Guides · Saint James
Things to do in
Montego Bay
Montego Bay works best as a base rather than a destination in itself. Within an hour you have bamboo rafting on the Martha Brae, the Luminous Lagoon at Falmouth, Rose Hall Great House and several good beaches. The city itself has the Hip Strip, which is worth an evening rather than a day.
In the city
Doctor’s Cave Beach is the best public swimming beach in town and charges a small entry. Gloucester Avenue — the Hip Strip — runs along the seafront with bars, restaurants and shops, and is where most visitors spend an evening. Both are busy on cruise days.
Within an hour
Rose Hall Great House for the history and the ghost story. The Martha Brae for rafting. Falmouth for the Luminous Lagoon after dark. Any of these makes a comfortable half day from a Montego Bay villa without a long drive at either end.
Worth the longer drive
Negril is ninety minutes west for the beach and the sunset. Ocho Rios is an hour and three quarters east for the waterfalls. Both are genuinely doable as day trips from Montego Bay, which is the main practical advantage of basing yourself here.
Go with us
See it
properly
Pickup from your villa, a guide who grew up here, and no queueing at the gate.