Ocho Rios, Saint Ann and Saint Mary, Jamaica

Highlights

• Dunn's River Falls pours its waters into the Caribbean Sea, and you can enjoy both the beach and the falls in one visit.
• Near Ocho Rios, the Blue Hole, also known as Island Gully Falls, is a natural sinkhole filled with turquoise waters.
• Join a guided tour at the Green Grotto in Runaway Bay, the best known of Saint Ann's sixty or so caves, and you pass through its chambers and underground lakes.
• Bob Marley was born at Rhoden Hall, in Nine Mile in the Saint Ann hills, in February 1945, and his mausoleum is there at his childhood home.
• A few miles east of GoldenEye, Noel Coward built Firefly on the spot Henry Morgan had used as a lookout, and he wrote many of his plays there, died there and is buried there.

How long to stay

The tourist board pitches the Ocho Rios resort area, which takes in Saint Ann, as the nature lover's escape. Three days lets you climb the falls, swim inland and see one side of the coast properly.

• With one day. Be at Dunn's River Falls early, before the crowds, in the water shoes the park strongly recommends. Afterwards, snorkel or kayak from the beach at the foot of the falls.
• With two days. Head inland to the Blue Hole, a waterfall on the White River with pools of blue water. Spend the evening at Island Village, which runs Salsa Saturdays and Karaoke Sundays.
• With three days. Go west for the Green Grotto Caves and the Puerto Seco beach park at Discovery Bay, or east to snorkel in the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary, fifteen minutes from town.

Where to stay

Ocho Rios has villas, boutique hotels, wellness retreats and budget rooms, and the tourist board also lists lagoon cottages and beach huts. Jamaica Inn, a family-run boutique hotel steps from the town centre, has welcomed guests to its eight acres for more than 65 years. Its balcony suites were listed from US$529 a night for one or two, plus a 25 per cent tax and service charge and US$2 a room a night. Couples Tower Isle, Couples Sans Souci and Sandals Ochi are among the adults-only resorts. RIU Ocho Rios, a 24-hour all-inclusive on the beach, listed a sea-view double at US$154 in November 2026. In Saint Mary, GoldenEye, Ian Fleming's old home, is a resort of villas and private beaches with a spa. Ask whether an all-inclusive price is per person or per room.

Ocho Rios after Hurricane Melissa

Saint Ann was among the parishes Hurricane Melissa damaged worst, while Saint Mary was one of the three furthest from its path. Dunn's River Falls and Ocho Rios Bay Beach reopened on 11 November 2025. On the tourist board's list for 5 November 2026, RIU Ocho Rios and the three Sandals resorts were open too, while Grand Muthu was closed. Konoko Falls, Mystic Mountain and Margaritaville were all listed open.

Food and nightlife

For jerk, go to Scotchies at Drax Hall or the Ocho Rios Jerk Centre in town, where pork, fish, conch and sausage share the grill with chicken. Miss T's Kitchen is known for jerk chicken, curry goat and seafood, and Sharkies Seafood Restaurant for curried shrimp and brown stew fish. About forty minutes into the hills, Stush in the Bush serves a fully plant-based meal on Fridays and Sundays at 1 pm, at US$227.50 a person.

After dark, reggae plays in the town's nightclubs and beach bars. Margaritaville, in Island Village by the cruise pier, runs themed club nights with DJs from 10 pm to 4 am. Out in the bay, Poko Loko is a floating bar reached by boat from Mahogany Beach.

Getting there and around

Sangster International at Montego Bay is the most convenient airport, and resort transfers from it are timed at about ninety minutes, more in heavy traffic. Norman Manley is about ninety minutes away, and the North-South toll road from Caymanas to Mammee Bay costs a car J$2,500 for the full run. Ian Fleming International at Boscobel, fifteen kilometres from town, takes private jets, charters and select international flights. Its customs and immigration desks work from 7 am to 7 pm daily, and outside those hours prior notice is required. Knutsford Express coaches link Ocho Rios with Kingston, Montego Bay, Port Antonio and Negril. Off a cruise ship, Dunn's River runs no transport from the pier, but uniformed tour staff with ID badges at the port help with getting there.

Day trips

West of town, Columbus probably landed at Dry Harbour, now Discovery Bay, in 1494. On his fourth voyage, worm-eaten ships kept him a year at Saint Ann's Bay, and Seville Great House and Heritage Park was open in November 2026. Inland, Yaaman Adventure Park at Prospect Estate adds camel rides and Segway tours to its ziplines and ATVs. Eastward in Saint Mary, the Oracabessa reef walls drop to the edge of the Cayman Trough. Castleton Botanical Garden, laid out in 1862, reopened in 2026, and you may swim in its Wag Water River. Portland is about two and a half hours away for waterfalls such as Reach Falls.

Maps

Ocho Rios, Saint Ann and Saint Mary

Ocho Rios

Practical facts

• Saint Ann Parish: the parish's capital, land area and population as the Jamaica Information Service parish profile records them.
• Saint Mary Parish: the parish's capital, land area and population as the Jamaica Information Service parish profile records them.
• Saint Ann was named after Ann Hyde, wife of James II, is the largest of all the parishes, and is known as the Garden Parish.
• Sevilla Nueva, now simply called Seville, was the island's first capital, established in 1509 by the Spaniards, and had the distinction of being the third Spanish capital established in the New World.
• Saint Ann is bounded east by Saint Mary and west by Trelawny, with the Dry Harbour Mountains dominant, limestone soil on the plains, and some sixty caves noted throughout the parish.
• Limestone and the many rivers of Saint Ann give rise to numerous caves and sinkholes, with some sixty caves noted, the most famous being the Green Grotto in Runaway Bay.
• Saint Ann's Bay is the parish capital and administrative centre, was originally called Santa Gloria by Columbus on his second voyage in 1494, and lies about a mile east of Sevilla Nueva.
• Saint Ann is well known as a repository of Jamaican culture and history, and Bob Marley and Marcus Garvey were both natives of the parish.
• The Green Grotto Caves near Ocho Rios are a system of underground caverns.
• Dunn's River Falls is a travertine waterfall that renews itself from calcium carbonate carried by the river, and the operator describes it as the only climbable falls of its kind in the Caribbean.

More about Ocho Rios, Saint Ann and Saint Mary

• About sixty caves have been recorded in Saint Ann, the best known being the Green Grotto at Runaway Bay.
• The limestone of the Saint Ann plains, worked on by its many rivers, is what produces the caves and sinkholes.
• Columbus called Saint Ann's Bay Santa Gloria on his second voyage in 1494.
• Runaway Bay takes its name from the escape of Yassi, the last Spanish Governor, who left for Cuba from that point.
• Bob Marley was born at Rhoden Hall in Nine Miles, Saint Ann, in February 1945, and died in May 1981.
• Port Maria was the second town the Spanish built on the island.
• Rio Nuevo was where the English and the Spanish fought their last battle for the island, after which the Spanish left for Cuba.
• Port Maria keeps buildings from its working days as a port, among them the parish church and the old courthouse.
• Oracabessa is thought to come from the Spanish for golden head, and the town itself farms.
• Seville Heritage Park stands on the old Seville estate, along with the Seville great house.
• The artefacts displayed in that great house set out aspects of Taino, African and European life on the same site, which is the point of the collection.
• Guided tours are offered at Seville, and the park is also used for picnics and for horse riding.
• Dunn's River Falls is about five minutes by road from the Ocho Rios cruise port.
• Climbing the falls is done by joining a human chain, which is worth knowing before deciding whether to climb them.