Puerto Plata City Tour: Rum Tasting, Umbrella Street & Fortress

4.73

(134 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing that hit me was the color — not just the buildings but the air itself felt brighter as we walked under a canopy of umbrellas on Umbrella Street. Our guide, Ramon, waved us over to try saying “Paseo de Doña Blanca” (I definitely mangled it), and then pointed out how each shop had its own music drifting out. I could smell sweet bread from a bakery somewhere nearby. There was this little girl selling bracelets who grinned at us like she knew we were lost in it all.

We stopped at the Macorix Rum Factory next. I’m not usually a rum person, but the tasting was…different here — maybe because you could see the sugarcane fields on the drive in. The guide explained how they infuse coconut and coffee flavors (the coconut one burned a bit going down, but in a good way). The place smelled like caramel and wood barrels. I still think about that warmth in my chest when we stepped back outside into the sunlight.

Later, walking along the Malecón with salty air blowing in off the Atlantic, Ramon told us stories about pirates and pointed to San Felipe Fortress up on its bluff. We didn’t go inside but stood by its old stone walls while he described what life was like for soldiers posted there centuries ago — he made it sound both lonely and kind of romantic. On the way back we passed through neighborhoods where kids played baseball barefoot; some houses looked grand, others patched together with whatever people had. It made me think about what “home” means here compared to where I’m from.