Hodelpa Nicolás de Ovando

Sleeping in the Governor’s House on Calle Las Damas

Calle Las Damas was the first paved street in the New World, and it still runs between the Ozama fortress and the old palaces as it did when this was the first capital of Spanish America. Hodelpa Nicolas de Ovando occupies three houses along it, more than five centuries old, the principal one built for Nicolas de Ovando, first governor of the Americas. Inside there are courtyards, coral stone walls, beamed ceilings and a pool set where a garden used to be. You do not visit the colonial city from here. You sleep inside it.

Why It Works

The building is the reason, and it is not a theme. The restoration kept the stone and the volumes and let the modern comforts sit quietly inside them, which is harder and rarer than the reverse. The room categories run from Contemporary through Colonial to the Imperial suites, so you choose between period and convenience rather than being assigned one. There is a real courtyard pool, unusual inside a quarter where space is scarce, and the address puts the whole old city on foot. Very few hotels in the Caribbean are also monuments.

Why This Location

The Colonial City is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the hotel stands in the middle of it, on the street that runs down to the Ozama river. The Catedral Primada de America, the Alcazar de Colon, the Museo de las Casas Reales and the National Pantheon are all a few minutes on foot, and Calle El Conde, the pedestrian spine with its cafes, is two streets over. The Malecon is a short ride to the south west, and Las Americas airport about half an hour east. Traffic never really enters this quarter, which is the point of staying in it.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: historic, stone-cool, quietly grand

• Rooms: seven categories, from Contemporary and Colonial rooms to Imperial Colonial, Deluxe Imperial, a Junior Suite Imperial and an Imperial Suite

• Best For: couples, culture travellers, anyone who would rather stay in a monument than near one

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the courtyard pool, dropped into a house five hundred years older than it is

• Dining: Restaurant 1502 for Dominican cooking through the day, and the Taberna El Mojito for the end of the evening

• Amenities: outdoor pool, gym, massages by reservation, courtyards and terraces, room service

• Attractions: the Catedral Primada de America, the Alcazar de Colon, the Museo de las Casas Reales, the National Pantheon and Calle El Conde, all on foot

Colonial Rooms or Contemporary Ones

The choice is a real one. The Colonial and Imperial categories sit in the historic houses, with thick walls, beams and windows onto the courtyards; they are the reason to come, and they are also the darker and the quieter. The Contemporary rooms are lighter, more conventional, and easier for a long working stay. Junior Suite Imperial and Imperial Suite add space and the best of the period detail. Ask about the courtyard when you book: which one a room faces changes the morning entirely.

1502, and the Evening in the Taberna

Restaurant 1502 is the main room, Dominican cooking served from the middle of the day into the night, which matters in a quarter where kitchens close earlier than visitors expect. The Taberna El Mojito opens late and is where the hotel stops feeling like a museum. Breakfast in the courtyard is the meal to plan around, taken before the heat arrives and before the first groups reach Las Damas.

What to Know Before You Book

A house of this age has thick walls and uneven floors, and the lift does not reach every corner, so say so when you book if that matters to you. The colonial city is a walking quarter: arrive by taxi and leave the car behind, because parking here is a sport. The beach is not the proposition, and the nearest coast is a drive away. Come for the stone, the museums and the evenings on El Conde, then pair the stay with the coast afterwards.