A country · 47 places · 3 regions

Jamaica, all of it.

47 curated places across 3 regions — photographed, mapped, and noted with the season each is best in.

Blue Mountains, Jamaica · via Wikimedia Commons

Jamaica reads below in 3 chapters — Surrey County, Cornwall County and Middlesex County — in any order you like.

Chapter I · Surrey County · 15 places

Surrey County

The Blue Mountains form a 28-kilometre ridge in eastern Jamaica that culminates at Blue Mountain Peak, the island's highest point at 2,256 metres. The range sustains a cool, misty montane forest that is a global biodiversity hotspot and produces the island's famous high-altitude coffee. Pre-dawn ascents of the peak—typically departing at 2:00 a.m.—are timed to reach the summit for sunrise views extending in clear conditions to the Blue Mountains' name-giving blue atmospheric haze and across to Cuba.

Blue Mountains, Jamaica

Surrey County, Jamaica

✦ December to March · $$

Port Antonio

Surrey County, Jamaica

✦ December to April; Portland is Jamaica's wettest parish, so pack for showers · $

Kingston, Jamaica

Surrey County, Jamaica

✦ December to April; February for Reggae Month events · $$

All 15 places in Surrey County →

via Wikimedia Commons

Chapter II · Cornwall County · 9 places

Cornwall County

Negril occupies the westernmost tip of Jamaica with a seven-mile arc of white sand beach facing the Caribbean at the point where the water blazes in afternoon light. Rick's Café on the limestone cliffs at the south end of town is a well-established venue where cliff diving into the turquoise water below draws spectators as the sun sets. The shallow grass flats north of the main beach support nursing nurse sharks and rays encountered on snorkel and glass-bottom boat trips.

✦ December to April · $$

Meet Negril All 9 places in Cornwall County →

Chapter III · Middlesex County · 6 places

Middlesex County

Dunn's River Falls is a 180-metre terraced limestone waterfall cascading directly to a Caribbean beach near Ocho Rios on Jamaica's north coast. Visitors traditionally climb the falls in guided human chains, ascending naturally sculpted travertine steps flanked by secondary forest. The falls are replenished by underground springs emerging from the hillside, maintaining consistent flow year-round and relatively cool water temperatures.