Canada to the Dominican Republic: Punta Cana and Santo Domingo flights

Punta Cana or Santo Domingo?

Punta Cana (PUJ) is on the east coast, surrounded by all-inclusive resorts, and it's where almost every flight from Canada lands. Choose it for a beach week.

Santo Domingo (SDQ, Las Américas) is the capital, on the south coast. Choose it for the Zona Colonial (the old town, a UNESCO World Heritage site), visiting family, or the beaches of Boca Chica and Juan Dolio nearby. Fewer flights come from Canada, so fares can be higher or need a connection.

The two are about 2.5 to 3 hours apart by road, so pick the airport for where you'll spend most of the trip rather than planning to transfer.

Toronto (YYZ) to the Dominican Republic

• Punta Cana: nonstop with Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet and Arajet, plus Flair from late October 2026, about four hours. Toronto to Punta Cana flights and our price history →
• Santo Domingo: Arajet has flown this nonstop, but schedule sites disagree on whether it's running now. Most trips connect, often in Miami, New York or Panama City (Copa). Search your dates to see what's flying.

Montreal (YUL) to the Dominican Republic

• Punta Cana: nonstop with Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet and Arajet, about four hours. Montreal to Punta Cana flights and our price history →
• Santo Domingo: Air Canada lists Montreal to Santo Domingo nonstop flights from December 2026 (about 4.5 hours, a couple of days a week according to schedule sites). Confirm the days with Air Canada; outside them, trips connect.

From Ottawa and Calgary

• Ottawa to Punta Cana: Air Canada, plus seasonal WestJet flights.
• Calgary to Punta Cana: WestJet.
• From other Canadian cities, the usual connections are Toronto or Montreal.

Entry, seasons and bags

• e-Ticket, every trip: fill in the free e-Ticket form online for arrival and again for departure, and keep the QR code on your phone. Use the official government portal only: look-alike sites charge for it.
• No visa for a holiday. The tourist card fee is included in your airfare on flights from Canada. Check the Government of Canada's travel advice for passport validity rules before you go.
• Cheapest months: September to November is usually cheapest (hurricane season); December to April and March break are peak. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.
• Bags: the lowest fares on Flair, Arajet and the basic fares on the bigger airlines don't include a checked bag. Compare the total with the bags you need.
• Package or flight only: all-inclusive packages are popular from Canada, but with this many airlines a flight-only fare plus a hotel booked separately is sometimes cheaper. Where to stay in Punta Cana →

For Muslim travellers

Punta Cana is mostly all-inclusive resorts, and halal food is hard to find there. The Dominican Republic has no national halal certifier and there's no mosque in the resort area, so most Muslim visitors ask their resort for halal or pork-free meals before they arrive, eat plenty of seafood and pray in their rooms with a prayer mat and a qibla app. The country's first mosque is in Santo Domingo, the capital.

Where to pray: Al-Noor Mosque, Distrito Nacional, Santo Domingo. The country's first mosque, a converted house run by the Islamic Circle of the Dominican Republic. There's no mosque in the Punta Cana resort area, so most visitors pray in their rooms.

How we write about halal food, on this page and every Viorvo halal guide:

• We name the certifier when there is one, and say when there isn't.
• We say when a place is only Muslim-owned or self-declared, so you can decide what you're comfortable with.
• Every fact links to its source, and each page shows the date we checked it.
• Restaurants change. Always check the certificate at the door, and tell us if something is out of date.
• No bars, clubs or alcohol-centred plans. Our recommendations are family-friendly.

Halal travel in Punta Cana: food, prayer and resorts →