María Trinidad Sánchez

Maria Trinidad Sanchez sits on the Dominican Republic's northeastern Atlantic coast, between the Cordillera Septentrional and the open ocean, west of the Samana peninsula. It is not a resort province: the capital, Nagua, is a working town built on rice, coconut and cocoa farming, and the coast runs through fishing settlements rather than all-inclusive strips. It suits travelers who want beach time without the crowds of Punta Cana or Puerto Plata and don't mind more driving between sights. For anyone weighing the north coast against the south or east, it fits into a broader look at the country's destinations.

The signature sight is Playa Grande, a crescent of pale sand backed by cliffs and sea grape trees near Rio San Juan, ranked among the country's best beaches. Above it runs Playa Grande Golf and Ocean Club, the last course Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed before his death, opened in 1997 and rebuilt by his son Rees Jones in 2015. Ten of its holes play along ocean cliffs, more than Pebble Beach, which is why golf writers call it the Pebble Beach of the Caribbean. It is now the private course of the Amanera resort, open to guests and members rather than walk-up play. Nearby, Playa Caleton and Playa Diamante are calmer coves for swimming.

Rio San Juan is a low-key fishing town built around the Laguna Gri-Gri, a mangrove-lined lagoon where boatmen run short tours to the Cueva de las Golondrinas sea cave and out to pocket beaches along the shore. Inland toward Cabrera, on the Nagua-Cabrera highway (Route 5), Laguna Dudu is a freshwater cenote open for swimming, cave diving and cliff jumping, one of several karst sinkholes along this coast. East of Nagua, the Cabo Frances Viejo Natural Monument protects about five square kilometers of coastal cliff, some reaching 30 meters above the Atlantic, with three lighthouses.

Most visitors arrive via the Autopista del Nordeste from Santo Domingo, a drive of roughly two hours to Nagua, or fly into El Catey International Airport near Samana and continue west along the coast road, about an hour to Rio San Juan. Two to three days covers the main beaches, the lagoon tour and Cabo Frances Viejo. Bordering Samana Bay, it also works as a quieter base for the humpback whale season, mid-January through March, paired with time closer to Las Terrenas or Las Galeras. Anyone building a longer trip can check the site's itineraries to sequence it, and local seafood shacks are worth a look on restaurants first.