Jamaica’s excellent tourist facilities, superb beaches and dazzling scenery attract visitors from around the world. The island’s most popular areas include: Kingston and the south; Montego Bay and the North Coast resorts.
Kingston and the South
Kingston is the capital and the cultural centre, boasting the largest natural harbour in the Caribbean. Although most tourists head directly for resorts and the beach, Kingston has a number of attractions worth seeing. The National Gallery of Art displays an impressive collection of modern art; Hope Botanical Gardens are particularly famous for their orchids and there is a craft market on King street. Museums include the Port Royal, dedicated to the ancient capital of Port Royal and the White Marl Arawak Museum, where you’ll find artefacts and relics of the ancient Arawak Indian culture.
Spanish Town, a former capital of Jamaica, lies a short drive to the west of Kingston. Its town square is reputed to be one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in the Western hemisphere and the St Jago de la Vega cathedral is the oldest Spanish cathedral in the West Indies.
Nearby Mandeville is situated 2000 feet above sea level (the highest elevation of any town on the island) and is set amid beautiful gardens in the heart of Jamaica’s citrus industry. Visitors are attracted by the cooler weather, its golf course, tennis courts and horse riding facilities. It’s also a good starting point for tours of the surrounding areas.
Montego Bay and the West
Montego Bay (or Mo’Bay, as it is known locally), dating back to 1492, lies at the centre of Jamaica’s tourism and is the main market town for much of western Jamaica. From Gloucester and Kent avenues, there are superb views of the clear waters of the Caribbean and the long reef which protects the bay. Most hotels are situated along a strip of coastline, which runs for about 1.5 miles. You’ll find three main beaches here. Doctor’s Cave Beach has fantastic white sand and exceptionally clear water; Walter Fletcher Beach, is nearest to the centre and Cornwall Beach is just a stone’s throw from the local office of the Jamaican Tourist Board. Rose Hall, a restored sugar plantation and house is a short distance inland.
Rocklands Feeding Station, not far from Montego Bay, boasts some of the world’s most exotic birds, including the ‘doctor bird’, which is the national bird of Jamaica. At scheduled times throughout the day; visitors are allowed to feed the birds. If you would like to see more of this area, a tour by motor coach is offered, taking you through dense mountain forests, passing by coconut and banana plantations and on to a sugar estate and the town of Catadupa.
Negril, another of Jamaica’s major tourism resort towns, is located 50 miles west of Montego Bay and features a seven-mile-long beach. Deep-sea fishing, sailing, parasailing, water-skiing, scuba diving and windsurfing are all on offer here. This area first became popular as an artists’ retreat and then later attracted hippies in the 1960s. In recent years it has become increasingly popular as a more mainstream holiday destination, while still preserving much of its original character. In fact, all buildings must be constructed in modest proportions, by law. A variety of craft goods are sold from shanty-like shops strung along the beach here. The beach area also features a vibrant nightlife for both wining and dining.
North Coast Resorts
Falmouth is a delightful north coast resort, just 26 miles east of Montego Bay. Ocho Rios lies another 40 miles or so along the coast: once a sleepy fishing village, the town has maintained some of its small-town Jamaican atmosphere in spite of new resort facilities, international hotels and restaurants that have been developed. Dunn’s River Falls, truly one of the most stunning sights in Jamaica, is in the Ocho Rios area. There’s a great variety of exotic flora here, for which Ocho Rios is well known. Tours of working banana, spice and sugar plantations are also available, as is a special canoe tour, called ‘Jamaica Night on the White River.’ This is a Sunday evening trip by canoe, to the sounds of drums up the White river, which is lit by torches on both banks. The tour ends with drinks and dinner.
Port Antonio, dating back to the 16th century, is situated on one of Jamaica’s most beautiful bays, surrounded by the Blue Mountains. The most popular activity here is game fishing with kingfish, bonito, yellowtail and wahoo all being found here. It’s the blue marlin however, that attracts most fishermen to the annual Blue Marlin Tournament and the Jamaican International Fishing Tournament every autumn. You can also go rafting on the Rio Grande, enjoy a picnic at scenic Somerset Falls or spend a lazy day at San San or Boston beach.
Chill out at Montego Bay’s beaches
There are so many choices: Doctor's Cave Beach has beautiful white sand and exceptionally clear water fed by mineral springs; Walter Fletcher Beach is nearest to the centre; and Cornwall Beach is just a few yards from the office of the Tourist Board. Jamaica’s best beaches for swimming can be found in this area and along the northern coast.
Discover some of the most exotic birds in the world
At Rocklands Feeding Station, you can watch, and feed, some of the most exotic birds in the world, including rare species such as the mango hummingbird, the orange quit and the doctor bird. A popular option is a coach ride through the thick mountain forests, passing through banana and coconut plantations and the famous deep limestone recesses known as the Ipswich Caves. The trip continues on to the Appleton Rum Factory’s sugar estate and then to Catadupa.
Dive in crystal-clear waters
Jamaica has many attractions for divers, from wrecks to underwater caves and coral reefs. There are popular dive sites near Negril, including the throne room, with its beautiful corals and sponges and fascinating nurse sharks and cubera snapper; Ricky's reef, where you’ll spot a wide array of colours and species of fish; and the wreck of the Kathryn.
Go rafting on the Rio Grande
Trips on two-passenger bamboo rafts, beginning high in the Blue Mountains at Berrydale, will take you past banana and sugar cane plantations, ending up at Margaret's Bay about two hours later. The Somerset falls nearby are a popular scenic picnic spot. Another rafting option is from Falmouth (26 miles east of Montego Bay), where you can visit Rafters Village for a rafting trip on the Martha Brae and visit a crocodile farm called Jamaica Swamp Safaris.
Take part in a fishing tournament
There’s all sorts of fishing on offer in Jamaica and one of the really popular activities is taking part in a fishing tournament, such as the annual Blue Marlin Tournament which is held in Port Antonio in late September through until early October. The game fish in the seas here are plentiful; including species such as bonito, kingfish, wahoo and yellowtail, but it’s the blue marlin that’s the great prize.
Visit a working plantation
Visitors are welcomed at Brimmer Hall and Prospect plantations, where bananas, spices and sugar are still grown and harvested by many of the traditional skills handed down through generations of plantation workers. Make sure to include a drive along Fern Gully, which will take you on a road that runs along an old river-bed, winding through a four-mile-long valley of ferns.
