If you’re looking for a brief escape from the fun-in-the sun ethos of Negril, spend an hour or two down the caves at Roaring River Park (cave tours adult/child US$15/8; 8am-5pm). This natural beauty spot contains mineral waters that gush up from the ground in a meadow full of water hyacinths and water lilies. A stone aqueduct takes off some of the water, which runs turquoise-jade. Steps lead up a cliff face gashed by the mouth of a subterranean passage lit by electric lanterns (you can enter the caves only with guides from the cooperative). Inside, a path with handrails leads down to chambers full of stalagmites and stalactites. Take your swimming gear to sit in the mineral spring that percolates up inside the cave, or in the ‘bottomless’ blue hole outside the cave. Harmless fruit bats roost in the recesses.
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Imperturbable Mandeville lounges 610m above sea level on a plateau of the eastern flank of the Don Figuerero Mountains. Climbing up to Jamaica’s fifth largest town, you’re immediately conscious of the almost springlike coolness that marks Manchester Parish’s capital and drew many British settlers in the 19th century. In the 1950s, these expats were joined by North Americans working in the bauxite industry, giving the town a cosmopolitan aura.
