A bamboo raft, a waterfall, and Negril by sunset. All of it a day trip.
Montego Bay is where the plane lands and where the good days start. Which river raft is worth the drive, what the Rick’s Cafe run costs, and whether Dunn’s River beats the Blue Hole on your one free day.
The four days out that make a Montego Bay week.
A river, a waterfall, the west-end sunset and the lagoon that glows after dark. What each one costs and how long it takes out of your day.
01The slow oneJamaica Martha Brae Bamboo Rafting with Bus TransportationNinety minutes on a raft cut from one piece of bamboo, poled by a man who knows every rock in the Martha Brae.
02The big oneBlue Hole, Secret Falls, and Dunn’s River Falls Combo Day-TripBlue Hole, Secret Falls and Dunn’s River in a single run east. Long day, three swims, one minibus.
03The west-end runPrivate Negril DayTrip from Montego Bay Rick’s Café, 7 Mile BeachSeven Mile Beach in the afternoon, then the cliffs at Rick’s while the sun drops. Two hours each way.
04The night oneLuminous Lagoon Night Tour from Montego BayDinoflagellates light the water where you move. Bring a swimsuit and go on the darkest night you can.
Three rivers run out of the hills behind Montego Bay. Pick one.
The Martha Brae is the famous one and the calmest. The Great River is closer and cheaper. Anything with rapids in it is tubing, not rafting, and it is a wetter day than the photographs suggest.
Six places a Montego Bay morning ends up.
East along the coast to the falls and the caves, west to the beach and the cliffs, inland to the river, or out to the port town the cruise ships tie up in. Each one is a day, and each one has a best version.
Jamaica’s waterfalls are all east of Montego Bay, and most trips do two.
Dunn’s River is the one on the postcards and the busiest. The Blue Hole is inland, colder and better for jumping. Mayfield and YS are quieter and further, which is the whole point of them.
The Montego Bay days out everyone ends up taking.
The whole Montego Bay list →Airport runs left out, because nobody flies to Jamaica for the transfer. These are the trips people actually spend their free day on.
1
Rastafari Cultural ATV Community Experience from Montego Bay
Travel from Montego Bay to Roaring River for coffee, fruit juice, local history, and an ATV ride through farms and forest. Guides such as Gilbert, Nick, Ali, and Colwayne lead stops for swimming, fruit tasting, and a ganja farm visit, followed by a fresh Jamaican lunch.
From · $164
Read our review →
2
Jamaica All-Access Adventure Pass at Ocean Outpost
from $163
3
Blue Hole, Secret Falls, and Dunn’s River Falls Combo Day-Trip
from $125
4
Jamaica Martha Brae Bamboo Rafting with Bus Transportation
from $134
5
Jamaica Bamboo Rafting Experience with Lime Stone Massage
from $47
6
Reggae Catamaran and Snorkeling Open Bar Cruise Montego Bay
from $125
7
Luminous Lagoon Night Tour from Montego Bay
from $54
8
Bob Marley’s Nine Mile Admission and Guided Tour from Montego Bay
from $135
Doctor’s Cave is the postcard. The water off Montego Bay is the day.
Catamarans run west along the reef with a rope swing off the back and a bar that does not stop. Below the surface it is a marine park, so the snorkelling is genuinely good. The clear kayaks are for photographs and they know it.
The best two hours in Montego Bay happen after the sun has gone.
The lagoon at Falmouth lights up where you swim through it, and it only works on a dark night. Back in town the Hip Strip fills up late. Rick’s is west, an hour and a half away, and it is a sunset trip rather than a night one.
All the after-dark trips →
What a day out of Montego Bay actually costs.
Every day out on the site, grouped by price, with the airport cars left out of it. The cheap end is not the disappointing end here: the bamboo raft and the lagoon boat both sit in the bottom column.
River rafting, the town and Hip Strip tours, the lagoon boat and the beach club days.
The standard full days: Dunn’s River, the Blue Hole combo, Negril and Rick’s, ATV and horseback.
Private drivers for the day, the far-west falls, Appleton and the Blue Mountains, charter boats.
Three things you can only do on this coast.
Beaches and boat bars exist all over the Caribbean. A raft cut from one bamboo trunk, water that glows when you swim in it, and a cliff where people jump forty feet before the sun sets do not.
Rafting the Martha Brae
The rafts are thirty feet of bamboo lashed together, poled standing from the back, and they have been running this stretch of river since Errol Flynn made it fashionable in the 1950s. It takes about an hour and a half from Rafter’s Village down to the take-out. There is nothing to do on board except sit, which is the entire attraction, and the polers will stop at the bank if you want a drink or a foot massage in the limestone.
- 1Jamaica Martha Brae Bamboo Rafting with Bus Transportation★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 559 reviews
- 2Jamaica Bamboo Rafting Experience with Lime Stone Massage★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 549 reviews
- 3Private Montego Bay Bamboo Rafting with Limestone Foot Massage★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 200 reviews
The Luminous Lagoon
Where the Martha Brae meets the sea at Falmouth the water holds dinoflagellates in a concentration you will not find in many places on earth. Move your hand through it after dark and it lights up electric blue. The boats go out after sunset and let you swim; the trick is the moon, because a bright one washes the whole effect out. Check the calendar before you book a date.
- 1Luminous Lagoon Night Tour from Montego Bay★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 419 reviews
- 2Mesmerizing Luminous Lagoon (Glistening Waters) Night Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 98 reviews
- 3Luminous Lagoon After Dark Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 70 reviews
Sunset at Rick’s Cafe
Rick’s sits on the Negril cliffs about ninety minutes west, and the deal has not changed in decades: cliff divers, a reggae band, an overpriced rum punch and a sunset that earns the drive. Local boys jump from the tree above the top platform for tips. Get there by five for a seat on the rail, and remember the coach back is another ninety minutes in the dark.
- 1Private Negril DayTrip from Montego Bay Rick’s Café, 7 Mile Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 263 reviews
- 2ATV Jungle Ride and Sunset at Rick’s Cafe from Montego Bay★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 224 reviews
- 3Negril Seven Miles Beach Day and Rick’s Cafe Sunset Private Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 109 reviews
The Montego Bay trips that fill up before you arrive.
Most of this coast can be sorted from a hotel lobby the night before. These cannot: they run on tides, timetables, moon phases and one operator’s single boat.
- 01Luminous Lagoon Night Tour from Montego BayOne lagoon, a handful of boats, and every cruise ship in Falmouth wanting the same night. Dark nights sell out first.
- 02YS Falls, Black River Safari, Appleton Rum Tour OR Pelican Bar (Choose Up to 3)The distillery and the Pelican Bar both run to fixed times, two hours south-west of the coast. The last slot goes long before you would set off.
- 03Mystic Mountain Canopy Experience From Montego BayThe chairlift and the bobsled run on timed sessions, and a ship in at Ocho Rios takes most of them.
- 04Bob Marley’s Nine Mile Admission and Guided Tour from Montego BayTwo hours inland over bad road, one site, one gate time. It is a whole day and it does not run twice.
Ship days at Falmouth, and the afternoon rain from August on.
When two ships are in at Falmouth, Dunn’s River and the Luminous Lagoon absorb several thousand extra people and the queues are real. Late summer adds the other problem: hot mornings, heavy afternoons, and a hurricane season that peaks in September. Both have the same answer, which is to go early and to keep a roof in reserve.
Sangster is ten minutes from town and two hours from Negril.
A quarter of everything bookable in Montego Bay is a car. Shared shuttles run to the resort strips for the price of a lunch; a private car to Negril or Ocho Rios costs more but leaves when you do. Book the arrival one before you fly, because the taxi rank after immigration is nobody’s favourite moment.
By place: east, west and inland
By what you actually do: river, reef, road or rum
Bay, river, falls, west end: the week most people end up doing.
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