Negril

About Negril

Negril is a town in Jamaica. GeoNames lists a population of 13,779. Local time follows the America/Jamaica time zone. [1]

The nearest larger airport is Sangster International Airport (MBJ), about 53 km away. [1]

Negril is famous for its 7 miles (11 km) of cool, white sand beaches and another 7 miles of cliffs. One of the most beautiful towns in Jamaica, it has a more laid-back atmosphere than that of Montego Bay and is more touristy than Ocho Rios. When you stay at a hotel on the beach you are literally on the beach when you walk out of the beachside of your hotel. You have probably never seen water this clear or warm. You will be amazed at how far out you can walk in the water before it gets up to your neck. The water is gentler and the sand is whiter (smaller grained aka softer) the farther down (away from town) you are. The end of the beach down by the all-inclusives is the whitest. (Wikivoyage) [1]

The six resort areas named by the tourist board are Kingston, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril, Port Antonio and the Central and South Coast. [1]

Coral reefs in the Negril Marine Park have been increasingly affected by nutrient pollution and macroalgal blooms following decades of intensive tourism development. [1]

The tourist board puts YS Falls in Saint Elizabeth about a two-hour drive from Montego Bay or Negril. [1]

Negril is an hour and a half from Montego Bay. [1]

Negril has accommodation for every budget, from backpackers upward. [1]

Many of Negril's places to stay line the shore, with quick beach access. [1]

Text marked Wikivoyage is from https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?oldid=5412420, licensed CC-BY-SA-4.0; changes: trimmed to the opening paragraphs. CC BY-SA 4.0

Negril: what to know

Melissa came ashore near New Hope in Westmoreland, yet recovery has been strongest in Negril, where most hotels reopened between December 2025 and January 2026. Don't read too much into that, though. Britain's travel advice still said every western parish suffered significant damage, with some communities lacking electricity and piped water. Off the resort strip, carry water and expect the odd outage. [1][2][3]

In Negril the large all-inclusive resorts are typically at the north end, with smaller boutique properties to the south, and for nightlife you can head to Norman Manley Boulevard. Choose your end of the beach first, then the hotel. [1][2]

On West End Road you can eat at Ciao Jamaica, which serves Italian and Jamaican cooking with a view over the sea, and on the cliffs themselves Rockhouse is carved from the rock while Tensing Pen has cottages on the cliff top. The name goes back to the Spanish, who called the place Negrillo, little black ones, in 1494, after either the black cliffs south of the village or the black eels along the coast. [1][2][3][4][5]

The restaurant at Zimbali Retreat in Caanan Mountain, Westmoreland, focuses on eating locally grown items, and no red meat is ever served. Reservations are suggested at the Zimbali Retreat restaurant, which offers round trip transport from anywhere in Negril. [1]

Pick one a day and come back for sunset. Blue Hole Mineral Spring sits under a cavernous opening in the limestone and gives you a refreshing mineral bath. Eight miles east of Negril, Rhodes Hall Plantation covers five hundred acres, and you can ride it on horseback, look round its crocodile and mangrove reserve and finish with a swim. You can trek on horseback to the ruins of Whitehall Great House or take a boat ride to Booby Cay, a remote island just off Negril. [1]

The Royal Palm Reserve offers bird watching, a nature trail and a 30-foot observation tower with excellent views over the mangroves. On the Great River, you can take a leisurely trip down the calm, rippling waters in a 30-foot handcrafted bamboo raft. Bambuza Falls & Adventure Land is listed as open. [1][2][3]

Step away from the sand for a day and the parishes behind it open up. Lucea, the capital of Hanover, is a historic port town with Georgian architecture and a lively market, on a horseshoe-shaped bay 25 miles west of Montego Bay and midway between Montego Bay and Negril. In Hanover you can go river kayaking and fishing, hike the mountains and visit a community-managed nature reserve, and the view from Dolphin Head Mountain takes in the other parishes on the western side of the island. [1][2]

Savanna-la-Mar, the capital of Westmoreland, grew from about 1730 as a sugar port, and its Spanish name means plain by the sea. Britain's crime advice names Savanna-la-Mar for particular caution. Visit by day, with a driver who knows the town. Seaford Town grew out of a plan for a European settlement, sought after the abolition of slavery in 1834. Over a thousand Germans were brought to Jamaica for Lord Seaford's settlement, with the promise of house, land and employment. The township was laid out on five hundred acres, some of its buildings keep touches of German architecture, and Catholicism is still the main religion. [1][2][3]

Negril is an hour and a half from Montego Bay, and its aerodrome, one of four on the Airports Authority list with Ken Jones, Tinson Pen and Vernamfield, was reported operational for 29 October to 2 November. [1][2][3]

Highlights

• The beaches are the busy side of Negril, and a leisurely walk along the beach turns up restaurants, beach bars and glass-bottom boats offering snorkelling and sunset cruises. [1]
• The cliffside of Negril is the quiet side, with many luxury boutique hotels, ideal for a romantic getaway, destination wedding or honeymoon. [1]
• Negril Point Lighthouse is a white concrete tower sixty-six feet high, built in 1894 over a fourteen-foot tank of water that steadies it in an earthquake. [1]
• Mayfield Falls, one hour from Negril in the heart of Westmoreland, has caves, 44 mineral pools and 21 natural Jacuzzis. [1][2]

Facts

• Hurricane Melissa made landfall near New Hope in Westmoreland as a Category 5 hurricane. [1]
• Saint Elizabeth, Montego Bay and Negril were among the hardest hit, and recovery was strongest in Negril, where most hotels reopened between December 2025 and January 2026. [1]
• Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a major hurricane in October 2025, all western parishes suffered significant damage, and some communities remained without electricity and piped water. [1]
• In Negril the large all-inclusive resorts are typically at the north end and the smaller boutique properties to the south. [1]
• The tourist board sends Negril visitors looking for nightlife to Norman Manley Boulevard. [1]
• Ciao Jamaica, on the cliffs' West End Road, has sea views and Italian-Jamaican food. [1]
• Rockhouse, on Negril's West End cliffs, is a forty-room boutique hotel built of stone, timber and thatch. [1]
• Tensing Pen's two Rock Cottages are secluded cottages on top of the cliffs above the sea. [1]
• As of 5 November 2026 Rockhouse Hotel in Negril was open. [1]
• As of 5 November 2026 Shields Negril Villas was closed; Sunset at the Palms and Tensing Pen were open. [1]
• Negril, a shortened form of Negrillo meaning little black ones, was named by the Spanish in 1494, either for the black cliffs south of the village or for the black eels along its coast. [1]
• The restaurant at Zimbali Retreat in Canaan Mountain, Westmoreland, cooks locally grown food. [1]

Source: guidebook:jamaica@e9d2829. Checked Sun Nov 08.