Constanza, the cool mountain town in the Dominican Republic's La Vega province, has a freshly polished centrepiece. Tourism Minister David Collado has inaugurated the renovated Anacaona Park, a project backed by roughly RD$29.3 million in public spending and aimed squarely at boosting the town's standing as one of the country's top ecotourism spots.

The work covered around 5,039 square meters and went well beyond a cosmetic touch-up. Crews redid sidewalks, flooring and staircases, refreshed the landscaping and lighting, and installed new public furniture. Visitors will find accessible ramps, pedestrian paths, benches, water features and bins, while the central roundabout got reinforced structures and a replaced wooden roof. The crew also pruned trees, shifted a perimeter fence and put in a submersible pump.

Collado framed the project as answering a long-running request from local residents, and said it restores the park's role as a recreational and cultural gathering point for the community. At the same time, it adds another reason for Dominican and international travellers to linger in town rather than pass through on the way to the valley's trails and farms.

The park is not a one-off. The minister noted that his ministry has poured more than RD$963 million into Constanza and neighbouring Jarabacoa, the two towns that anchor the Cordillera Central's growing tourism circuit. That money is going into the kind of infrastructure — plazas, roads, public spaces — that makes the region workable as more than a day trip.

Why should this matter to travellers? Constanza sits at around 1,200 metres in the Dominican Alps, a striking contrast to the beach resorts most visitors picture when they think of the country. It's a base for hiking, strawberry and flower farms, waterfalls like Aguas Blancas, and noticeably cooler temperatures than the coast. A renovated central park gives the town a proper hub — somewhere to stroll in the evening, grab a bench, and soak up mountain-town life that feels a world away from Punta Cana.

For anyone plotting a route through the interior, the timing is good. The investment wave in Constanza and Jarabacoa signals that the government expects visitor numbers to climb, which usually means better services, more accommodation options and improved access over the next few years. Going now means seeing the region before that happens — with a shiny new park to come back to.

First reported by Dominican Today.