What Is The Best Area To Vacation In Jamaica
There is no doubt about it, you want to know about the best place to vacation Jamaica. All your friends and family have been telling you the same thing that they went to this or that resort in Ocho Rios and it was the best time of their lives, but they don’t care what YOU think. You need your own opinion.
There are many reasons why Jamaica is a hotspot for tourists. It’s one of the most popular vacation destinations in the Americas. It’s more than just sun and sea, though. There are tons of new things to experience for both first time visitors and people that have been there multiple times. Take a look at this article to learn about the best areas to vacation in Jamaica.
If you are planning a vacation to Jamaica, there is one factor more important than anything else: Location, location, location! Make sure that you chose the best location for your next vacation in Jamaica. If this is your first time to Jamaica as a tourist you need to think long and hard about The best place to stay on a budget in Jamaica. Now I know that this seems like an easy question to answer because most of us think that the best place to stay on budget will be in a hostel. But before you book that hostel pay close attention to what I have said here and you may be surprised by some of my answers.
Everybody loves to be away from their daily routine and worries. To enjoy vacations at one of the beautiful parts of the world gives a lot of satisfaction and relaxation. Where to go for a great vacation is the question coming in everybody’s mind. Jamaica is one of the countries that can give you the best fun and relaxation you are looking for.
What Is The Best Area To Vacation In Jamaica
What would you look for in the perfect vacation spot? Would you want relaxation or adventure? Whatever it is that you’re looking for, there’s a place in Jamaica where you can find it.
Whether you’re planning the holiday of a lifetime, or just want a different vacation destination, this blog, Where to stay in Jamaica, offers nine of the best places to stay on this fabulous Caribbean jewel.
Its sun-bleached white-sand beaches, coral reefs and swaying palm trees, along with the deep lush foliage and magnificent waterfalls of the interior, ensure your days of exploring will be full to overflowing.
In the evenings, the intoxicating rhythms of Dancehall and Reggae, the brightly coloured fashion of the ladies and the dreadlocks of the Rastafarians: meals of Creole chicken and a few glasses of the famous Jamaica rum; all will help you make memories to last a lifetime.
Read on, for our pick of the nine best places to stay in Jamaica.
Where to stay in Jamaica: Best areas
1. Negril, where to stay in Jamaica for first time visitors
Located on the west coast of Jamaica, Negril is the ideal resort if you’re looking for somewhere to stay in Jamaica that offers all the big city attractions, without all the big city noise.
Negril is often referred to as the resort of two halves. Famous for its glorious sunsets, the beach stretches for five miles along the coast, where you will find impressive five-star hotels and all-inclusive complexes, beach bars and restaurants, snack shacks and souvenir shops.
At the west end of the beach, the cliffs rise majestically from the sea and are home to a range of classy villas, Airbnb’s, mid-range hostelries, guest houses and luxury boutique hotels. Most with stunning views out to sea.
The cliff area also has beautifully laid out gardens, where you can enjoy a wedding, relax with a cool drink while you soak up some rays – or watch the sun go down.
Dotted around the streets of Negril you will find plenty of shops, bars and restaurants, with street food vendors.
On the beach, you can enjoy a little snorkelling or paragliding or, if your tastes are a little more fluid, you can join one of the popular booze cruises aboard a catamaran.
If you’re part of a group, you can even hire your own floating bar. The Tiki Pon Da Sea can be rented by the hour, and includes a full free bar for the duration.
If activity sports are your thing, just a 30 minutes drive outside the town is JamWest Motorsports and Adventure Park, where you can enjoy an all-terrain vehicle ride, race on zip-lines, do a little rock climbing, or plummet down an extreme water slide into the pool below.
Kool Runnings Adventure Park is another popular venue with families and groups and includes raft trips, water flumes and slides, plus go-kart racing and paintballing.
Your evenings can be as active or quiet as you want them. Around the clifftop areas of Negril, you can dine al fresco while watching the sunset, or seek out the rhythm from a local reggae bar.
If you want lively-lively, head to the beach area and its late-night bars, restaurants and on-the-beach impromptu concerts.
Accommodation is good at all levels, although you will likely pay a premium for beachfront lodgings.
BEST PLACES TO STAY IN NEGRIL
- ($$$) Couples Swept Away
- ($$$) The Caves
- ($$) Charela Inn
- ($) The Westender Inn
2. Montego Bay, best place to stay in Jamaica for nightlife
Landing at Sangster International Airport on the outskirts of this port city, you can be close to the action 24-hours a day, making Montego Bay an excellent choice of where to stay in Jamaica for the first time.
Very much a built-for-tourism city sitting on the island’s north coast, Montego Bay is a bright, hustling mix of cultures, with visitors, locals and ex-pats from around the world choosing to spend their time here.
With the white sandy beaches, coral reefs and warm clear waters of the bay, you can spend your holiday hidden away in your all-inclusive complex, or just lazing on the beaches.
But if you do, you will be missing so much of what this fascinating island has to offer.
In town, Gloucester Avenue, known universally as the ‘Hip Strip’, lies to the rear of the beachfront and is a good place to begin acclimatising to your new vacation lifestyle.
Here you will find plenty of bars, clubs, restaurants, general stores, souvenir shops and mid-priced hotels.
Explore the city and its history. Sam Sharpe Square is considered the centre of town, and was the epicentre of the anti-slave movement in the early 1800s. led by Sam Sharpe, himself a slave owned by an English lawyer. Sharpe became a Baptist and lay deacon.
Although he was hanged in 1832 for initiating the anti-slave riots, his passion had started the wheels turning, and just two years later, on 1st August 1834, slavery in Jamaica was abolished.
Much of this area has retained its old historic cobbled streets and buildings such as The Cage, a runaway slaves prison, and parts of the old courthouse still stand.
Of the many pristine beaches along the coast, Doctor’s Cave Beach, said to be fed by therapeutic mineral springs, was probably the first to attract international well-heeled visitors who arrived to treat their various ailments, long before the advent of the package holiday.
Other beaches of note include, close to Gloucester Avenue, the Aqua-Sol Beach Theme Park that includes flumes and go-karting, and Cornwall Beach.
With Rose Hall Beach and Tropical Beach just outside the town area. Most of the beaches have their own beach clubs, bars and eateries.
Places to visit away from the sand and sea include the White Witch and Cinnamon Hill Golf Clubs, and Chukka’s Jungle Outpost, where you can learn a little Jamaican history while zip-lining or river-tubing.
If you enjoy nature and a little bird watching, visit Bunkers Hill Cultural Experience, where you can learn the history of the island’s peoples, enjoy a traditional Jamaican meal and feed the multi-coloured hummingbirds.
If your preference is the spirit world, you can learn the blood-curdling history of the haunted Rose Hall Great House and its infamous plantation owner Annie Palmer.
To keep the kids busy, the Half Moon Equestrian Centre at the same venue has ponies, donkeys, goats and rabbits to be petted.
To round off your day you can eat, drink and party the night away in your all-inclusive complex, or one of the many bars, clubs and restaurants around town, especially on the Hip Strip.
In Montego Bay, there is a whole gamut of accommodations for your stay in Jamaica. From Airbnb and guest-houses to mid-range hotels, adults-only retreats to waterfront villas and sumptuous all-inclusive complexes.
BEST PLACES TO STAY IN MONTEGO BAY