Under-visited
The south coast
The half of the island the brochures forget. Black River morning mist, Pelican Bar standing on a sandbank a mile out to sea, and Treasure Beach — fishing villages that never turned themselves into a resort.
The island
There is a lot more of it than the brochure suggests.
Most visitors see one beach and an airport transfer. Staying in Portmore puts you in the middle of the island instead of at the edge of it — and everything is a drive rather than a flight.
Why here
A base in the middle beats a resort at the end.
Book a room in Negril and you have committed to Negril. From Portmore the mountains are ninety minutes, the north coast is two hours, the south coast is under two, and the capital is across the causeway.
It also means you eat where people actually eat, pay what people actually pay, and come home each evening to a whole house in a quiet village rather than a corridor with a keycard.
Blue Mountains, Port Royal, Treasure Beach, Pelican Bar, Dunn's River, Seven Mile
Where to go
Six directions from the door.
Day trip
The Blue Mountains
An hour and a half from the front door and two thousand metres up. Cloud moving through cedar, coffee terraces stacked down the valley, and air cold enough that you will want a jacket. Jamaica's other climate.
Across the water
Port Royal & the harbour
The wickedest city on earth until the sea took it in 1692. What is left sits across the water from you — Fort Charles, the sunken town beneath it, and the best fried fish in the parish at the end of the road.
Twenty minutes
Kingston
Where the music actually comes from. Trench Town, the Marley museum, the National Gallery, Devon House at dusk, and a sound system somewhere in the hills that nobody advertises.
Two hours
The north coast
Ocho Rios, Dunn's River, the Blue Hole and the long white run to Montego Bay. Worth the drive for a day or an overnight, and easier from here than most people assume.
Worth an overnight
The far west
Negril's seven miles of sand and the cliffs at the West End, where the whole island stops to watch the sun go into the sea. Best given a night rather than a day.
Photographs — Floyd's Pelican Bar, Nosferattus CC0 · Blue Mountain harvest, Paul Dober CC BY 3.0 · Fort Charles, Port Royal, Raychristofer CC BY-SA 4.0 · Downtown Kingston, Ralf Steinberger CC BY 2.0 · Blue Hole, Ocho Rios, Ian Turk CC BY 2.0 · Negril, West End, wardyboy400 CC BY 2.0. Placeholders until our own photography replaces them.
When to come
There is no bad month. There are different ones.
- Dec — Apr
The dry season
Clear, warm, and the busiest. Christmas and New Year go early, so ask well ahead.
- May — Jun
The quiet stretch
Green, hot, occasional afternoon rain that clears by evening. The best value of the year.
- Jul — Aug
Summer and carnival
Loud in the best way. Long evenings, big crowds at Hellshire on a Sunday.
- Sep — Nov
Low and slow
Hurricane season on paper; in practice mostly empty beaches and a lot of rain that passes.