The Rough Guide to Jamaica (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

Description

This practical travel guide to Jamaica features detailed factual travel tips and points-of-interest structured lists of all iconic must-see sights as well as some off-the-beaten-track treasures. Our itinerary suggestions and expert author picks of things to see and do will make it a perfect companion both, ahead of your trip and on the ground. This Jamaica guide book is packed full of details on how to get there and around, pre-departure information and top time-saving tips, including a visual list of things not to miss. Our colour-coded maps make Jamaica easier to navigate while you're there. This guide book to Jamaica has been fully updated post-COVID-19 and it comes with a free eBook.

The Rough Guide to JAMAICA covers: Kingston, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, Negril, The Blue Mountains, Port Royal, Cockpit Country, Port Antonio, Treasure Beach, Portland, Bluefields Bay.

Inside this Jamaica travel guide you'll find:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EVERY TYPE OF TRAVELLER
Experiences selected for every kind of trip to Jamaica, from off-the-beaten-track adventures in Blue Mountains to family activities in child-friendly places, like Montego Bay or chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas, like Kingston.

PRACTICAL TRAVEL TIPS
Essential pre-departure information including Jamaica entry requirements, getting around, health information, travelling with children, sports and outdoor activities, food and drink, festivals, culture and etiquette, shopping, tips for travellers with disabilities and more.

TIME-SAVING ITINERARIES
Includes carefully planned routes covering the best of Jamaica, which give a taste of the richness and diversity of the destination, and have been created for different time frames or types of trip.

DETAILED REGIONAL COVERAGE
Clear structure within each sightseeing chapter of this Jamaica travel guide includes regional highlights, brief history, detailed sights and places ordered geographically, recommended restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs and major shops or entertainment options.

INSIGHTS INTO GETTING AROUND LIKE A LOCAL
Tips on how to beat the crowds, save time and money and find the best local spots for sampling the local music scene, enjoying laidback beach days and scenic hikes.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THINGS NOT TO MISS
Rough Guides' rundown of Kingston, Negril, Portland and St Thomas's best sights and top experiences helps to make the most of each trip to Jamaica, even in a short time.

HONEST AND INDEPENDENT REVIEWS
Written by Rough Guides' expert authors with a trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, this Jamaica guide book will help you find the best places, matching different needs.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Comprehensive 'Contexts' chapter of this travel guide to Jamaica features fascinating insights into Jamaica, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary.

FABULOUS FULL COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
Features inspirational colour photography, including the stunning Dunn's River Falls and the spectacular Blue Mountains.

COLOUR-CODED MAPPING
Practical full-colour maps, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys for quick orientation in Port Royal, Port Antonio and many more locations in Jamaica, reduce the need to go online.

USER-FRIENDLY LAYOUT
With helpful icons, and organised by neighbourhood to help you pick the best spots to spend your time.

FREE EBOOK
Free eBook download with every purchase of this guide book to Jamaica allows you to access all of the content from your phone or tablet, for on-the-road exploration.

Sujets

• Special Interest
• Points of Interest
• Museums
• Hotels
• West Indies
• Río Grande
• Interest group (disambiguation)
• Blue Mountains
• Treasure Beach
• Cockpit Country
• Point of interest
• Port Antonio
• Blue Lagoon
• Negril
• Travel
• National Gallery
• Museum
• Jamaica
• Food
• Blue Lagoon (homonymie)
• Ocho Rios
• Feed
• Appleton Estate
• Caribbean
• Port Royal
• Hotel
• Montego Bay
• National Gallery de Londres
• Portland
• Rio Grande
• Tours
• Kingston

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781839059186
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 64 Mo

Extrait

Contents
Introduction to Jamaica
W here to go
W hen to go
A uthor picks
t hings not to miss
I tineraries
Basics
G etting there
G etting around
A ccommodation
F ood and drink
T he media
F estivals
S ports and outdoor activities
C ulture and etiquette
S hopping
T ravel essentials
Kingston and around
D owntown
T rench Town
T uff Gong Recording Studios
U ptown
E ast of Kingston
P ortmore and the Hellshire Hills
S panish Town
The Blue Mountains and the east
T he Blue Mountains
S t Thomas
P ortland
Ocho Rios and the north coast
O cho Rios
E ast of Ocho Rios
W est of Ocho Rios
Montego Bay and Cockpit Country
M ontego Bay and around
E ast of Montego Bay
S outh and west of Montego Bay
C ockpit Country
Negril and the west
N egril
T he northwest coast
S outhwest Jamaica
The south
B lack River
T reasure Beach
E ast of Treasure Beach
C entral St Elizabeth
M andeville
C hristiana
Contexts
H istory
T he environment
R eligion
M usic
B ooks
L anguage
Small print


Introduction to Jamaica

Beautiful, brash Jamaica is much more than beaches and swaying palm trees. A sensual land of bright colours, soulful rhythms and unfailing creativity, the island retains an attitude – a personality – that’s more resonant and distinctive than you’ll find in any other Caribbean nation. There’s certainly plenty of white sand and gin-clear sea to enjoy, but away from the coast are spectacular mountains and rivers, tumbling waterfalls and cactus-strewn savannah plains. This verdant natural environment forms the backdrop to a dynamic cultural history in the island’s towns and cities, illustrated most vividly by the explosive reggae scene, but also in the powerful expression of its artwork and the startlingly original flavours of its national cuisine.
Jamaicans are justifiably proud of a rich musical heritage imitated the world over, as well as their incredible sporting successes on the running track and cricket pitch. This prominent and vibrant culture has left scarcely a corner of the world untouched – quite some feat, and out of all proportion to the island’s relatively tiny size. In some respects, it’s a country with a swagger in its step, confident of its triumphs in the face of adversity, but also with a weight upon its shoulders. An unsparingly tough history has had to be reckoned with, and the country hasn’t avoided familiar problems of development like dramatic wealth inequality and social tensions that occasionally spill over into localized violence and worldwide headlines. The mixture is potent, producing a people as renowned for being sharp, sassy and straight-talking as they are laidback and hip.
The Jamaican authorities have spent millions making sure the island treats its tourists right, and as a foreign visitor, your chances of encountering any real trouble are minuscule. As the birthplace of the all-inclusive hotel , Jamaica has become well suited to tourists who want to head straight from plane to beach, never leaving their hotel compound. But to get any sense of the country at all, you’ll need to do some exploring. It’s undoubtedly worth it, as this is a place packed with first-class attractions and natural attributes, oozing with character. Jamaica’s food and drink are one of the island’s main draws, from a plate of grilled lobster served up by the sea to conch soup or jerk chicken from a roadside stall, not to mention a variety of rums and fine Blue Mountain coffee. And with a rich music scene at its clubs , sound-system parties and stage shows, if you’re a reggae fan, you’re in heaven.
Where to go
Most of Jamaica’s tourist business is concentrated in the “big three” resort areas of Montego Bay, Negril and Ocho Rios. A busy commercial city, Montego Bay has a string of hotels, bars and restaurants along its beach-lined tourist strip, and manicured golf courses and high-end all-inclusives hogging the coast to the east. West of here, its low-rise hotels slung along eleven kilometres of fantastic white sand and three kilometres of dramatic cliffs, Negril is younger, more laid-back and with a long-standing reputation for hedonism and buzzing nightlife. East of MoBay, Ocho Rios is the smallest of the three biggies, with an attractive downtown that seamlessly brings together tourists and locals, and a vast array of easily accessed natural attractions: beautiful Blue Hole, famous Dunn's River Falls, and the eco-smart Mystic Mountain, where there’s a bobsled tour through rainforest.




Montego Bay
Getty Images







Fact file The largest English-speaking island in the Caribbean , Jamaica is 235km long, boasts 1019km of coastline and rises up to its highest point at Blue Mountain Peak , standing at 2256m. Jamaica’s population is almost three million, with a quarter living in greater Kingston. Jamaica gained independence from Britain in 1962, though it remains in the British Commonwealth with the King nominal head of state, represented locally by a Governor General. Sugar cane, bananas, plantains, mangoes, breadfruit, ackees, bamboo, coconut palms, as well as marijuana, are not native to Jamaica, having been imported by the Taínos, Spanish, Africans, Indians and British. The Vatican aside, Jamaica has more churches per square kilometre than anywhere else on Earth, over half of them Evangelical Protestant. Jamaica has seven species of snakes , but none of them are poisonous. Measuring just 6cm from head to tail-feather, Jamaica’s bee hummingbird is one of the world’s smallest birds, while the giant swallowtail butterfly , with a wingspan of up to 15cm, is the largest in the western hemisphere. Jamaicans' tipple of choice is definitely rum , with annual domestic rum sales totalling US$106 million.
In the island’s east, lush, rain-fed, sleepy Port Antonio and a number of nearby villages provide gateways to some of the country’s greatest places to get out on the water, such as the cascading waterfalls at Reach , swimming at the Blue Lagoon and rafting on the majestic Rio Grande .
The south coast offers different pleasures, such as gentle black sand beach action at the terminally easy-going Treasure Beach – the perfect base for exploring local delights like the YS waterfalls or boat safaris in search of crocodiles on the Black River . Set in the upper reaches of the Santa Cruz Mountains , the south’s inland towns, such as Mandeville and Christiana , offer respite from the heat of the coast and an interesting insight into Jamaica away from the resorts.
Kingston is the true heart of Jamaica. A thrilling place pulsating with energy and spirit, it’s not just the nation’s political capital but the focus of its art, theatre and music scenes, with top-class hotels, restaurants and shopping, and legendary fried fish on offer at the fabulous Hellshire beach . This is the best place to experience Jamaica’s electric nightlife scene; its venues and street dances are nearly always packed, the music super-loud and dancers vying with each other for the best moves and dress. A stunning backdrop to the city, the cool Blue Mountains are a captivating antidote, with plenty of marvellous hiking , while the nearby fishing village of Port Royal , once a great pirate city, provides some historic diversion.


Going off the beaten track
Though beaches and buzzing resort areas are obvious first-timer draws, Jamaica's greatest asset is its spectacular interior . With everything from mist-swathed mountains to steamy rainforest, lush wetland and cane-covered agricultural plains, the Jamaican countryside is one of the most diverse in the Caribbean and is a joy to explore, as much for its scenic delights as for its profusion of one-horse towns, where you can sink a glass or two of overproof in the obligatory rum shop, enjoy late-night sound-system parties at fenced-off village “lawns” and get a flavour of Jamaican life that couldn’t be more different to that in the resorts. And whether your goal is a swim in a waterfall or river, or a hike into the hills, the journey can be as much of a joy as the destination itself, especially if you stop off en route to sample pepper shrimp, roast yam and saltfish or jerk chicken from one of the country’s innumerable roadside stalls.
When to go
Jamaica’s climate means hot sun year-round, but the weather is at its most appealing during the peak tourist season (mid-Nov to mid-April), when rainfall is lowest and the heat is tempered by cooling trade winds. Nights can get chilly during this period, and you’ll probably want to bring a sweater. Things get noticeably hotter during the summer and, particularly in September and October, the humidity can become oppressive. September is also the most threatening month of the annual hurricane season, which runs officially from June 1 to November 30.




Rose Hall Great House, Montego Bay
Getty Images
Prices and crowds are at their highest during peak season, when the main attractions and beaches get pretty busy. Outside this period everywhere is quieter and, though the main resorts throb with life pretty much year-round and the summer school holidays see an upsurge in visitor arrivals, less popular tourist areas like Port Antonio and Treasure Beach can feel a little lifeless. The good news is that hotel prices fall by up to 40 percent, there are more bargains to be had in every field of activity and a number of festivals – including the massive annual Reggae Sumfest – inject