Located on the northern coast of the Caribbean island of Hispanola, the province of Puerto Plata is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Dominican Republic. Blessed with beautiful stretches of pristine beaches, lush green valleys, and cradled by a chain of majestic coastal mountains, Puerto Plata was described as "the fairest land under heaven" by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Over 500 years later, the province of Puerto Plata has continued to captivate visitors from around the world with an intoxicating potion of Latin American culture, incredible natural beauty, and the extraordinary kindness of its people.

The North Coast is the center of a third of the nation's hotel rooms, or more than 17,000. At the heart of this region, the city of Puerto Plata curves around the base of towering Mt. Isabel de Torres, whose pinnacle can be reached by an electrified sky lift system called the teleférico. A manicured botanical garden dominated by an illuminated statue of Christ - a scaled-down version of the one in Rio de Janeiro - crowns its summit.