Adjacent to Piantini and very popular with long-term expats. More residential and slightly quieter than Piantini while maintaining the same access to services. Generally slightly cheaper rents than Piantini for comparable quality. A solid first-choice neighbourhood for those moving to Santo Domingo.
Pros
- Lower rents than Piantini for comparable quality
- More residential and quieter than the commercial zone
- Fast access to Piantini, Blue Mall, and clinics
- Better parking than the Piantini core
- More established long-term expat community
- Good local restaurants and cafés on side streets
Cons
- Fewer restaurants and bars on the doorstep compared to Piantini
- Some streets lack the walkability of Piantini core
- Traffic on Winston Churchill and Tiradentes avenues
- Still expensive by Dominican national standards
- Fewer international schools within walking distance
- Infrastructure gaps (power, water) similar to the rest of SD
Who lives here
Naco is where expats who have lived in Piantini for a year often move to. The rents are 15 to 20 percent lower, the streets are quieter, and you still have fast access to Blue Mall, the Piantini restaurant strip, and all major private clinics. It is a residential neighbourhood with more trees and fewer commercial frontages than Piantini, which some people find calming after the initial city noise. The expat community here is slightly older and more settled than in Piantini, with a higher proportion of working professionals and families over transient new arrivals.