Things to do in Negril
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Clive’s Transport Service
Offers reliable, comfortable tours islandwide and airport transfers (one to three people US$50) in a nine-passenger minivan.
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3 Dives Jerk Centre
It’s no small tribute to 3 Dives that its jerk overshadows its reputation for lengthy waits (sometimes over an hour). Fortunately, the chefs are more than happy to let you peek into the kitchen, where there’s bound to be a pile of super-hot Scotch bonnet peppers threatening to spontaneously combust, and you can sip cheap Red Stripe on the cliffs at the end of a small garden. This is also the site of the annual Negril Jerk Festival.
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Rick’s Café
You’ll join the touristy throng at this ever-popular West End institution. The somewhat pricey menu features steaks, fresh seafood and Cajun fare. The loud music precludes an intimate meal, but if you’re in the mood for a party – or a dip in the pool between courses – this place fits the bill. While you eat, local divers try to outdo each other from the 10m-tall cliffs.
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Cosmo’s
A steadfast beach favorite with three thatched bars and dining areas near Long Bay Beach Park. Conch is the specialty here, whether steamed, curried or anchoring a hearty soup. Your host, Cosmo Brown, is also universally saluted for the pot of curried goat or oxtail that is perpetually simmering on the back burner.
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Firefly
Set amid wide lawns high atop a hill 5km east of Oracabessa and 5km west of Port Maria, Firefly was the home of Sir Noel Coward, the English playwright, songwriter, actor and wit. When he died in 1973, Coward left the estate to his partner Graham Payn, who gifted it to the nation. Today the house is a museum, looking just as it did on Sunday, February 28, 1965, the day the Queen Mother visited. Your guide will lead you to Coward’s art studio, where he was schooled in oil painting by Winston Churchill. The studio displays Coward’s original paintings and photographs of himself and a coterie of famous friends. The upper lounge features a glassless window that offers one o…
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Seven Mile Beach
Sometimes called Negril Beach, this beach was initially touted on tourism posters as ‘seven miles of nothing but you and the sea.’ But the once-peaceful place that drew all those blissed-out sensualists in the early 1970s is now only a happy memory. As before, topless sunbathers lie half submerged on lounge chairs in the gentle surf, and the sweet smell of ganja smoke still perfumes the breeze, but otherwise the beach has changed in nearly every way. Today it’s a much livelier place with scores of restaurants, bars and nightspots and every conceivable water sport on offer. The swaying palms, clear waters and nearby coral reefs mean that the beach is still beautiful to beh…
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Abba Jahnehoy’s Garden
Seemingly a world away from the Negril strip, Abba Jahnehoy’s Garden is a three-story meditation and learning center that is poised on a hill, and offers a splendid panoramic view extending down to the sea. Solar powered and surrounded by a vegetable and root garden, the octagonal building is the work of Janhoi Jaja. He’s a gracious Rasta who is more than happy to discuss the ins and outs of Rastafarianism, or reggae or Negril’s development or the finer points of numerology (or all of the above) over bowls of his excellent homemade soup that is made from his garden’s produce. Getting there is half the fun, as the garden’s located at the end of a series of unmarked dirt …
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Royal Palm Reserve
The easiest way to get a sense of the Great Morass is at the Royal Palm Reserve. Wooden boardwalks make a 1.5km loop around the reserve. Three distinct swamp forest types are present – the royal palm forest, buttonwood forest and bull thatch forest. They’re all home to butterflies galore as well as doctorbirds, herons, egrets, endangered black parakeets, Jamaican woodpeckers and countless other birds. Two observation towers provide views over the tangled mangroves.
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Negril Lighthouse
The gleaming white, 20m-tall Negril Lighthouse, 5km south of Negril Village, illuminates the westernmost point of Jamaica, at 18° 15’ north, 78° 23’ west. The lighthouse, erected in 1894 with a prism made in Paris and originally powered by kerosene, is now solar powered and flashes every two seconds. Wilson Johnson, the superintendent, will gladly lead the way up the 103 stairs for a bird’s-eye view of the coast.
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Le Vendôme
This formal French restaurant is living proof that gourmet cuisine can also be healthful. Take your table on the terra-cotta terrace with a pleasant garden view and choose from classic French dishes like duck à l’orange and escargots Burgundy style, or regional creations like baked snapper, all prepared with locally grown vegetables and spices. There’s a daily five-course gourmet dinner (US$26 to US$39) – or curried goat if you prefer Jamaican fare.
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Rusty’s X-Cellent Adventures
Rusty’s X-Cellent Adventures offers high-quality two- to four-hour mountain-bike tours into the Negril Hills. Exciting single-track routes follow goat paths to high ridges with awesome views; your guide provides casual instruction and commentary along the way. All equipment – bikes, helmets, water and accessories – is included. Tours begin and end at Treetops, where gnarly bikers can also find lodging. Reservations are required.
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Jungle
A happening disco and the only one you’ll find outside of an all-inclusive resort. It’s not the most urbane place, with its tacky decor, but the DJs definitely know what they’re doing; during the high season guest talent from Miami and New York regularly takes command of the turntables. The best nights are Thursday, when women enter free before midnight, and Saturday. There’s not much action before midnight.
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Norma’s on the Beach
The Negril branch of Norma Shirley’s celebrated Jamaican culinary empire, this Norma’s seems to have escaped the hype surrounding her Kingston flagship. The ‘new world Caribbean’ food at this stylish beach restaurant is just as adventurous. Expect to find the likes of lobster, Cornish game hen, jerk chicken and pasta as well as tricolored ‘rasta pasta.’ Lunches are more burger and tuna-melt oriented.
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Lobster House
Renowned for its pink gnocchi in a parmesan cream and its signature lobster dishes, this congenial outdoor spot’s brick oven has brought it the status of best pizzeria in town – if you need proof, try the Queen Aragosta pizza with lobster tails. Many, however, come for a cup of what is arguably the best espresso on the island, made from the proprietor’s vintage 1961 Faema espresso machine.
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Rhodes Hall Plantatio
Rhodes Hall Plantation, 3km southwest of Green Island Harbour, is a picturesque, 220-hectare fruit-and-coconut plantation with several thatched bars and a restaurant backing a small but attractive beach where hot mineral springs bubble up. Follow the beach west and you may see crocodiles at the mouth of the river. Horseback riding is offered (US$50/60 per one/two hours).
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Hungry Lion
This brightly painted spot serves intricate fare from a changing menu of mostly fish and vegetarian dishes, like a vegetarian shepherd’s pie or quesadillas stuffed with shrimp and cheese. The alfresco rooftop dining room is tastefully decorated with earth tones and original art. The music is trancelike, and the bar serves an extensive menu of cocktails and juices.
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LTU Pub
Providing a perfect setting for a sunset dinner, this small clifftop open-air bar and restaurant features an eclectic menu with Jamaican dishes, delicious creations like chicken with callaloo and cream, an array of steaks and burgers, and quite possibly the only schnitzel in town. Just south of Rick’s Café, it’s a favorite haunt of expats and their local friends.
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Selina’s
An outstanding breakfast spot that enjoys many repeat customers for the callaloo and cheese omelettes, banana pancakes, killer smoothies and hand-roasted coffee. The lunch menu features salads and burgers, though the pièce de résistance is the cheese-and-vegetable quesadilla. Sundays see a jazz band that draws a mixed crowd of locals and visitors.
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MXIII
Negril’s reggae concerts are legendary, with live performances every night in peak season, when there’s sure to be some big talent in town. Several venues offer weekly jams, with a rotation system so they all get a piece of the action. The really big-name acts usually perform at MXIII and Hotel Samsara.
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Sweet Spice Restaurant
This unassuming bright-blue clapboard house is a favorite among several authentic Jamaican restaurants in Sheffield Rd that are frequented by locals. Portions are heaped, prices are inexpensive and the food authentic. The menu includes curried goat and fish, conch steak and pepper steak. No alcohol is served but there are plenty of fruit juices.
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Stanley’s Deep Sea Fishing
The waters off Negril – teeming with tuna, blue marlin, wahoo and sailfish – provide some excellent action for sport-fishing enthusiasts. Stanley’s Deep Sea Fishing offers custom fishing-trip charters (US$400/600/800 per half/three-quarter/full day for up to four people; for additional passengers add US$50/75/100 per head).
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Booby Cay
Booby Cay is a small coral island 1km offshore from Rutland Point, which was used as a South Seas setting in the Walt Disney movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The island is named for the seabirds - 'boobies' in local parlance - that nest here. Water-sports concessionaires can arrange boats for about around US$25 roundtrip.
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Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville
This most ostentatious of the beach bars sustains a spring-break vibe all year long. There are big-screen TVs, a basketball court, trampolines in the sea, volleyball, swing hammocks and multiple bars with entertainment. It hosts wet T-shirt contests and the like, and has nightly specials, including karaoke on Sunday.
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Whitehall Great House
The only other site of note in the hills is Whitehall Great House, in ruins following a fire in 1985. The surrounding plantation grounds provide a stage for horseback rides. Don't be fooled into paying around US$5 for a tour by the locals who hang out and attempt to attach themselves as self-ascribed 'guides.'
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Ivan’s Bar
Although the service can be a little bewildering, there’s no doubt about the food at Catcha Falling Star’s restaurant overlooking the sea. Papaya Ahoy is an excellent ‘boat’ of papaya filled with shrimp or snapper drizzled in a coconut sauce. Coconut pimento chicken and Caribbean crabcakes also hit the spot.
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