Royal Plantation
While luxury can be found across Jamaica, its lap is surely on this 8-acre spot nestled around two private beaches.
Sandcastles Resort
Large centrally located option that’s a beach ball’s throw from Turtle Beach, this well-refurbished resort has bright studios and one- and two-bedroom suites in various configurations. All have cable TV, plus modern furnishings.
Indies Hotel
Providing perhaps the best value in Kingston, this well-run operation is highly rated for its cheerful ambience and accommodating atmosphere.
Rio Vista Resort & Villas
Atop a ridge near the turnoff for Rafter’s Rest on the Rio Grande, 6km west of Port Antonio, this is a superb option.
Culloden Cove Villa
One-and-a-half kilometers to the northwest of Whitehouse, this excellent rental was formerly the site of the Culloden Café. These days you must come and stay in order to get some of the place’s popular cuisine.
Ocean Crest Guest House B&B
Somewhat dark and a little loud, this B&B is a favorite with the backpacker crowd. The lounge has a large-screen TV.
Forres Park Guest House & Farm
As you enter the village, you’ll see Forres Park Guest House & Farm, a working coffee farm with an enviable hillside setting, amid lush gardens and tiers of coffee bushes flowing downhill like folds of green silk.
Pier View Motel Apartments
Also centrally located, this budget option offers studios and a range of modestly furnished rooms and apartments, all with fans, refrigerator and cable TV; there are also suites with air-con – lacking kitchen – that sleep up to four.
A&E
In the basement of a small restaurant-bar on the road to the cemetery, this tiny inn offers three small, simple but clean rooms with bathrooms. There’s a TV lounge and a cheerfully appointed bar that provides a colorful place to sup with locals.
San Wood Villas
Home of Gee Jam recording studios, this sprawling, well-conceived ‘rock-and-roll hotel’ offers classy cabins, suites in a fabulously decorated house, and a large studio with a kitchenette that resembles a Caribbean-styled New York City loft.
Royal Reef Hotel & Restaurant
On the A1 at Greenwood, this gracious, modern Mediterranean-style hotel has 19 rooms. Its decor includes classical wrought-iron furnishings and exquisite tropical murals.
Alhambra Inn
Across from the National Stadium, this is an attractive, two-story property with 20 air-con rooms in Spanish style. It’s designed to lure convention business and offers gracious furnishings, cable TV, phones and spacious bathrooms.
Glenrock Hotel
In the process of a prolonged renovation at last visit, this congenial place has seven older (and cheaper) rooms with fans and louvered windows, plus bathrooms with hot water.
Camp
A derelict old coffee plantation called Clydesdale is a popular spot for budget accommodations. The much-battered waterwheel and coffee mill machinery are partially intact. It has picnic spots and a small waterfall where you can skinny-dip.
Jamnesia Surf Camp
Billy Wilmot, the owner of Jamnesia Surf Camp, has done as much as anyone to raise the profile of Jamaican surfing and to introduce the sport to a growing cadre of young hopefuls.
Brandon Hill Guest House
This well-run option offers attractive gardens and a nice view, with 16 modestly furnished, well-lit rooms. Breakfast and snacks are prepared to order, but dinner must be had elsewhere.
Knightwick House
Behind and above the Coral Cliff Hotel, this wonderful B&B is close to the action without being submerged by it.
Little Shaw Park Guest House
Providing a restful retreat, this trim place is set among 0.6 hectares of beautifully tended lawns, bougainvillea, and has a gazebo and hammocks. There’s a room in the owner’s house and seven spacious (though dark) cabins with homey decor.
Treetops
This special house – some might call it a castle – is the creation of Rusty Jones of Rusty’s X-Cellent Adventures, Negril’s premier mountain-biking haven.
Goldeneye
If this looks like the type of place James Bond might have retired to, it's probably because his creator Ian Fleming used to live here.
Llantrissant Beach House
One of the more charming options, this century-old two-story, four-bedroom home rests on a point near the roundabout.
Global Villa Guest House
Eight kilometers west of town on the A1, it offers 10 nicely furnished, clean rooms with louvered windows and tiled floors. There’s a good restaurant serving hearty Jamaican fare.
Nix Nax
Located to the northeast of the town center at the school crossing, this inimitable hostelry offers dorm-style beds, private rooms with shared bath, and one cheerful top-floor room with veranda and private bath.
Fan
In the hills behind Drapers overlooking the harbor is this beautiful villa rental with gingerbread trim, a large living room and a separate dining room in the guest apartment. Meals can be provided on request.
Skip's Place
One kilometer west of Boscobel Beach, this friendly haven for budget travelers offers 16 modest rooms of varying sizes, cooled by cross-ventilation and featuring basic furnishings.
Franklyn D Resort
This Spanish hacienda–style, all-inclusive family resort has 67 smartly decorated suites, including some two- and three-bedroom apartments. Children find plenty to do in the several kid-friendly facilities.
Time 'N Place
If this small beachside hotel seems like a great place for a movie or modeling shoot, it's because it is. You yourself needn't aspire to the glamor life, however, as this is one of the most laid-back spots in Jamaica.
Coral Seas Beach Resort
This well-run option is a sequestered beachside place in a garden of bamboo and hibiscus. You can choose from rooms with verandas, fully equipped apartments, two honeymoon suites or clifftop units. The pool has a bar.