Best Things to do in Jamaica

Jamaica, at over 4,200 square miles in size, is a remarkable island located in the Caribbean.  It is a unique destination with a fascinating past.  It has an equally modern and vibrant culture that is experienced through the food you enjoy, in buildings and place names and especially through its people.  As you contemplate which of these delightful villas in Jamaica you will choose for your vacation, let me give you a short tour through some of the celebrated attractions to this Caribbean paradise.


Things to do in Jamaica – Visit Montego Bay

The capital of tourism in Jamaica is absolutely Montego Bay or MoBay, as the locals like to call it.  If you are basing yourself at one of the spacious private villas near this lively town, you will find beautiful beaches, restaurants, bars, an amusement park, snorkelling and diving within the protected Marine Park, all on your doorstep. Emma, our Jamaica villa expert has written on some of the best things to do in Monetgo Bay.

Look out over the alluring crystallized waters of Montego Bay. This perfect setting is an ideal place for you to spend a day out on a boat and is one of the best things to do in Jamaica.


Golfing Paradise

If, for you, the highlight of any vacation is a round or two of golf, you can find White Witch, Cinnamon Hill and Half Moon golf courses within a very short drive of MoBay.  The beauty of the views across these courses will play havoc with your game, though, as it’s quite impossible not to be distracted by the spell-binding scenery along this coastline.

If any of your group are, shall we say, utterly bored by the prospect of chasing a little white ball around this heavenly island but want to enjoy some quality relaxation while you are preparing for The Masters, then let me recommend you take your game to Half Moon golf course. While you chip a point or two off your handicap, your more sedate comrades, can slink off to the heavenly spa and indulge in some delicious pampering.  You can reconvene after your morning of activity and see which one of you has gained the most from your separate experiences!

Here you can see the grounds of the incredible Half Moon Golf Course from above. With expansive courses and perched right along the shoreline where else you would want to be.


River Rafting

A lush and tropical hinterland awaits you a short drive inland from Montego Bay.  The busy and buzzy town and its environs gives way to a wild, untamed countryside that offers visitors an opportunity to enjoy nature at its very best.

One of the most fun things to do in Jamaica is to take the Martha Brae Bamboo Raft river tour.  In a guided trip of about 90 minutes, you and your partner will sit like kings in your bamboo thrones on top of these stable, flat-bottomed rafts.

River rafting is one of the fine attractions in jamaica. Here Noreen and Emma are about to embark on a river rafting tour with Chukka tours

Our pilot George guided us gently along the river, regaling us with some fantastic stories about the area as well as giving us wonderful local knowledge about flora and fauna.  I really wished we could have pottered around on our bamboo raft for longer.  Such a relaxing experience.  It’s lovely getting so close to nature but having to endure very little hardship while doing so!

I really recommend this as a must do in Jamaica.


 


Jerk

There isn’t a pun or witticism in the world that hasn’t been exhausted about this unique Jamaican cooking term.  I am not going to make reference to any of my ex-boyfriends or make any asides like ‘you are what you eat’.  It would be far too puerile.  Instead, I am going to attempt to describe what Jamaican jerk cuisine tastes like in a few sentences.  So here we go …. spicy, smoky, meaty, ideally eat with your hands so you get to lick the full greasy splendour from your fingers.  Go to small family-run shack-style places where someone’s amazing grandmother prepares this food in the most authentic way possible.  Leave at home any preconceived ideas you might have about jerk.  Forget those commercial jerk spice rubs you’ve bought in that swanky supermarket back home.  They are pale imitations of what is, in reality, the explosive sensation of eating a lip-smacking cuisine that has evolved over centuries.  Grab some jerked chicken with a side of rice and peas and you are tasting Jamaica!

 

One of my favourite places to visit for a plate of jerk is 3Dives in Negril.  This family run restaurant is the most laid back, casual place to enjoy not only jerk but some fabulously fresh seafood.  Granny’s Sauce on the side is a closely guarded secret and adds a mouth-watering addition to one of Jamaica’s national dishes.  Sitting outside with a pretty view, there is always a great atmosphere here.  Live music on Tuesday adds to the party vibe.  If you leave Jamaica without having the jerk experience, it would be like a trip to the beach without a swim.  So dive right in to one of the top things to do in Jamaica and experience a taste sensation like no other!


Great …. Great Houses

“How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways” … This could really be the rhetorical question you ask yourself as you lounge by the private pool of your Exceptional Villa.  Of course, I have borrowed this poetic line from the famous Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  If you want to travel back to Jamaica’s colonial past, you can visit Greenwood Great House.  Mrs Barrett Browning, herself, never lived at this property but this well-preserved, fully furnished museum house was the Barrett ancestral home on Jamaica for many centuries.

Delve into the colonial past as you visit Greenwood Great House, only one of the many things to do in Jamaica

Another plantation museum to visit on Jamaica is Rose Hall.  This beautifully appointed Georgian style mansion offers visitors a broad-ranging tour that takes in the history of its sugar plantation and slave ownership.  As well, there is a rather gory history about a white witch, known as Annie Palmer.  Mrs Palmer was said to have murdered three husbands.  Quite a busy lady, it seems.  According to the legend of the house, she is still at work haunting the property and sending shivers down the eager spines of visitors who take the Haunted House night time tour!  This is one of the most unusual tourist attractions in Jamaica and very entertaining.


Rum-tastic

If you go to France, you will most likely visit some of the greatest vineyards in the world.  If you get to the Scottish Isles there are distilleries of some of the most celebrated whiskey brands.  Once you are on Jamaican soil, the globally renowned beverage of choice is rum.  The heady, warm, golden tones, much loved by pirates and princes, is distilled to perfection on this island.

There are various rum tours to be enjoyed.  I’ve been privileged to try a few but I can, without doubt, vouch for the overall experience to be had at Appleton Estate.  This is considered the oldest fully-working sugar plantation and rum distillery in Jamaica.  On the edge of Cockpit Country about a 90 minute drive from Montego Bay, you will be transported through the incredible world of rum manufacture.  Appleton Estates operates at the highest level and is a modern and innovative distillery.  With some of their exceptional rums aged to 50 years, the product they produce is world-class.  Your trip to Appleton’s will allow you to do some very authentic Jamaica sightseeing as you travel through the very unspoiled county-side that leads to this inland treasure.  The tasting experience at the end of the tour will offer your palate a rum taste like no other.  Ensure you aren’t the designated driver for the journey back to your villa!

When deciding what to do in Jamaica, why not treat your taste buds to the refreshing Rums they have in stock?

 


Going Bananas … and Pineapples and Coconuts

The tropical climate of Jamaica creates the perfect conditions for cultivating some of the most exotic fruits in the world.  If, like me, you live in a cool, North European location, the opportunity to see tightly packed bunches of bananas and pineapples flourishing in their natural habitat, is one not to be missed.

Taste the tantalizing tangy fruits this Caribbean Paradise has to offer, as the tropical gardens are one of the main tourist attractions in Jamaica.

Sun Valley Plantation, a family run botanical farm, offers informed and delicious tours through their vegetative Eden.  Did you know that Pineapples are actually groups of small berries fused on a single stalk, so are actually considered a berry.  The same is true of the banana.  Who knew?  Pineapples are native to Jamaica but bananas were brought from Asia by the Spanish sometime in the 16th century.  It would be impossible to think of Jamaica without the ‘yellow gold’ that is the banana.  In its plantain state, it forms the basis of some of the famous and traditional cuisine of this island.  In a way it’s like the potato to us NW Europeans – an interloper that has become the foundation stone of our daily diets!

Sun Valley’s tour was informative as it was pleasant.  This working plantation has so many species of plants, fruits and spices.  The medicinal and health properties of these plants are explored during the tour followed by a delicious feast of seasonal natural goodness.  It’s one of the best things to do in Jamaica.


A Voyage of Discovery

Yes, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World but it wasn’t until his second voyage that he visited the Jamaican shores.  In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailing under a Spanish flag, had gambled on the expedition of a lifetime and headed off due West from Europe to find a westward route to Asia.  Believing that the land he sighted in the Caribbean was in fact India – the islands became known as the West Indies. And the indigenous people known as Indians.  So much for his geographical guess work!  It was on 5 May 1494, during his second ocean crossing that he discovered Jamaica.  To this day, there is a dispute over whether he came ashore in Discovery Bay or St Ann’s Bay but history does tell us that during his fourth voyage his ship had to shelter from bad weather in Jamaica and he was stranded in St Ann’s Bay for over 6 months.

The history surrounding the conquest by Spain of this new and magical world is rather grim stuff.  The native Taino tribes were enslaved or wiped out by diseases that had crossed the Atlantic with the sailors.  Spain continued to control Jamaica for many years until Britain took control.  As you travel around the island, you will be greeted with the Christian legacy of the early Spaniards.  Churches and place names like Ocho Rios and Port Antonio, call to mind this Spanish legacy.

The British stamp followed and the island is divided into parishes each with a capital town.  This is a very British concept.  With places like Kingston, Falmouth and so forth echoing the towns back in England, there are still very strong links between its Commonwealth mother and itself.

During the colonial era, when significant manpower was required to plant, maintain and harvest the vast sugar plantations on the island, workers (and oftentimes slaves) from African nations, India and China were shipped to this island to toil ceaselessly in harsh conditions.  Sugar doesn’t seem so sweet now, knowing how the early product into the European markets, came at the high price of human suffering.

The legacy of all of these races mingling on this Caribbean island is that today we have a nation of people who can claim to derive from African, Spanish, British, Indian, Chinese and other races.  Jamaica revels in its varied and diverse heritage by adopting the inspiring motto “Out of Many, One People”.  As a nation, it could teach us a great deal about integration – different religions sit peaceably side by side, individuals with different racial heritage all unite under the Jamaican flag as a nation of one people.  Very impressive.


ATV, Horseback, Ziplining & Catamaran

Enjoy an adventure-packed day at Jamaica’s only seaside nature-adventure park. Included in this 9-hour day of fun is a Mountain to Sea Horseback Ride ‘N’ Swim, a Mountain to Sea ATV Safari, Ocean Zipline & Hammock Splash and a Power Snorkel Party Catamaran Cruise. Lunch included.


Jungle Zipline, River Tubing & Horseback

This Jungle Triple Experience includes an unforgettable horseback adventure, riding up mountain terrains with spectacular ocean vistas. Journey through Jamaica’s back country and explore the ruins of an 18th century sugar plantation. Enjoy a moderate hike through the jungle to arrive at your zipline experience, gliding through the tunnel of trees. Relax in a river tube on the Great River,
enjoying the diverse and beautiful scenery.


Reggae Rafting

Emma and I took this tour on a recent trip to Jamaica and it was so much fun! The Tour takes place in the countryside community of Lethe, home to lush surrounding valleys and tranquil garden-scapes. This experience will immerse you in culture through Reggae Music and country roads, en route to where you will step aboard your hand-crafted 30-foot bamboo raft. Your “Limo on the River” experience in the form of a limestone foot rub and a bottle of prosecco or 4 cans of Red stripe and a coconut with bamboo straws.


Johnny & June’s House

Johnny Cash fans will love the opportunity to journey into the lives of Johnny & June and experience the home they once owned, frozen in time to best capture the essence of who they truly were, not as superstars, but as the warm and real individuals that they were. Johnny & June spent much of their later years at their beloved home in Cinnamon Hill.A poignant house tours features the house literally as they left it, with family photos, June’s clothes and even, Johnny’s slippers. The house is not always open to the public, but we can arrange a private tour for you.


Four Adventures Fun

This incredible action-packed day will include a total of four exhilirating adventures. Chose to climb Dunn’s River & Zipline over the Falls or visit the Adrenaline Outpost for Zipline & River Tubing. Pair either of these experiences with 2 more adventures – choose from ATV & Cliff Jump, Horseback Ride ‘N’ Swim or Power Snorkel & Cliff Jump.


Catamaran Party Cruise & Zipline at Dunn’s River Falls

Step aboard a 65 foot long Catamaran and sail away, experiencing the Caribbean at its finest. Along the way, take a dip in the warm Caribbean waters or snorkel and explore the reefs. You will arrive at the world-famous Dunn’s River Falls, where you will have the opportunity to climb the 600 ft. natural cascading waterfall, followed by the opportunity to zipline over the falls.


White River Valley Trio with Blue Hole Experience

Often called Irie Blue Hole, this iconic attraction is the most visited, undeveloped tourist attraction in Ocho Rios. Climb among the many cascades and jump into the natural swimming pools. Pair the experience with two other adventures. Choose from ATV & Cliff Jump; Horseback Ride ‘N’ Swim; Power Snorkel & Cliff Jump; Zipline over White River Valley; River Tubing Safari; Catamaran Sail & Snorkel.


Stush in the Bush

A 15 acre organic farm in the hills of Free Hill, Bamboo, Primarily an organic vegetarian restaurant, but a trip here will include a tour of the Zionites farm with stunning views down to the coast as well as across the valley. A winning combination of Rastafari Ital farming, exotic vegetables and a love of fine dining has been rolled into a sustainable business that illustrates how organic, farm-to-table is a growing movement in developing nations and a way of life for those looking for a sustainable lifestyle. Truly unforgettable. Pre-booking is a necessity. We will be happy to book your visit for you.


Black River Safari

Take a cruise on a Safari Boat up the Black River past giant Red Mangrove trees. See the rare and endangered American Crocodile in it’s natural habitat and view some of the 100 species of exotic birds in unspoiled wetlands. A tour on this nature lovers paradise will take you three miles up the river and back. Note:You will need a full-time van/ driver to take part on this tour. Can be combined with Appleton Rum Tour


YS Falls

Nestled within a secluded valley on the less traveled South Coast of Jamaica, YS Falls is located on a working cattle and horse farm. It is a nature-based attraction offering the opportunity to experience the beauty of the waterfalls surrounded by lush gardens and magnificent trees. You can take an exhilarating canopy ride, gliding from the top of the falls to its base, accompanied by
experienced guides to take care of you along the way.


In conclusion

Jamaica is probably the most popular of the Caribbean island destinations.  It’s no surprise that its fame as a welcoming and warm nation continues to woo generation after generation of new visitors who come in search of the essence of Caribbean courtesy and relaxation. This enchanting land is an ideal location to plan your very special wedding, with many of the properties being designed as wedding villas in Jamaica.

The glorious beaches, the vast tracts of unspoiled tropical rainforests, waterfalls, mountains – so many Jamaica activities to choose from.  From reggae to Rastafarian culture, salt cod to jerk chicken, old colonial houses to modern plantations, Jamaica is a ripe, flavourful, spicy package that allows visitors to create unique and memorable experiences as they travel through the centuries of Jamaican history.  Layer by layer, Jamaica reveals its story while at the same time showing its new and multi-cultural face:  a face that is both beguiling and smiling.  Come see for yourself, you won’t be disappointed!

About Mairead Moriarty

Born and raised in Co Kerry, lived in London, New York, San Francisco, Dublin. Owner of one very battered suitcase, a well-worn passport and a million memories.

It seems very fitting for a travel writer that my surname translates as ‘Skilled Navigator’. Apart from an occasion when, aged 3, I got lost in a Supermarket in Tralee, I have managed to live up to my name!

Curiosity is probably the driver that has sent me on magical mystery tours around the world. I want to ‘feel’ a place. I want all my senses to be engaged: from the history and geography that has influenced a country or city, the arts and achievements of its natives, anything and everything really.

Regardless of whether I am on a local train travelling through Morocco, or poking around in Marconi’s study in Bologna or on a canal boat weaving through the heart of the English countryside, the same rules apply - ask questions, talk to locals, eat what they eat, sit quietly with nature and simply be.

Assimilate as much as is possible so as to understand the soul of a place. That is my passion. That is the compass by which I navigate.

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