12/05/2023
⭐️ 5 "Must-Do's" While Visiting Jamaica ⭐️
Listen is a HOT commodity right now, commodity is trying to go and honestly... can you blame them 💁🏽♀️😂. Here's a few things to add to your must do list to enjoy a beautiful authentic experience:
🩷 Splash about at Reach Falls
On Jamaica’s remote east coast, Reach Falls are arguably the most spectacular on the island and receive a fraction of the visitors who flock to the more accessible Dunn’s River Falls.
Local guides will help you as you walk up the river, keeping your belongings safe and dry while pointing out the best places to snap photos as you splash in jade-colored pools shaded by jungle vegetation, climb up limestone crags and get pummelled by jets of water in the “washing machine." The more adventurous have the option of climbing up to the Bat Cave.
🤎 Vibe with locals at Winnifred Beach
East of Port Antonio on Jamaica’s north coast, a steep road leads down to the public beach, which is, as yet, mercifully undeveloped and one of the island's best beaches. Winnifred Beach is a beautiful stretch of white sand, popular with Jamaicans, particularly on weekends, when the bass booms from competing sound systems. Food and drink stands supply nourishment in the form of curry goat, brown stew fish and jerk chicken.
🩷 Hit the dance floor in Kingston
As befitting any capital worth its salt, Kingston never sleeps, and its nightlife is second to none. You can try out the latest moves on the dance floor alongside the locals dressed in their best jeans and “batty riders” (short shorts) at uptown nightclubs such as Taboo, Fiction and Kingston Dub Club.
Planning tip: Look out for posters advertising all-night reggae music fests, taking place near Half Way Tree, featuring a dozen or so big-name performers who sometimes hang out with the audience after their set.
🤎 Fill your belly with jerk pork
One of Jamaica’s most iconic dishes, jerk pork, is cooked in oil drum grills by street vendors in Kingston and elsewhere, smoked in roadside cookshops and even served at high-end restaurants.
Jerk pork harkens back to the traditional Maroon way of preserving the meat: it’s marinated with Scotch bonnet chilies, allspice, garlic, thyme and spring onion and smoked slowly over pimento (allspice) wood fire for that unique taste. It’s quite dry and smoky, with a spice and sweetness to it. The slabs of dark meat are precision-chopped by the cook and typically served with homemade hot sauce drizzled on top.
Planning tip: Every Jamaican has their own opinion regarding the best recipe and the best place to sample it. Our tip is to head for the roadside grills in Boston Cay on the east coast, where you can try some of the most authentic jerk pork on the island.
🩷 Attend a reggae festival
Reggae Sumfest – a week-long music festival – is Jamaica’s music event of the year, and it typically features some of the biggest names in reggae and dancehall. A beach party on Walter Fletcher Beach in Montego Bay kicks off the festival with days of nonstop revelry at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Centre.
Imagine rocking out with musicians like Beenie Man, Damian “Jr Gong” Marley, The Mighty Diamonds, Capleton and Alicia Keys at night, then catching a nap on the sand at sunrise.
If you’re looking for pure, old-school roots reggae by the likes of Burning Spear and T***s and the Maytals, then don’t miss the two-day Rebel Salute festival in mid-January near St Ann’s Bay at Plantation Cove. Much of the action takes place at night, with the whole atmosphere wreathed in the fragrant smoke of “di herb.”