1 destination · 10 things to do

Jamaica

Montego Bay is where most visitors first meet Jamaica, and it makes a generous introduction. The island’s main international airport sits on the edge of town, the turquoise water of Doctor’s Cave Beach is a few minutes away, and the Hip Strip along Gloucester Avenue hums with bars, jerk stands and music into the night. East of town, the old sugar estates of Rose Hall hold some of the Caribbean’s grandest resorts and its most famous ghost story, the White Witch of Rose Hall Great House. Montego Bay is also the best base on the island for day trips: bamboo rafting on the Martha Brae River, a night swim in the glowing Luminous Lagoon near Falmouth, the terraced cascades of Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios, Bob Marley’s birthplace at Nine Mile and the sunsets of Negril’s Seven Mile Beach and Rick’s Café. Downtown, Sam Sharpe Square remembers the enslaved Baptist deacon whose 1831 uprising helped end slavery in the British Empire. The region took a hard hit from Hurricane Melissa in October 2025, but the main sights and most resorts have reopened, and this guide flags what is open, what to book and where to stay, from adults-only all-inclusives to a historic luxury estate and a budget base on the Hip Strip.