Tourist Attractions & Monuments Jamaica

Timetable

In Kingston, where most of the museums are located, the opening hours vary greatly from one place to another (check before you go), but few are open on Saturdays and even fewer on Sundays. They close early, between 4 and 6 pm

For the natural sites, generally located in the mountainous foothills of the island, in the jungle, like rivers, waterfalls (like Dunn's River Falls, YS Falls, etc.), or the Blue Hole, keep in mind that it gets dark suddenly at 6pm, you are in the tropics! So to have a clear blue water of the waterfalls and the river under the sun, arrive rather between 10 am and 2 pm even if the sites are often open until 4 pm.

To be booked

The big Jamaican musical event is the Reggae Sumfest which takes place every year in Montego Bay in July. It is necessary to reserve your place well in advance.

Budget & Tips

You should know that visits are quite expensive in Jamaica, almost all museums are private. The Institute of Jamaica, which presents beautiful museum collections, is very affordable. Other visits generally cost US$ 20 per adult and the guided tour is often included. Tours in amusement parks are more like 50 to 150 US$ per person (swimming with dolphins, zip line, Jamaican rafting, etc.).

Guided tours

Visits to museums and plantations are often guided, and a tip is expected at the end of the visit. To discover an authentic Jamaica, receptive agencies (such as the French-Jamaican Latitude Jamaica) also offer to go off the beaten track to meet the population.

Smokers

You can smoke in Jamaica, not indoors but almost everywhere outside, including ganja. Even if the tourists are supposed to have a prescription to have the right to consume it (which can be made in the minute in shops which sell some), the police is not there to check that the law is respected and that the tourists walk well with their prescription. They have - it must be said - other things to do in the difficult ghettos given the crime rate of the country, and it is also a clear will: ganja is a business that is now also part of the tourist attractions of the island.

Tourist traps

Hustlers wait for tourists in the very touristy areas of Ocho Rios in Negril. From car washes to drug sales, a tour of the city or neighborhood or simply the shakedown of a coin or a cigarette, the list of services they offer and activities they engage in is endless.