Sosúa

Sosúa is a small town in the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic. Located approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) from the Gregorio Luperón International Airport in San Felipe de Puerto Plata, the town is accessed primarily by Camino Cinco, or Highway 5, which runs much of the length of the country's North coastline. The town is divided into three sectors: El Batey, which is the main section where most tourists visit, Sosúa Abajo, and Los Charamicos.

History

At the 1938 Evian Conference Rafael Trujillo offered to accept up to 100,000 Jewish refugees; about 800 German and Austrian Jewish refugees received visas by the Dominican government between 1940 and 1945 (see Dominican Jews) and settled in Sosúa. The government provided them with land and resources with which they created a dairy and cheese factory, named Productos Sosúa still in existence today. Descendants of the original settlers still live in Sosúa, where they maintain a synagogue and a museum.

The town was little known until tourism took off in the island in the mid 1980s.