Ocho Rios is not chosen first for its beaches. People come because it is the part of Jamaica with the most to do within thirty minutes: falls you climb, caves, a river you raft, botanical gardens and hills rising six hundred metres behind town. The north coast here is more indented than at Negril, with successive bays rather than one long beach.
The essentials in four lines
- About four and a quarter hours non-stop from Montreal to Montego Bay (MBJ), then an hour and forty-five minutes of transfer.
- Jamaica stays on Eastern time all year: same hour as Montreal in winter, one hour behind in summer.
- The north coast is largely spared by sargassum.
- December to April is the dry season. Hurricane season runs June to November.
Dunn’s River Falls
This is Jamaica’s most visited attraction, and it earns its reputation. A hundred and eighty metres of natural limestone terraces, climbed barefoot through the water in a human chain led by a member of staff. The ascent takes an hour and ends on the beach where the falls empty directly into the sea, a rare phenomenon.
The tip that changes everything: go at opening or late in the afternoon. Between ten and three, cruise groups saturate the site. Bring water shoes; the rock is slippery.
The other outings
The Blue Hole, twenty minutes inland, offers a series of turquoise pools fed by an underground river, with jumps, ropes and caves. It is wilder and far less crowded than the main falls.
Green Grotto caves, toward Runaway Bay, drop to an underground lake fifteen metres down; they sheltered in turn the Taíno, the Spanish and the Maroons.
The White River is descended by bamboo raft or inner tube. Fern Gully, five kilometres of road cut into a former riverbed, passes through a tunnel of tree ferns on the way out of town.
Twenty minutes east, Oracabessa holds James Bond Beach and, on the hill, the property where Ian Fleming wrote his novels between 1952 and 1964. A little further, Noël Coward’s house, perched at three hundred metres, has one of the finest views on the island.
The beaches
They are shorter and narrower than at Negril, spread across coves. Turtle Beach and Mahogany Beach edge the town; the large resorts have their own private, often engineered beaches.
The reef stays close to shore in several bays, which keeps the water calm and makes snorkelling easy. If the beach is your main criterion, Negril or the Runaway Bay coast suit better; if you come to move around, Ocho Rios is the best anchor on the island.
The town and the cruise ships
Ocho Rios takes cruise ships several days a week, which transforms the town centre and the main sites during the day. The craft market and the waterfront are then very busy and very insistent. By late afternoon the town finds its rhythm again.
Check the call schedule before planning a visit to the falls or a day in town.
All-inclusive in Ocho Rios
The supply is broad and covers every format: very large family resorts with water parks, couples-only properties, mid-size addresses at accessible rates. Several sit on hillsides above the sea, which gives fine views but means shuttles or stairways down to the beach.
Two things to verify: the size and real nature of the beach, and how you reach it from the rooms. Our criteria for choosing an all-inclusive hotel take up those questions, and our selection of family all-inclusive resorts helps if you travel with children.
When to go
From December to April the air holds around 29 °C and rain stays brief. This is high season, with price peaks over the holidays and March break. The north coast gets slightly more rainfall than the south of the island, especially in October and November, but the showers are short.
May, June and the first half of December offer the best balance of weather and price. Our guide on when to travel south from Montreal sets out those cycles.
To plan this trip, see also our Jamaïque page, Kingston, Montego Bay and our month-by-month calendar.
