Renaissance Jaragua Hotel & Casino

A waterfront resort, the Renaissance Jaragua Hotel and Casino is a 10-story Las Vegas-style palace located off the Malecón, Santo Domingo's main boulevard, and convenient to the city's major attractions and shops. The hotel is within walking distance of the city's colonial zone and craft market, and El Conde Peatonal shopping street. The hotel is a 45-minute drive from the beach, and is 35 minutes from the Las Americas International Airport.

Built in 1956 by dictator Raphael Trujillo and closed after his assassination, the hotel added a 10-story tower before reopening in 1989. Today the 14-acre, Marriott-owned Renaissance Jaragua remains the place for Dominicans to stage weddings and other social events, as it also caters to international business travelers, vacationers, and after-dark revelers.

The Renaissance hotel consists of 300 rooms in two separate buildings: the 10- story Jaragua Tower and the two-level Jaragua Gardens Estates. Rooms are decorated in warm yellows and greens with white-rattan furniture. Boasting the largest-size rooms in Santo Domingo, each features multiple phones, refrigerator, and marble bathroom. Non-smoking rooms are available.

The hotel offers destination-resort facilities such as a health spa with men's and women's saunas, steam rooms, hot and cold spas, plush "quiet rooms," and a fitness center. For business travelers, a full-service business center includes translation services and cellular-phone rentals.

Set above a lawn sloping toward the Caribbean, the hotel provides a sundeck by the large pool. The casino is the largest by square feet in the Caribbean, offering a dance bar for adults with a separate disco serving youths. The property also includes a 1,000-seat showroom and a cabaret theater featuring live Merengue musical entertainment. The Renaissance Jaragua offers four restaurant and bars, serving tasty Dominican barbecue and some of Santo Domingo's best steaks.