other streets are a little narrower and a few are steep, anyway, the circulation in the colonial zone by car is quite fluid because there is no public transportation.

Of course, the circulation is fluid when there are no activities or big parties, on weekends or on occasions of great activities, the traffic jams can be common, although in reality it usually moves smoothly.

The best area for parking in the colonial zone

Whenever I visit the colonial zone I always try to park in the area known as the cathedral polygon, that is, the streets on the periphery of the cathedral and El Conde Street.

This is convenient for me for several reasons, the first reason is that whenever I visit the colonial zone, my favorite places are in the Calle El Conde or the restaurants that are in the Plaza España, very close to the Calle El Conde.

The other reason, although the colonial zone is an area with a lot of security and surveillance by the tourist police, this area of the polygon of streets of the cathedral is the safest of the whole area, in my perception.

There are always many people at any time, and a lot of surveillance, so I feel super safe to leave my vehicle and circulate taking pictures with my cell phone.

Anyway, sometimes it is easier to find water in the desert than to find a parking space in this area in the colonial zone, but with a little patience, a parking place appears.

Additional tips

The fact that it is possible to circulate in the colonial zone by car, does not mean that you should walk as if it were a highway, remember that after all it is a tourist area, and a lot of people walk everywhere.

You have to drive at a very low speed, always give preference to pedestrians, and be very careful, although in the Dominican Republic it is very common to circulate by motorcycle, in the colonial zone this is not very common.

But, there are bike rental businesses in the colonial zone, therefore, you will find many inexperienced people riding bicycles in the street, so you should be careful.

Use Waze or google maps, this is very important, the colonial zone is a network of streets that connect to each other in one-way circulation, after so many years living in the city I always use Waze to circulate.

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