Follow in the footsteps of Bob Marley (and Winston Churchill, James Bond and Noel Coward too) and wing your way to Jamaica, to enjoy marvellous music, fabulous food, wonderful watersports and beautiful beaches. No matter what you like best about the Caribbean, you are likely to find it in Jamaica. This former’ Spanish, then British, colony is not only one of the largest islands (there is 4,000 square miles of it) but one of the most diverse and without doubt one of the liveliest. Few would dispute that Jamaica is also one of the most attractive of the Caribbean Islands.
Just as a quick snapshot of the island, the best beaches in Jamaica tend to be those on the west coast. Negril Beach, sometimes called Seven Mile Beach, is one of the most beautiful white sand beaches there is.
The north-east coastline is dramatically rugged, while the north coast features white-sand beaches. If you want to see black-sand beaches topped by limestone cliffs head for the south coast.
The island has simply an enormous and varied choice of places to stay, ranging from small boutiques and basic guest houses to large and glitzy all-inclusive resorts and some of the best hotels to be found anywhere.
At the top end check out the stunning Jamaica Inn, a beautiful hotel, still privately owned by a family who have been running it for generations. Small wonder it was favoured by Winston Churchill, by all accounts, not to mention various European royals and many celebrities. For families with teenagers or younger children there’s a massive choice of hotels to choose from, starting with the handful of Beaches Resorts offerings to be found in Jamaica, where many of the sports and activities often classed as extras in other resorts are part of the deal. It’s fun in the sun, and all included in the price.
Jamaica has something for everyone, from watersports (and for that matter most other sports) through to river tubing, rafting gently down one of the rivers and climbing dramatic waterfalls, such as that at Dunn’s River Falls, which you can reach by boat from many of the hotels. Make some time for Montego Bay too for a spot of shopping and perhaps a visit to one or two of the superb restaurants and beach bars which are to be found in the area.
Jamaica is a gourmet’s paradise. The fish is, of course, excellent but also try the jerk chicken or pork, cooked traditionally by digging a hole in the sand on the beach, lightning a fire and slow cooking for hours on end... it’s delicious! And to accompany the food there’s the famous Red Stripe beer or Blue Mountain coffee.
For culture vultures there is history at every turn with Great Houses, the one-time homes of the wealthy landowners, to explore and plantations to visit. And let’s not forget the houses of the famous, such as Goldeneye, where Ian Fleming wrote some of his James Bond novels, and Noel Coward’s Firefly, both of which now welcome visitors.
And everywhere you go there seems to be music. Hardly surprising on an island which created reggae and was once the home of Bob Marley.