Wrapped around a small bay with postcard-worthy snugness, Ocho Rios is a former fishing village that the Jamaica Tourist Board earmarked for tourism in the mid-1980s. Whatever character Ocho Rios lost when the local nets were redirected from fish to the tourist dollar, its streets today are lined with interchangeable duty-free shopping plazas and fast-food emporia, persistent higglers (street vendors) and would-be tour guides, and a palpable air of waiting for something.
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Beautiful scenery, tramping and skiing opportunities, and an expanding roster of adrenaline-inducing activities have transformed the lakeside town of Wanaka into a year-round tourist destination. Travellers come here as an alternative to Queenstown, and while some locals worry their home is starting to resemble its hyped-up Central Otago sibling across the Crown Range, Wanaka’s lakefront area retains a laid-back, small-town feel. It’s definitely not a sleepy hamlet anymore though, and new restaurants and bars are adding a veneer of sophistication. Note that Wanaka wakes up in a big way for New Year’s Eve.
The northeast coast is Jamaica’s windward corner, where surf rolls ashore into perfect beach-lined coves and waves chew at rocky headlands. Colonial-era edifices are relatively few, though beautiful pocket-size beaches line the shore. You’ll also find several unspoiled fishing villages where budget travelers can ease into a laid-back local lifestyle.
Even if damp, dark tunnels sound like your idea of hell, take a chill pill and head to Waitomo anyway. These limestone caves with accompanying geological formations and glowing bugs are deservedly one of the premier attractions of the North Island.
In the 1970s, Negril lured hippies with its offbeat beach-life to a countercultural Shangri-la where anything goes. To some extent anything still goes here, but the innocence left long ago.
The flat-bottomed pastoral Waitaki Valley is a little-travelled route but includes some unique sights and scenery between the turn-off at SH1 and Omarama. Predominantly farmland, bordered by increasingly impressive hills as you near the Alps, the valley is also a blokes’ paradise, known to all red-blooded Kiwi males as a place to shoot ducks, catch trout and salmon, water ski on the strikingly blue hydrolakes, and marvel at their associated hydroelectric engineering wonders. All that and some great Pinot Noirs too. Woof! This is a possible route to Wanaka/Queenstown if you’re heading south, or to Twizel and Mt Cook if you’re heading north.
Negril, 81km west of Montego Bay, is the vortex around which Jamaica’s fun-in-the-sun vacation life whirls. You’ll soon find yourself falling in love with Negril’s insouciance and its scintillating 11km-long beach sliding gently into calm waters reflecting a palette of light blues and greens. Coral reefs lie just offshore, and you’ll want your camera close by to record the consistently peach-colored sunsets that get more applause than the live reggae concerts.
Poor little Wairoa is trying really hard to shirk its rough-edged reputation. A new Wairoa Township River Walkway takes in sites of interest along the main street, including the old solid kauri Portland Island Lighthouse (1877) which once stood off the Mahia Peninsula and now flashes proudly at the entry to the town centre. In retrospect, perhaps choosing a warning beacon as a landmark wasn’t such a great idea.
Morant Bay, the only town of importance along the south coast, squats on a hill behind the coast road. Most of the town’s early colonial-era buildings were burned in the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865, led by the town’s national hero, Paul Bogle, but a couple of gems remain.
A bustling town with a turbulent history, a thriving port and a hopping ‘hip strip, ’ Montego Bay is Jamaica’s most charged city. While spring-breakers descend on MoBay each year for bouts of ritualized raucousness, being host to the island’s busiest airport and cruise-ship port assures the town a steady stream of visitors, many of whom pop down from North America for long weekends.