Jamaica Travel Guide

Jamaica Overview

The third-largest island in the Caribbean is also one of the most colorful. Idyllic white sand beaches and vibrant tropical blooms sit on a backdrop of blue mountain peaks. As the adopted home of the Rasta, Jamaica is also a riot of red, gold, and green. Renowned as the birthplace of Bob Marley, reggae remains at the island’s musical heart. Rice-and-peas, rum, coffee and cricket are its soul. Local pastimes center on oral traditions, such as discussing an idea to exhaustion, often over a fiercely fought game of dominoes on a veranda

or front porch.

Excellent tourist facilities and attractions range from leafy parks to handsome colonial towns and neon-lit nightlife. Negril and Montego Bay are Jamaica’s two main coastal resorts, attracting a mix of tourists with exquisite sands, lively clubs, fine restaurants and world-class golf. Laid-back Negril boasts an 11km (7-mile) beach lined with funky beach bars painted in bubblegum hues. Known to one and all as Mo’ Bay, sizzling Montego Bay has a reputation as a party town, but is also a paradise for shoppers.

Journey a short distance along the coast to discover ‘the real Jamaica’, amidst street markets of ackee, yam and breadfruit and vendors hawking kulu kulu rum. Explore the quaint fishing villages of Treasure Beach, Port Antonio and Oracabessa, sleepy retreats that offer a glimpse of Jamaica’s quieter side.

Music is inherent to Jamaica, be it roots, rock, reggae or reggaeton. In historic Kingston, the island’s spirited capital, grand Georgian plazas and elegant mansions are serenaded by soca rhythms and the pulsating buzz of the city. The Tuff Gong and the Bob Marley Museum celebrate Jamaica’s musical heritage and African roots.

Geography
With an area of 10,911 sq km (4,244 sq miles), Jamaica is the largest island of the Commonwealth Caribbean and the third largest of the Greater Antilles, after Cuba and Hispaniola. A largely mountainous terrain reaches 2,256m (7,402ft) at the Blue Mountain Peak in the east, descending westward in a series of ridges and forested ravines. Over 1,000km (621 miles) of coastline offers fine beaches in the north and west. At its greatest extent, Jamaica is 235km (146 miles) long with a width that varies between 35 and 82 km (22 and 51 miles). The island is a quarter the size of Estonia, half the size of the Scottish Highlands, roughly the same size of the American state of Connecticut.