Overview

Montego Bay, often called MoBay, is a vibrant coastal city on Jamaica's northwestern shore, renowned for its beautiful beaches, warm Caribbean waters, and lively atmosphere. This popular destination offers the perfect mix of relaxation and excitement, attracting visitors with its diverse accommodations and a wide range of attractions and tours. Whether you're looking for a luxury resort retreat, a journey into Jamaican history and culture, or exhilarating water sports and outdoor adventures, Montego Bay provides an unforgettable experience at the heart of the Caribbean.

Things to See and Do

While many visitors come to Montego Bay and stay at their resort the entire time, we highly encourage you to go out and explore by planning some excursions, dinners off the resort, or tours off site. This offers the best way to get a feel of the Jamaican culture and experience some beautiful things the island of Jamaica offers.

Take a catamaran boat cruise around the island. This is a perfect way to soak up the fabulous views of the Montego Bay coastline. Many of these boat trips offer snorkeling, lunch, raggae music, water trampolines, and relaxation. Sunset cruises are also very popular, as well as longer rides to neighboring Negril.

Explore the Rastafarian culture. There are interactive tours which welcomes visitors into the traditional Rasta village. You learn all about their medicinal garden, their food, and joy of music, crafts, and most importantly their belief system and history. Learning about the culture will deepen your understanding of the Jamaican culture, truly a unique experience.

Go river rafting on the Martha Brae. Float along this 3 mile river on a traditional Bamboo raft and take in the natural and peaceful surroundings. Flowers and trees of all varieties drift past as you soak in the experience and learn about the legend of "Martha Brae" and memorize the Reggae songs being sung by the guides. The river rafting tours leave from the Martha Brae Rafting Village, which is about 20 miles from Montego Bay. On-site you'll find a picnic ground, swimming pools, shops, a medicinal garden, and more.

Go Ziplining. Jamaica has such a lush and mountainous landscape, which makes for excellent ziplining. Many places that offer zipling also have additional adventures such as tubing or cascading pools.

Enjoy a rum tasting at the Appleton Estate Rum tour. Rum is so popular that Jamaica actually has the most Rum Bars per square footage than any other country in thee world! The Appleton Estate Rum company makes fine rums and offers tours to anyone who wants to learn more about the rum-making process. To get there you'll have to take a two-hour journey, but the trip is well worth it. You can take a tour of the distillery, and sample some of the products. The tour is very interactive and begins every hour.

Go snorkeling. Montego Bay is known as the best place for snorkeling in Jamiaca, especially the popular Doctor's Cave Beach. A snorkeling adventure will give you a chance to see the island from a different perspective and learn about the various species of coral and fishes found in Jamaican waters, like the angel fish, seahorse, butterfly fish, puffer fish clown fish, and more.

Day Trip to Ocho Rios

If you love nature, then a visit to Ocho Rios is a must-do! Hidden in the hills of Ocho Rios, is Island Gully Falls also known as "Blue Hole". This is a 20 ft cascading waterfall with beautiful waters you can swim in. There is an awesome platform that is built into one side of the mountain that allows visitors to jump from. They also have a s swing rope further down the river.

Check out Mystic Mountain which features bob sledding, rock climbing, a waterslide, and the "Raggamuffin" where you dangle into the air catching more views of the ocean and mountains. A 20 minute ride takes you to the top of the mountain with amazing views all around.

Beaches

There is truly no shortage of crystal clear waters and white sand shores, so spending the day on the beach (or a few) is a must! Chooseing which one can be tricky because there are so many good ones. We've listed a few below:

Doctor's Cave Beach is one of the island's most iconic beaches. In the early 20th century, a British doctor claimed that the minerals in the water had healing properties. To this day, locals and tourists flock to Doctor's Cave Beach to see for themselves. Besides this, the beach is warm, clear, and home to colorful marine life in the reef. The beach is laid-back, however, the surrounding neighborhood is upbeat and action packed. Located along the beach is Gloucester Avenue, also known as "Hip Strip".

Just beside Doctor's Beach is Cornwall Beach, known for its fun beach parties. Each Wednesday, Cornwall Beach hosts "Irie Mon" beach parties. The goal of these parties is to elicit laid-back, good vibes. The beach parties consist of dancing, fun games, and plenty of bars and local vendors serving up traditional Jamaican dishes like seafood, jerk checking, and bammy, which is a steamed or fried flatbread made from cassava and served with protein or veggie.

Dead End Beach is located in a less touristy area of Montego Bay. This is a small beach nestled at the end of a road on Kent Ave. Because it is not well-known, it is the perfect beach to avoid the crowds and have a little more privacy. It's also where you'll find a lot of the locals hang out.

Dunn's River Beach is a beautiful area on the island at the base of Dunn's River Falls. Known for its fabulous waterfalls, powdery sand, and lush greenery. River Falls is one of the most visited areas near Monterey Bay.

Located close by to Dunn's River Falls is Turtle Beach, also known as Ocho Rios Bay Beach. This is a popular beach for cruise ship tourists. Here you can enjoy swimming in the turquoise waters or renting water sports equipment. Spend the day paddleboarding or riding jet skis.

Also at Turtle Beach is where Dolphin Cove Ocho Rios is located, a dolphin habitat and water park. Here, you will have the opportunity to swim with dolphins in a safe enclosure. There also plenty of water activities and attractions here as well such as snorkeling with stingrays and walking the Jungle Trail sto see tropical birds.