Montego Bay Holidays 2024/2025
Montego Bay is Jamaica’s most famous area. You’ll feel right at home in this lively spot filled with pristine white sandy beaches and a shimmering sea boasting coral reefs, as well as some of the best nightlife in Jamaica.
Montego Bay Holiday Deals
Therapeutic beaches
One of the main reasons Jamaica’s second largest city, Montego Bay, is so popular is the dream-worthy Caribbean beaches. Located on the north coast, it has many lovely beaches including the famous Doctor’s Cave Beach – originally owned by a doctor who believed the water here was therapeutic. He eventually gave the beach to the community who built a private member’s club there.
Because of the water’s supposed healing properties and the beach’s natural outstanding beauty – boasting a 200-metre long stretch of white sand – many hotels have sprung up nearby. The beach is part of the Montego Bay Marine Park, which is a protected area with coral reefs. The members club is open to non-members for a fee, so you can speak to them or your hotel about snorkelling gear. Another well-known public beach is Walter Fletcher Beach where you’ll find the Aquasol Theme Park.
Adventure playground
Montego Bay is a fantastic place to explore on Jamaica holidays. You can take a 4×4 off road safari into the diverse interior landscape, with its dense jungles reaching out in all directions. There are also stunning waterfalls with opportunities to swim, a great antidote for the Caribbean heat. All this while your guide lets you in on the island’s rich history and culture.
Alternatively get your helmet on for a more hair-raising adventure via four-wheel ATV Safari. You’ll head 200-metres above sea level across rugged open terrain, past churches, farms, villages, and native flora and fauna.
If you’re on your honeymoon or would like a romantic excursion, sit back on a comfy bamboo river raft as you meander along the Martha Brae River that weaves through lush rainforest. Some of the stunning wildlife includes crocodiles, capuchin monkeys and Jamaican coney – a type of rodent that was once considered extinct.
Blue Mountains
The Blue Mountains are where one of the finest and most expensive coffees in the world originates. These illustrious mountains are almost always covered in mist, hence their slightly blue tinge. You can join a day-long coffee tour, similar to a winery tour, where you will be escorted high into the mountains to visit one of the island-nation’s plantations.
Here you’ll see where the coffee is grown, harvested, roasted and ground, before it’s shipped off to be sold in exclusive stores worldwide. For the coffee to use the name Blue Mountain it must derive from this area, 900 metres above sea level. Many other factors are involved in the product’s uniquely delicious taste, such as the quality of the soil and climate.
On this tour, you’ll also experience a natural habitat that boasts parakeets, ground doves, Jamaican doctor birds and egrets. If you’re looking for something a bit more active, there’s a bus and bicycle tour that takes you to James Bond Beach and for a swim in a waterfall.
Dance the night away
The great thing about Montego Bay is that it’s just as lively at night, and Hip Strip on Gloucester Avenue is the place to head. It’s far removed from the luxury hotels but you’ll get a sense of the Jamaican rhythm here, making it a popular hangout for groups of friends enjoying cheap holidays to Jamaica.
Margaritavilla is one of the most renowned venues and attracts big showbiz names including Cindy Crawford, Uma Thurman and P Diddy. Owned by famous American musician Jimmy Buffett, during the days it’s a bright and welcoming restaurant, by night it turns into a thriving nightclub with house DJs. Get your bikini on for the 120-foot waterslide that winds its way from the club into the Caribbean Sea then try out one of 52 styles of Margaritas, Jamaican Rum, and more.
Pier 1 is a more chilled pier bar by the water’s edge, with live music but still plenty of opportunity to dance. It also hosts the area’s Dancehall Queen competition to crown the hottest female dancer, and Jamaica’s top music festival Reggae Sumfest, with performances on the main stage every July.