Jamaica seduces travelers with its green lands, tranquil mountain ranges, beautiful white-sand beaches and its clear blue seas. Positioned 90 miles south of Cuba, this plush island offers tourists a wide variety of activities.
As the birthplace of reggae and the late Bob Marley, you can dance the night away to the island tunes. Or for the sports enthusiast, Jamaica provides a variety of sports ranging from golfing on any of the island’s Championship golf courses to an assortment of water sports.
The multiracial blend of the Island natives provides visitors with an insight into the unique culture of Jamaica that you will never forget.
While some islands in the Caribbean cater to specific groups, such as families, couples, those looking to party and nude sunbathers, Jamaica takes pride in making everyone comfortable while offering a wide variety of accommodations and activities.
View my essential tips and things to know before planning a trip to Jamaica.
Where to Stay
Jamaica caters to over a million tourists per year, so there is no shortage of places to stay. You can rent your own private villa with a private stretch of beach, lounge around an all-inclusive resort or find budget hotels.
This is the perfect destination for families, with a number of family specific hotels. Accommodations typically include multi-bedroom suites, kitchenettes, activities and programs for adults, teens and kids as well as nanny and child-care services.
Here are some recommendations for great places to stay in Jamaica:
Montego Bay:
Coyaba Beach & Resort Club
Round Hill Hotel & Villas
Half Moon Golf, Tennis & Beach Club
Tyrall Golf, Tennis & Beach Club
Seacastles
Wyndham Rose Hall Resort
Wexford Court Hotel
Ocho Rios:
Plantation Inn
Jamaica Inn
Ciboney Ocho Rios
Sandals Dunn’s River
Jamaica Grande Renissance Resort
Sans Souci Lido
Negril:
Poinciana Beach Resort
Grand Hotel Lido
Seasplash Resort
Negril Inn
Sandals Negril
Swept Away
Weather and Best Time to Visit
Just about any time is a great time for travel to Jamaica. The rain tends to fall throughout the year, rather than dumping torrents of the wet stuff during a single month; as is common in many locations. Daytime temperatures of Jamaica range from the high 70s to the mid-80s during the winter and are slightly warmer during the summer.
Visa and Entry Requirements
When planning your travel, be aware that citizens from the and do not need a visa, as long as they are planning to stay less than six months. Travelers from other countries must have a passport for entry into .
Getting to Jamaica
Flights
There are flight connections from around the world and depending on when you plan to travel, you may also be able to take advantage of great airfare deals, making it inexpensive as well. Some all-inclusive resort combinations may even include airfare. Most incoming flights land at Montego Bay airfield, although it is possible to land at the airport in Kingston.
Ocean
If you’ve visited other islands in the Caribbean and want to make travel part of your Caribbean vacation, it can be accomplished simply by taking a yacht from one island to the next.
Arrival By Cruise
Jamaica is also a popular destination for the many cruise lines that sail around the world. Depending on your plans, you can either sail to and stay for several days or simply enjoy a day cruise between and Florida or several other locales.
History & Culture
Christopher Columbus first spotted this mountainous Caribbean island from his vessel in May 1494. His first visit was relatively uneventful, but during his second visit in 1503 a violent storm forced him and his crew to St. Ann’s Bay where they were stranded for a year.
Following the death of his father, Diego, Christopher’s son, sent Juan de Esquivel to set up a permanent Spanish settlement in Jamaica called New Seville, which is now near the city of Ocho Rios.
Later, in 1655, 6,000 British troops were moved into Jamaica to counter Spain’s claim of the land. After driving out the Spaniards, a privateering headquarters was established at Port Royal, across the harbor from what is now Kingston. After years of raiding Spanish colonies and eventually instituting England’s claim to Jamaica, Port Royal was hit with a severe earthquake and more than half of the town slid into the harbor.
Britain begin to focus on agriculture to re-build the newly claimed Jamaican Island and shipped over thousands of slaves from Africa to tend the sugar cane crops. When Britain abolished slavery in the late 1800s, the population of Jamaica consisted of roughly 300,000 African slaves and 20,000 whites.
Jamaica gained its independence from Britain in 1962. With the growth of its banana and bauxite industries and the rise of tourism, Jamaica is now fully independent within the British Commonwealth.
Getting Around
Public Transport
If you’re planning to stay on for awhile, you’ll find that getting around on the island is relatively easy. Bus and taxi routes are plentiful on the island, although not always reliable whilst buses are often overcrowded. If you do opt to take a bus while on, make sure you allow extra time for delays. Although not necessarily on time, bus routes are perhaps the least expensive way to travel from one point to another on.
Tours
Some local and international operators offer organised tours allowing you to experience the highlights of the country. I would recommend this option if you want to escape your hotel and actually see the real Jamaica.
Car Rentals
Renting a car is a popular idea when visiting Jamaica. Most attractions are accessible by car and there are over 100 car rental agencies on the island.
Helicopter
While there, you may also wish to charter a helicopter ride in order to get a bird’s eye view of the lush beauty of this pristine island; although this is certainly one of the more expensive ways to travel on the island.
Must See Tourist Attractions
If you’re lucky enough to be jetting off to Jamaica, you’ll probably want to know what the must-see tourist sights and the most exciting tourist attractions are.
Jamaica is surrounded by the beautiful Caribbean sea and the peaceful North East coastline is the ultimate paradise if you want stunning beach sunsets and a gorgeous view as you kick back on the sand in the daytime.
The Jamaican people are friendly people and the atmosphere on the island is like no other. The destination has become a popular one over the years for tourists and backpackers and here are five of the most most popular places to check out.
Montego Bay
Montego Bay, or Mo Bay, as the locals refer to it, is on the northern coast of Jamaica. This section of the island is referred to as the Golf Coast. It is where you can find solar green water and horseshoe shaped beaches, as well as the most luxury resorts and bungalows.
Gloucester Avenue is Montego Bay’s main thoroughfare. There are bars and restaurants, seaside tiki shanties selling local rum and Red Stripe, as well boutique souvenir shops. In Montego Bay, Jamaican hospitality is always on display.
Take a tour of Appleton Estates, a scenic drive into Jamaica’s lush interior will lead you to one of its most illustrious rum manufacturers. At Appleton Estates you can learn about the rum making process, as well as sample the different aged rums.
Doctor’s Cave Beach
Your trip to Jamaica wouldn’t be quite complete without a day at Doctor’s Cave Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet. The pure white sandy beach has a calm water and tourists love it for its huge five mile stretch of relaxing land and of course, the lovely beach bar. This beach is easy to get to from Montego Bay.
Negril
Famous for its laid-back village atmosphere, Negril is set on the western-most part of the island. Draped with its seven miles of powdery sand, towering cliffs and thick tropical foliage, the city still maintains its rustic character.
Negril is a great location for snorkeling and scuba diving. Sightseers also enjoy the 100-year old Negril Point Lighthouse and Bamboo Avenue, a two-mile stretch of road covered by a canopy of tall bamboo trees.
Ocho Rios
Surrounded by breathtaking countryside, Ocho Rios (which translates to Eight Rivers) lies on Jamaica’s north coast between Montego Bay and Port Antonio.
Visitors take advantage of the city’s top-quality dive spots exploring coral mountains and underwater caves. Do not miss the opportunity to visit Dunns River Falls – a natural series of waterfalls which you can climb.
In the evening, the streets of Ocho Rios are filled with a variety of entertainment from limbo dancers to musicians, and even fire-eaters!
Dunn’s River Falls
There’s no doubt that this is a tourist hotspot. You only have to go there yourself to see what all the fuss is about; and what a fun day out at Jamaica’s national treasure! The great thing about Dunn’s River Falls is that it’s suitable for all ages, making it a family friendly destination.
Blue Lagoon
This is without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places in the world and it’s not to be missed. The Blue Lagoon really is the epitome of ‘paradise’ and this freshwater spring is open to the public for a swim and splash. Many people like to go scuba diving in these waters and if you really want to embrace this attraction, you can even stay at the famous luxury Blue Lagoon hotel nearby.
YS Falls
Another fabulous body of water to embrace in sunny Jamaica. This nature attraction can be found on the South coast and has an impressive 7 tier waterfall for tourists to enjoy. The relaxing gardens at YS Falls provides a great attraction for people of all ages.
The Bob Marley Museum
It would be criminal to go to Jamaica and not visit the homage to one of the most admired musical legends on the planet. Bob Marley remains a reggae king and one of the most famous musicians of past and present in the entire world. Found in Kingston, the Bob Marley Museum is housed in the former home and recording studio of our reggae star.
Food
There are hundreds of restaurants in Jamaica to cater to your every fancy. Most offer island dishes as well as continental choices. The Jamaican specialties include a variety of fresh shrimp and fish, curried goat, jerk chicken and spicy Jamaican meat patties. Be adventurous, go native!
Music
Music is a large part of the jamaican lifestyle. The best known side of Jamaican culture is reggae music, and the Rastafarians who are recognized all over the world for playing what is a distinctively syncopated style that arose from another jamaican sound, ska. Bob Marley, from Kingston, is doubtlessly the best known performer of this style.
Jamaica is known as the birthplace of many popular musical genres including raggamuffin, ska, reggae and dub. Jamaica’s music culture is a fusion of elements from the United States of America with its R&B;, rock and roll, soul, Africa and neighbouring Caribbean islands such as Trinidad with its calypso. Jamaica’s music has become popular across much of the world. Reggae’s popularity is especially popular through the international fame of Bob Marley.
Jamaican music has also had an effect on the musical development of other countries, such as the practice of toasting, which was brought to New York City and became rapping, one of the four elements of hip hop. British styles as Lovers rock and jungle also originate in Jamaican music.
Junkanoo, (a type of folk music now more closely associated with The Bahamas), the quadrille (a European dance) and work songs were the primary forms of Jamaican music at the beginning of the 20th century. These were synthesized into mento music, which spread across the island. Mento was the first style of Jamaican music to be recorded.
Along with the meteoric rise of ska came the popularity of DJs like Sir Lord Comic, King Stitt and pioneer Count Matchuki, who began talking stylistically over the rhythms of popular songs at sound systems. In Jamaican music, the DJ is the one who talks (known elsewhere as the MC) and the selector is the person who chooses the records.
The popularity of DJs as an essential component of the sound system created a need for instrumental songs, as well as instrumental versions of popular vocal songs. From this arose the dub, originally an instrumental version of a vocal song, with the vocal version on the A-side and the dub on the B-side of a single.
This trend began the development of dub music as a distinct genre, popular in its own right.
Variations of dancehall continued in popularity into the mid-1990s.
Some of the most violent performers of the previous decade converted to Rastafarianism or otherwise changed their lyrical contents. Artists like Buju Banton (Till Shiloh) experienced significant crossover success in foreign markets, while Beenie Man, Bounty Killer and others developed a sizable American following due to their frequent guesting on albums by gangsta rappers like Wu-Tang Clan and Jay-Z.
Some ragga musicians, including Beenie Man, Shabba Ranks and Capleton, publicly converted to a new style of conscious music-making. Other trends included the minimalist digital tracks which began with Dave Kelly’s “Pepper Seed” in 1995, alongside the return of love balladeers like Beres Hammond.
American punk ska bands like No Doubt, Mighty, Mighty Bosstones and Sublime became popular in the mid-1990s influenced by 1980s pioneers like Operation Ivy. American, British, and European electronic musicians used reggae-oriented beats to create further hybrid electronic music styles. Dub, world music, and electronic music continue to intertwine, influence each other, and create new sub-genres into the 2000s.
Shopping
The shops and market places of Jamaica offer a variety of arts and crafts native to the area. Island-made wood carvings and hand-woven cloth products are a must-buy when visiting.
Duty-free items are found at most boutiques and hotel shops which offer everything from designer clothing to quality perfumes.
The most popular items available for sale include Jamaican rum (Jamaica is home to Appleton rums), coffee (including world-famous Blue Mountain brand), cigars, condiments and spices.