Air Jamaica (tel. 800/523-5585) has for years offered the most nonstop flights from the United States to the island. The carrier recently added four new nonstop flights from New York's JFK to Jamaica, flying to both Kingston and Montego Bay.
Montego Bay
The 420-room Sunset Beach Resort & Spa, Montego Freeport Peninsula (tel. 800/234-1707 or 876/979-8800; www.sunsetbeachjamaica.com), has completed a new Pirate's Paradise Water Park, making it more family friendly than ever. The park contains 35-foot-high waterslides, a pirate ship (no Johnny Depp) with water canons, gangplanks, and a tubing river.
At the exclusive Round Hill Hotel and Villas, Rte. A1 (tel. 800/972-2159; www.roundhilljamaica.com), Ralph Lauren, who owns one of the villas at this compound, has been contracted to revamp the resort's Pineapple House Hotel. All 18 ground floor rooms will get new Ralph Lauren bathrooms plus an outdoor terrace. But you'll pay for what you get, with double rooms starting at $550 per night in winter, dropping to $350 in summer.
Negril
Bar flies were saddened to read reports that Rick's Cafe, West End Rd. (tel. 876/957-0380; www.rickscafejamaica.com), had been wiped into the sea by Hurricane Ivan. We recently visited this bar, and it's back, bigger and better than ever. The cliff divers are diving again, and the drinks are just as good but as lethal in price as ever. The two-story restaurant and bar has been redesigned with a martini bar, and a palapa-lined pool. There's even underwater fiber optic lights to make your evening more mysterious. That's not all: even the famous cliff diving has a new feature. An acrobat swings on a rope dangling from a crane towering over the water and jumps. What would the original owner of Rick's Cafe, Bogie in Casablanca, say about all this?
Rusty, an American ex-pat, is offering customized tours for those who love mountain bike rides. For tours costing $35 per rider and lasting for 2 to 4 hours, his Rusty's X-Cellent Adventures (tel. 876/957-0155; https://rusty.nyws.com) are the way to go, both for the beginner or the advanced biker. Tours usually wind up at a rum shack in Little Bay.
Ocho Rios
More and more readers are sending in good reports for Island Car Rentals (tel. 866/978-5335; www.islandcarrentals.com) for its fleet of moderately priced cars, beginning at less than $50 a day from April to December. The cars are in good shape -- not the roads you have to travel on, however.
As hotel prices soar at this popular resort, more and more visitors are discovering offbeat choices, often cottages and guest houses. The best of these include The Cottage at Te Moana (tel. 876/974-2870; www.harmonyhall.com), a seaside bungalow enjoying a panoramic hillside location a 30-minute drive east of Ocho Rios and inland from Oracabessa -- it's signposted. The bungalow is seaside, with a full kitchen, hammock-lined veranda, and loft-style bedroom. Rates are $100 double off season, rising to $120 in winter.
Nearby (see location above) stands the Tamarind Guest House (tel. 876/995-3252; www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/tamarind), which was rebuilt from the skeletal frame of a three-century-old plantation house. Surrounded by fruit trees, Tamarind offers 10 comfortably furnished and breezy bedrooms resting under lofty ceilings. Accommodations come with plantation style four-poster beds and fine furnishings, each with a private bathroom. Year round, doubles cost from $65 to $85, making the guest house one of the bargains of the north coast.
Nine Mile
Reggae fans and Rastafarians from around the world are planning to descend on the north coast of Jamaica on February 6, 2007 to celebrate the birthday of reggae king Bob Marley. A Rastafarian guide will show you around the Bob Marley Centre and Mausoleum (tel. 876/995-1763) at Nine Mile. Naturally, Marley tapes are for sale. For up-to-date information, visit www.bobmarley.com/life/legacy/ninemile.
Port Antonio
In this north coast resort, a favorite with celebrities, the Jamaica Palace Hotel, Williamsfeld, 5 miles east of Port Antonio (tel. 800/877-8000 or 876/993-7720; www.jamaica-palacehotel.com), has just completed a wholesale renovation in the late summer of 2006 and is now better and more comfortable than ever. Adding extra glamour to the resort are 2,000 pieces of original art by local artists. Improvements include a DSL internet business center and more nonsmoking rooms. Best of all is the formal dining room which serves an excellent international cuisine and is elegantly decorated, with a large wall tapestry, plush seating, crystal chandeliers, and antiques.
Several budget inns have opened at Port Antonio, the best of which is Ivanhoe's Guest House, Titchfield Hill (tel. 876/993-3043), with 10 well-maintained bedrooms. There's a breakfast terrace, and the upper-level rooms, of course, have the best views. The year-round prices are a steal at $38 to $65 for a double room.
If you are willing to pay more, you can also find moderately priced rooms at Bay View Villas (tel. 876/993-3118; www.bayviewvillas-ja.com) on a 30-acre estate at Turtle Crawle Harbour. The compound consists of four buildings with 21 apartments, each air conditioned. Doubles cost $80 in summer, rising to $105 in winter.
Insider's Tip: Riding a bamboo raft along the Rio Grande has been a tourist cliché since movie star Errol Flynn launched the tradition in the 1950s. Today, visitors take it for its natural beauty. The trip takes about two hours, but you can make it a little longer by stopping for a Jamaican lunch at Miss Betty (tel. 876/993-5778). She has established a "pullout" halfway down the river where she serves good-tasting, informal, and definitely inexpensive meals--a real country lunch.
Portland Parish
Most adventurous travelers seeking a more authentic Jamaica, as opposed to a typical Sandals resort, are branching east along the coastline from Port Antonio to discover Jamaica as it used to be. If you want to follow in their footsteps, you'll discover such humble abodes as Zion Country Beach Cabins in Long Road, just east of Manchioneal off the A4 (tel. 876/993-0435; www.zioncountry.com). Rooms begin at $50 a night in a double, including breakfast. At Drapers San in San San (tel. 876/993-7118; www.go-jam.com/drapersan-e.html), very simply furnished doubles start at only $50 a night. San San lies to the immediate east of Port Antonio.
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