In March of 2017, my wife and I spent 5 nights at The Grand Bahia Principe in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, near the popular cruise port Ocho Rios. This wasn’t a typical adventurous trip for us … We just wanted to escape Maine’s winter and relax at an all inclusive resort on the beach. Jamaica fit the bill.
Getting there was easy. We flew from Bangor to Philadelphia to Montego Bay on American Airlines. There are also direct flights from NYC, Boston, and many other cities with various airlines. Our hotel booking included round trip bus transportation from the airport to the resort.
Forget about renting a car in Jamaica… They drive FAST, on the left side of the road, and it’s just not a safe thing to do IMO. Any excursion you book should come with round trip transportation from the resort, so no worries. Or, you can actually hire a local to be your driver for the afternoon if you’re up for that kind of adventure. We did it one day and I’m still here to write this blog so it worked out.
When visiting Jamaica, you’ll probably stay at one of three areas: Negril on the south-west of the island, Montego Bay on the north of the island or the Ocho Rios area on the north-east of the island. The resorts in Montego Bay will be just a few minutes from the airport while Negril and Ocho Rios are about an hour and a half away and Runaway Bay is about an hour away.
I stayed in Negril twice in my college days for Spring Break. The beach there is long and beautiful and active with sunbathers and Jamaicans selling everything from jet ski rentals to banana boat rides to cocaine and ganja. You can probably bundle and save $. Between Negril and Ocho Rios, I feel like Negril is more of an authentic Jamaican experience while Ocho Rios is more packaged. I say that because in Negril you can wander the 7 mile beach during the day, go to restaurants at night, and eat authentic jerk chicken on the street. In Ocho Rios and Montego Bay, you’ll stay on the resort property, except for excursions.
Usually we’re the type to explore and experience the culture, but on this trip we were content staying at the resort, enjoying the free food and drinks, and just doing a couple of excursions. The Grand Bahia Principe is a huge resort with a huge lazy-river-style pool and direct beach access. We loved the swim up bar at the pool. The activities around the pool could be considered loud and annoying if you’re just trying to relax.
There are a couple of beach areas, the biggest area being to the left of the resort if facing the ocean. The water was clear and bottom was sandy with no seaweed, but it was really shallow, so it wasn’t the best water for actual swimming. Great for just chilling in a beach chair and occasionally cooling off in the water though. There weren’t waiters bringing you drinks, but cold Red Stripe and frozen drinks were served at a beach-side bar.
I had read mixed reviews on Tripadvisor about the food but I thought it was great. I don’t want to eat pizza and cheeseburgers when I visit a foreign country so I liked that Jamaican dishes were served at every meal. Curry goat, jerk chicken, oxtail, brown stew fish, plantains, rice and beans … Yum.
There are lots of excursions available and you don’t need to book them in advance, as you’ll have plenty of opportunities to book at the airport or at the resort. I think that the most popular is Dunn’s River Falls where you can follow a guide and climb up the falls that eventually fall into the ocean where there’s a small beach.
We passed on Dunn’s River Falls because we heard it gets really crowded, and instead went to Blue Hole, which was probably equally crowded but a lot of fun. At Blue Hole you’ll follow a guide up and down the falls, and jump off the top of a waterfall on a rope swing. There’s also a spot to cliff dive. Make sure to bring water shoes and a waterproof camera to either Dunn’s River Falls or Blue Hole.
The other excursion we did was horse back riding with Chukka Adventures. During the first part of the tour, you’ll ride a horse along a trail, not very exciting, but then you’ll ride the horse on a beach and as the horses swim in the ocean.
Other than these excursions, we just spent our 4 days chilling by the pool or on the beach, drinking and eating, which was just fine. It was a nice vacation, except for one really bad part … My wife and I both came home with terrible colds! We could smell mildew in the room, as is the case at many resorts in the Caribbean. It wasn’t overbearing or anything, so we thought it would be fine, but I think breathing that musty air every night is what got us sick.
Well, there you have it, that was Jamaica. Thanks for reading!
