Trip Report: Jamaica
Visited in June 2022
The landing in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, is nothing but spectacular. Our plane descended along the country’s beautiful coast and through the window we saw green landscapes behind the marvellous, turquoise Caribbean Sea.
During my travels, I have noticed that Jamaica is a dream destination for many people. Tropical weather, beaches, weed and reggae music are characteristics that make the country attractive to many. Looking out of the window during the landing, I also realized where this fascination with Jamaica comes from. The country made an excellent first impression from the air.
Jamaica was our sixth stop on a trip through the Caribbean. The first five stops were all tiny islands in the Lesser Antilles. Jamaica, which is part of the Greater Antilles, was thus comparatively the first large country on this trip. Caribbean Airlines took us from Trinidad and Tobago to Kingston.
We only had three days in Jamaica. A short time but enough to see a bit of the country. Since we landed in Kingston and flew out of Montego Bay three days later, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay were the places we wanted to visit in Jamaica. Negril, where they say you can find the most beautiful beaches in the country, or even Kingston were not a priority for us.
After we received our passport stamp and left the airport, we took the bus to Ocho Rios in the north of the island. In Jamaica you can travel relatively cheaply through the country by using the Knutsford Express bus. There are also local buses, which are even cheaper, but apparently less comfortable. Other alternatives would be to take a taxi or rent a car. Cabs are very expensive, though. The trip from Kingston to Ocho Rios would have cost us about $150 and after seeing how Jamaicans drive, it was also a good decision not to rent a car.
The transfer from Kingston to Ocho Rios took about two hours and we spent the afternoon in town. Ocho Rios has less than 10,000 inhabitants, but is one of the tourist hotspots on Jamaica’s north coast. The village basically has one main street with many restaurants, souvenir stores and other stores, plus some side streets.
To be honest, there is not much to do in this town. Tourists come here because it has some of the main attractions of Jamaica around the village. The village itself is simply for accommodation and dining. This was also the place where we had our first “jerk chicken”. A delicious dish which is typical for Jamaica.
Apart from that, I would be lying if I said that Ocho Rios is a pleasant place. In fact, we had several negative experiences in our first hours in this place due to the very high number of pushy people. Some of them want to sell you something and others beg for money. Some of them also stayed next to our table for minutes when we had a drink outside. In Ocho Rios, you are basically approached by someone every two minutes, which can be quite exhausting over time.
Even though no situation was really bad, it was the sum of the unpleasant encounters that was annoying. In general, I had the feeling that Ocho Rios is one of these places where tourists are seen as human ATMs and that almost everyone in this place wants to rip you off. It was not only the street hustlers but also the taxi drivers who charged much higher prices for us tourists than for the locals. Or, as luck would have it, had no change, which was more the rule than the exception.
By the way, next to the annoying street hustlers we had another issue on our first day. For our second day in Ocho Rios, we wanted to see some tourist attractions. Finding a tour turned out to be cumbersome, though. Unfortunately, tours in Jamaica are quite expensive and a full-day tour can easily cost more than $150 per person. For this reason, I contacted several tour operators and asked them to send me a quote for either a half-day or a full-day tour.
Besides, I also contacted cab drivers recommended by the host of our hotel. The hotel said that these drivers would offer discounted prices, because they know the host well. I sent three of them a message and asked how much it would cost to drive us to two sights and back. They would not have to wait for us there either. We intended to write when we were done and want them to pick us up.
The offers we received were then beyond good and evil. So that you have the same understanding: the two sights we wanted to visit were 6 and 15 minutes away from our hotel. However, the cheapest offer I got was 100 USD. Since the entrance fees to the sights are also not cheap, we did not want to pay this price. If you are a solo traveler without your own car, Jamaica will get pretty damn expensive for you.
The tour operators were unfortunately not really any help either. Some of them wanted to push us to more expensive tours, others didn’t answer at all. In the end, we decided to go with Chris Jamaica Tours. We paid him $80 for driving us to both sights and back. Still not cheap, but for Jamaican standards a good deal.
The sights later turned out to be terrible. Not the sights themselves, but the way you visit them. First of all, let me say that Jamaica has gorgeous natural sights. We decided to visit Dunn’s River Falls, a big waterfall, as well as a blue lagoon. The lagoon, the so-called blue hole, was our first stop.
This place was actually quite beautiful, but also very crowded. Hundreds of tourists and locals were splashing around there. In addition, there were lianas and ropes with which you could plunge into the water. Somehow the whole thing seemed a bit like a poor man’s water amusement park with a party atmosphere. We splashed around a bit too, but had enough after about half an hour and decided to leave again.
All in all, you certainly won’t miss anything if you don’t visit the blue hole. With an entrance fee of 20 dollars plus an additional 15 dollars, which you need for water shoes (and you do need them, believe me), this place is not exactly a bargain. At least you get to keep the shoes, because we also needed them for the next attraction.
More spectacular than the blue hole is Dunn’s River Falls, one of Jamaica’s main attractions. However, the experience there was also rather annoying. After paying the entrance fee (25 USD), you are assigned to a group and then walk hand in hand as a human chain up the waterfall. Dunn’s River Falls was also completely overcrowded and you have to consider that the main season in Jamaica was actually already over for two months.
At the same time there are two guides. One to lead the group, the other carries a camera in his hand, which he presses every few minutes in your face, so that you can babble something into the camera. Of course, you can buy the video afterwards and a tip for the service of the guides is also expected. All in all, the whole thing seemed like an excursion for kids, except that the participants were a bunch of adult resort guests or cruise tourists. However, I got the impression that the other participants actually enjoyed it very much.
In summary, the sights around Ocho Rios are beautiful, but what is made of them is silly and not something we found particularly enjoyable. Besides, Ocho Rios itself is not a pleasant town and we were glad when we could continue our journey after two nights.
The next day we drove from Ocho Rios to Montego Bay, another tourist hotspot in Jamaica. The Knutsford Express took us to our destination in an hour. We had one more day in Jamaica and had booked a resort right on the beach. Originally, I had planned to make a stop at the Martha Brae River on the way between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay, where you can float down a river on a bamboo raft. The somewhat complicated logistics and the associated high prices were then in the end an argument against it.
We didn’t see much of Montego Bay itself, but that was okay. Since it was our last day in the Caribbean, we wanted to spend it on the beach again. One thing about Jamaica is that the country has stunning beaches with crystal clear water.
The hotel was actually a pretty good deal for Jamaica. We paid around $160 for one night, including food and drinks, and contrary to our expectations, the food was pretty good. Funnily enough, Jamaica is a pretty expensive destination, but if you’ve been to the Lesser Antilles before, the country still seems relatively cheap.
Apart from that, the hotel was then nevertheless as you would imagine an all-inclusive hotel to be. Everything was quite impersonal, the whole hotel complex also a bit run down and the hotel staff always gave the impression that they don’t really like their job. Nevertheless, for a day at the beach and to keep the costs reasonably low, it was worth it and was a good end to this Caribbean trip.
We left Jamaica the next day for Canada. It was a short stay, but long enough to get a good first impression. So, what’s my conculsion about Jamaica? Probably this doesn’t come as much of a surprise now, but I have to admit that I didn’t really warm up to the country.
Looking back, there were three things in particular that bothered. First, the prices. Jamaica is definitely an expensive country to travel and big cost drivers are accommodation, transportation and entrance fees to attractions. If you don’t have a rental car, you pay a very hefty price for even the shortest cab rides. And I really only recommend driving yourself to those who have already driven in many countries of the world and are not afraid of aggressive drivers.
Second, I didn’t like the way Jamaica displays its tourist attractions. Jamaica has stunning natural sights, but the way you visit them is like a big Ronald McDonald’s party. Jamaica makes the same mistake as the Dominican Republic. The Dominicans also turn their tours into a party excursion where the tourists are allowed to make a fool of themselves. Both countries do not need this hoopla.
However, the third point that bothered me about Jamaica was the high amount of intrusive people on the streets. Of course, I have to put the disclaimer here that I do not mean the entire Jamaican people with this statement. I have deliberately not mentioned all the experiences that annoyed us. However, there were just too many situations in these three days that got on our nerves. The nuisances actually started at the airport in Kingston and ended at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.
At the same time, I have to say that not everything was bad. Jamaica is undoubtedly a beautiful country and offers a lot. There were also nice people, e.g. our tour guide Chris, and for them I am sorry to write such a negative verdict. Maybe I also have to take into account that with Ocho Rios and Montego Bay I visited two of the most touristy places in the country and that other places are more quiet and peaceful.
For all these reasons, I would say that Jamaica was alright for three days but I rather return to the Dominican Republic instead of visiting Jamaica a second time. This country also has some weak points, some of which I have already mentioned in this report, but in my opinion is definitely the most interesting destination.
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