LA ROMANA , 37km east of San Pedro, has been a one-company town since the South Porto Rico Sugar Company built the mammoth Central Romana mill in 1917; it was the only sugar operation not taken over by Trujillo during his reign. The mill was sold to Gulf & Western in 1967, who used the profits to diversify their holdings in the area, constructing the lavish Casa de Campo resort. The town itself is not especially interesting, though nightlife is good and a walk along the rambling barrio that borders the river's western bank makes for a pleasant hour. Also worth a visit in winter is Michelin baseball stadium on Abreu and Luperón at the city's west end, home of the La Romana Azucareros (check Santo Domingo newspapers for schedules; RD$50-150 for tickets) - perhaps not as exciting as the games in San Pedro, but good play nevertheless.

The Casa de Campo resort just east of La Romana, accessible via a marked Highway 4 turn-off, is a massive complex. It costs a bit more than the all-inclusives along Bávaro Beach, but you'll be spared the security paranoia, compulsory plastic wristbands and terminally bland buffet fare of most deluxe Dominican accommodations. The complex encompasses seven thousand manicured acres set along the sea and boasts two golf courses, a 24-hour tennis centre, fourteen swimming pools, equestrian stables, a sporting clay course and so forth. In addition to the spacious, comfortable rooms, there are 150 luxury private villas with butler, private chef and maid. The crowning pleasure is Playa Minitas , a gorgeous strand of beach protected by a shallow coral reef - nice enough that some spend their whole vacation on it.

Flanking the resort to the east is another Gulf & Western brainchild, Altos de Chavón , a high-concept shopping mall perched atop a cliff looking out over the Chavón River. Constructed to the specifications of a sixteenth-century Italian village with artificially aged limestone, it exudes dreary kitsch like few places in the country, its cobblestone streets littered with double-parked tour buses and its "Tuscan" villas crammed to the gills with dime-store souvenirs.