Must-see attractions in Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

  • Rose Hall Great House

    Rose Hall Great House

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    This splendid 1770s mansion is the most famous great house in Jamaica. John Palmer, a wealthy plantation owner, and his wife, Rose (after whom the house…

  • Vintage furniture in dining room area of Greenwood Great House.

    Greenwood Great House

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    This marvelous estate, sitting high on a hill, is not as famous as Jamaica's most famous great house, but offers a far more intimate and interesting…

  • Hampden Estate

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    A lane lined with palm trees leads you to the landscaped grounds of Hampden Great House estate, dotted with strutting peacocks. Tours assemble beneath a…

  • National Museum West

    Montego Bay

    This well-curated, revamped museum, peppered with period objects, takes you through the history of western Jamaica, from the Cohaba ceremonies of the…

  • Jewish Cemetery

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    Established in the early 19th century, Falmouth's Jewish cemetery lay abandoned in recent decades before being restored, and contains the graves of the…

  • Windsor Cave

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    This cave may be off the beaten track to most people, but it's one of Jamaica's most important bat habitats, home to 12 species of around 100,000 bats. It…

  • Doctors Cave Beach in Jamaica

    Doctor’s Cave Beach

    Montego Bay

    It may sound like a rocky hole inhabited by lab-coated troglodytes, but this is actually Montego Bay’s most famous beach and the one with the most…

  • Rocklands Bird Feeding Station

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    This bird sanctuary is run by Fritz Beckford, a passionate champion of birds who will pour birdseed into your hand or provide you with a sugar-water…

  • Glistening Waters

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    Glistening Waters, also known as ‘Luminous Lagoon,’ actually lives up to the hype. Located in an estuary near Rock, 1.6km east of Falmouth, the water here…

  • Indigenous Rastafarian Village

    Montego Bay

    If you want to learn about the Rastafarian movement, come out to this…hmmm...‘theme park’ is definitely not the right description. How about ‘living…

  • Montego Bay Marine Park & Bogue Lagoon

    Montego Bay

    The waters of Montego Bay are gorgeous to behold both above and below the surface, but they have long been compromised by the effects of fishing, water…

  • St James Parish Church

    Montego Bay

    Regarded as the finest church on the island, it was originally built between 1775 and 1782, but was so damaged by the earthquake of March 1, 1957, that it…

  • Animal Farm

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    While disappointingly light on revolutionary pigs corrupted by the acquisition of power (if you haven’t read your Orwell, never mind), this Animal Farm…

  • Water Square

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    The best place to orient yourself is Water Sq, at the east end of Duke St. Named for an old circular stone reservoir dating from 1798, the square …

  • Bellefield Great House

    Montego Bay

    Built in 1735, the restored Bellefield showcases 18th-century colonial living and Jamaican culinary history. You get to see the local gardens with…

  • Good Hope Great House

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    The former home of John Tharp, Jamaica's largest land and slave owner in the late 18th century, sits on a hill overlooking the estate. A Good Hope Estate…

  • Croydon in the Mountains Plantation

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    Located 34km south of Montego Bay, off the potholed B6 road, this plantation can feel more like an Indian or Balinese rural community than Jamaica, with…

  • Gallery Joe James

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    This is the sort of wonderful old place eccentrics dream of owning. In this case, said eccentric is Mr Joe James, father of former England and Liverpool…

  • Sam Sharpe Square

    Montego Bay

    This bustling, cobbled square is named for Samuel Sharpe (1801–32), national hero and leader of the 1831 Christmas Rebellion; it is also where he was…

  • Montego Bay Cultural Centre

    Montego Bay

    At the southwest corner of Sam Sharpe Sq you’ll find the copper-domed Civic Centre, an elegant colonial-style, cut-stone building on the site of a ruined…

  • William Knibb Baptist Memorial Church

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    On July 31, 1838, slaves gathered outside this church for an all-night vigil, awaiting midnight and then the dawn of full freedom (to quote the emancipist…

  • Orange Valley

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    Now used for raising racehorses, this former sugar estate dates back to 1678, and is open to the public via tour. Historian Kathy Weiselberg shows you the…

  • Seaford Town Historical Museum

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    In a grassy space below the church, this museum tells the tale of Seaford’s German origins. There are maps and photographs of the early settlement, plus…

  • Burchell Memorial Baptist Church

    Montego Bay

    Two blocks east of Sam Sharpe Sq is one of the churches in which Sam Sharpe is said to have been a deacon. The building, which dates to 1835, is a slice…

  • Dead End Beach

    Montego Bay

    A meet-the-locals affair just north of Gloucester Ave, this narrow strip is also known as Buccaneer Beach. The lack of space promotes togetherness; at…

  • Courthouse

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    One block east of Water Sq is Seaboard St and the grandiose, yellow Georgian courthouse in Palladian style, fronted by a double curling staircase and…

  • David Pinto Pottery Studio

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    Renowned Jamaican ceramicist David Pinto has his studio in one of the original estate buildings opposite the Chukka Adventures reception. You'll find…

  • Jacob Taylor Beach

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    Right next to the Silver Sands Resort there's a turnoff for this small, flotsam- and jetsam-strewn fishermen's beach. The cerulean waves are too rough for…

  • Burwood Beach

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    This upgraded public beach is popular with locals and cruise-ship passengers alike. It's a sugary-white crescent of sand with calm waters, 2km east of…

  • Tryall Estate

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    The ruins of the Tryall Estate sugar plantation lie 5km west of Hopewell. Much of the estate, including the huge Tryall Water Wheel that drove the cane…

  • Fort Montego

    Montego Bay

    At the southern end of Gloucester Ave, up a set of stairs, is this inauspicious fort. The sole remnant is a small battery with three brass cannons on…

  • Police Station

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    The oddly cute historic police station was constructed in 1814. The prison here once contained a treadmill: a huge wooden cylinder with steps on the…

  • Church of the Sacred Heart

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    The main evidence of Seaford's heritage is its Catholic faith, exemplified by the red, zinc-roofed, old stone Church of the Sacred Heart, which sits atop…

  • Creek Dome

    Montego Bay

    The bizarre-looking Creek Dome was built in 1837 above the underground spring that supplied drinking water for Montego Bay and was still in use after 1894…

  • Phoenix Foundry

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    One of Falmouth's most distinctive buildings, Phoenix Foundry was built in 1810 and sports a strange-looking conical roof. Behind the foundry, guarded by…

  • Barrett House

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    At the top of Market St, opposite Scotiabank, is the ruin of Barrett House, missing its top floor. Built in 1799, it's hard to believe now that this used…

  • Albert George Market

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    The market structure on the east side of Water Sq, which dominates central Falmouth, was once the site of slave auctions and now encloses a mediocre…

  • St Mary’s Anglican Church

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    St Mary’s Anglican Church stands on a knoll overlooking the remains of the sugar factory, not far from the ruins of the Montpelier great house. It’s a…

  • Baptist Manse

    Montego Bay & Northwest Coast

    The restored Baptist Manse (not open to visitors), dating back to 1798, was formerly the residence of nonconformist Baptist preacher William Knibb, who…