Jamaica’s south coast is the exact opposite of Montego Bay. No large resorts, no cruise piers, almost no beach vendors. Fishing villages, ten-room guesthouses, a dry landscape of cactus and savanna, and a handful of natural sites few visitors ever see. It is the Jamaica you choose when you have already been, or when you are not looking for an all-inclusive at all.
The essentials in four lines
- About four and a quarter hours non-stop from Montreal to Montego Bay (MBJ), then two to two and a half hours by road.
- Jamaica stays on Eastern time all year: same hour as Montreal in winter, one hour behind in summer.
- This is the driest part of the island, with a landscape of cactus and plains.
- The sand is brown or grey rather than white, and sargassum is more present than on the north coast.
Treasure Beach
It is not a village but a run of four bays over ten kilometres, in the parish of Saint Elizabeth. Accommodation consists of guesthouses, villas and two or three small hotels; there is no international brand, and the local community deliberately refused that model.
The result is a form of tourism uncommon in the Caribbean: you stay in someone’s house or nearly, you eat in neighbourhood kitchens, you travel with local drivers. An international literary festival is held here every two years in May and draws authors from around the world to a village of two thousand people.
The natural sites
YS Falls
Seven tiers of waterfall on a working farm, with swimming pools, a rope swing and shaded lawns. Far less crowded than the northern falls, and far more restful.
The Black River safari
A boat trip up the island’s longest navigable river, through Jamaica’s largest wetland. You see American crocodiles, herons and ospreys. The outing lasts ninety minutes and leaves from the town of Black River, whose Victorian houses recall the nineteenth-century logwood prosperity.
The bar on stilts
A kilometre offshore from Parottee, on a sandbar where you can stand, a bar built from driftwood and sheet metal serves beer and grilled fish. You reach it by boat in twenty minutes. It has become the most reproduced image of the south coast, and the place remains startlingly simple.
Lovers’ Leap
A five-hundred-metre cliff dropping straight into the sea, with a lighthouse and a legend of two fleeing lovers. On a clear day the view runs the length of the coast.
Rum and the table
Jamaica’s oldest working rum distillery sits in the neighbouring valley among the cane fields and welcomes visitors with tastings. The road there passes through an avenue of giant bamboo arching overhead for several kilometres.
At the table, the south coast is known for fish and seafood. A fishing village to the east gathers a dozen open-air kitchens where you choose your fish by weight before it is grilled or fried; Jamaicans drive from Kingston for it.
What to know before booking
There is essentially no all-inclusive on the south coast, and that is deliberate. If you want a resort with a wristband, a buffet and entertainment, look to Negril, Montego Bay or Ocho Rios; our criteria for choosing an all-inclusive hotel will help there.
The beaches are more modest than elsewhere on the island: short coves, brown sand, sometimes lively water. Sargassum affects this coast more than the north, mainly from spring to autumn. In exchange, the light, the quiet and the quality of the welcome have no equivalent, and the value for money is excellent.
When to go
From December to April the weather is dry and the air holds around 30 °C. The south coast gets markedly less rain than the rest of the island all year, which makes it an interesting option in October and November when the north is wetter.
The cyclone season runs June to November. Our guide on when to travel south from Montreal places those periods in the departure calendar.
To plan this trip, see also our Jamaïque page, Negril, Ocho Rios and judging value for money.
