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Touring Jamaica can be both thrilling and frustrating. Rugged (albeit beautiful) terrain and winding (often potholed) roads make for slow going. Always check conditions before you set off by car, but especially in the rainy season, June through October, when roads can be washed out. Two-lane primary roads that loop around and ac
Touring Jamaica can be both thrilling and frustrating. Rugged (albeit beautiful) terrain and winding (often potholed) roads make for slow going. Always check conditions before you set off by car, but especially in the rainy season, June through October, when roads can b
Touring Jamaica can be both thrilling and frustrating. Rugged (albeit beautiful) terrain and winding (often potholed) ro
Touring Jamaica can be both thrilling and frustrating. Rugged (albeit beautiful) terrain and winding (often potholed) roads make for slow going. Always check conditions before you set off by car, but especially in the rainy season, June through October, when roads can be washed out. Two-lane primary roads that loop around and across the island are not particularly well marked. Numbered addresses are seldom used outside major townships, locals drive aggressively, and people and animals have a knack for appearing out of nowhere. That said, Jamaica's scenery shouldn't be missed. To be safe and avoid frustration, stick to guided tours and licensed taxis.
If you're staying in Kingston or Port Antonio, set aside at least one day for the capital and another for a guided excursion to the Blue Mountains. There's at least three days of activity along Mo'Bay's boundaries, but also consider a day trip to Negril or Ocho Rios. If you're based in Ocho Rios, be sure to visit Dunn's River Falls; you may also want to stop by Bob Marley's birthplace, Nine Mile, or Firefly, the restored home of Noël Coward. If Negril is your hub, take in the South Coast, including Y.S. Falls and the Black River.
At the height of his career, Bob Marley purchased a house on Kingston's Hope Road and added a recording studio—painted Rastafarian red, yellow, and green. It now houses this museum, the capital's best-known tourist sight. The guided tour takes you through rooms wallpapered with magazine and newspaper articles that chronicle his rise to stardom. There's a 20-minute biographical film on Marley's career. You can also see the bullet holes in the walls from a politically motivated assassination attempt in 1976. On the property is a gift shop, record shop, and the One Love Cafe.
About a 20-minute drive inland from Falmouth, this estate on more than 2,000 acres provides a sense of Jamaica's rich history as a sugar-estate island, incredible views of the Martha Brae River, and loads of fun. An adventure park offers zip-lining, river tubing, a great house tour, access to a colonial village, an aviary, swimming pool, challenge course for adults, and kids' play area with its own challenge course. Guests may get a taste of Jamaica at the Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum Tavern and Jablum Cafe or enjoy spicy goodness from the Walkerswood Jerk Hut. Adventure park passes entitle visitors to all estate activities.
A direct link to the past this imposing great house has stood since 1735 on the Barnett Estate, a 3,000-acre plantation owned by the Kerr-Jarrett family for generations. Mangoes, sugarcane, and coconuts are still grown on the property. Jamaican cuisine is emphasized in the recently revamped "Taste of Jamaica" tour. The great house and its environs have also been renovated to replicate the splendor of the sugar estate in previous centuries. The tour includes a cane pressing and sugar boiling demonstration, and rum tasting and lunch are available at an additional cost. The property also hosts weddings and other events.
Granville Main Rd., Montego Bay, St. James, Jamaica
Rate Includes: $28 (tour only), $40 (tour with lunch), $52 plus 15% service charge (tour and rum tasting), $65 plus 15% service charge (tour, rum tasting, and lunch), 4 people minimum and 50 maximum per tour. Special arrangements can be made for tours on Fri. and Sat.
The reggae legend was born and is buried at Nine Mile, in the parish of St. Ann, and today his former home is a shrine to his music and values. Tucked behind a tall fence, the site is marked with green and gold flags. Tours are led by Rastafarians, who take visitors through the house and point out the single bed that Marley wrote about in "Is This Love." Visitors also step inside the mausoleum where the singer is interred with his guitar. There is a restaurant, gift shop, and a marijuana farm.
If you're driving here yourself, prepare for some bad roads, and the hustlers outside the center are some of Jamaica's most aggressive; it's best to take a guided excursion from one of the resorts.
Calderwood Post Office, Runaway Bay, St. Ann, Jamaica
On Titchfield Hill, this fine example of elegant 18th-century Victorian architecture has period decor and furnishings. It's also next to other architecturally interesting buildings on Musgrave Street. Interested guests may choose to spend the night for $50 to $170, depending on the room category.
21 Fort George St., Port Antonio, Portland, Jamaica
Built in 1881 as the mansion of the island's first black millionaire, George Stiebel, who made his fortune from gold mining in South America, this National Heritage Site was bought and restored by the Jamaican government in the 1960s. Visit the two-story mansion, furnished with Venetian-crystal chandeliers and period reproductions, on a guided tour. On the grounds, there are restaurants, crafts shops, a bakery, and a spa. Probably the biggest draw is the Devon House I-Scream shop, where lines of locals form, especially on Sunday, to get a dip of their favorite ice cream, often rum raisin.
Noël Coward's vacation home is now a national monument managed by Chris Blackwell's Island Outpost company. Although the setting is Edenic, the house is surprisingly spartan. Coward decamped uphill from his original home at Blue Harbour to escape the jet-setters who came to visit. He wrote High Spirits, Quadrille, and other plays here, and his simple grave is next to a small stage where his works are occasionally performed. Recordings of Coward singing about "mad dogs and Englishmen" echo over the lawns. Tours include a walk through the house and grounds. The view from the house's hilltop perch, which was a lookout for Captain Morgan, is one of the best on the North Coast. Firefly is also a perfect place to host weddings, picnics, photo shoots, stage shows, retreats, full-moon parties, and sunset cocktails. Contact Island Outpost (www.islandoutpost.com) for more information.
A favorite photo stop, this structure, little more than ruins, was home to a Tiffany heiress. Built in 1905 and spanning 60 rooms, the house didn't last long because seawater, rather than freshwater, was used in the cement. The ruins have been featured in music videos. In August, the PAN Food Festival is held nearby at the Folly Oval. The property is down a rough road, and it is surrounded by a huge chain-link fence. However, the gate to the fence is wide open. The site is out of the way, and it is probably best not to go there alone.
This historic great house may not have a spooky legend to titillate, like Rose Hall, but it's much better at evoking life on a sugar plantation. The Barrett family, from whom the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning descended, once owned all the land from Rose Hall to Falmouth; on their vast holdings, they built this and several other great houses. (The poet's father, Edward Moulton Barrett, "the Tyrant of Wimpole Street," was born at nearby Cinnamon Hill, later the estate of country singer Johnny Cash.) Highlights of Greenwood include oil paintings of the Barretts, china made for the family by Wedgwood, a library filled with rare books from as early as 1697, fine antique furniture, and a collection of exotic musical instruments. There's a pub on-site as well. It's 15 miles (24 km) east of Montego Bay.
435 Belgrade Ave., Montego Bay, St. James, Jamaica
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