Flashback Friday Travel 39 – Jamaica

April in Jamaica was a splendid idea, I remember our trip very fondly indeed.  I must confess, I was nervous about going to Jamaica – it has a little more ‘edge’ to it than other bits of the Caribbean and Mr P had been there before when gang violence hit Kingston which is more excitement than I need.  But I am so glad we took a chance – we had a magnificent time.  I would go back in a heartbeat – it still feels real, charming people, great food and hotels, stunning scenery and even good roads.

As is normal, we flew airmiles with British Airways in business class (first isn’t offered on the Jamaica flight sadly).  We flew into and out of Kingston and the flights were from Gatwick.

Our first stop was Strawberry Hill – which stands high on the edge of the Blue Mountains (source of amazing coffee) commanding incredible views down to the city of Kingston.  Love at first sight when I saw the website – a truly unique property, on an island famed for stunning beaches, it was interesting to see a different side than the sea.

The only bit of the holiday I was not enthralled with was the drive to the hotel.  The Kingston flight lands at around 4pm and it gets dark quickly.  The hire car experience isn’t easy in Jamaica (you need a Mastercard World credit card if you want a smooth ride) and so by the time we had our car it was very dark.  I had tried to find a good road map, but such things don’t exist it would seem.  So we drove in the dark through Kingston and into the Blue Mountains with screen grabs from google maps…  At one point I suggested we return the car to the airport, grab a taxi and pick the car up the next day.  But finally we spotted a runner in the university area of the city and thankfully he gave us directions to help us find our way back to our planned route, and offered advice to lock the doors and not stop for anyone else…  (We now always use 3G in addition to the screen grabs now!) The challenge was worth it – we arrived to the warmest welcome having wound ourselves into the mountains. And that welcome was of course accompanied by rum punch and a stunning vista.

Strawberry Hill is a beautiful property.  The accommodation is in little cottages  which command incredible views and have irrestible Blue Mountain coffee ready to brew.  Still on UK time, we woke early on our first morning and enjoyed the dawn view down onto the city as well as having the hotel grounds and gardens completely to ourselves as the sun came up.  Quite magnificent.  The swimming pool, whilst small, is on a cliff top – quite an infinity edge.  The location is remote and peaceful – a little piece of paradise, perfect for recharging batteries. There are lots of links here to Bob Marley and the decor in the common areas is a piece of history.

En route to our next hotel we visited Lovers Leap.  There is quite a story to be heard about lovers that leapt to their deaths, but as you can see, the view and the colours is all that is needed.  This is on the south coast of the island – a stunning place to take a time out and breathe in the scents of the sea and the luscious vegetation.

Our next stop was at the more rustic Cove Hotel, just a little further west along the coast from the hip Treasure Beach.  I’m not sure it is still open – which is a shame, as it was just getting up and running when we were there.  I picked this over the better known Treasure Beach locations for 2 reasons: it has a beach of its own which isn’t just rocks; and it has a fresh water swimming pool.  The hotel was more basic than our norm but its location was just what we wanted.  We had the place pretty much to ourselves and enjoyed it from dawn to dusk.

While we were staying at The Cove we took a trip to The Pelican Bar – this place often features on coolest bars in the world lists and you can see why.  From our hotel it was a half hour water taxi ride (complete with a spot of dolphin spotting) to the bar which is a shack on stilts in the middle of a coral reef about 1 mile offshore.  We chilled out on the jetty with Red Stripe and lobster cooked to order before having a swim in the reef.  Great fun.  I suspect this place is a tourist hot spot in high season but thankfully we were there near the end of the season so it was just us and some local fishermen.

There is plenty to see in Jamaica if you want to do the tourist thing.  We didn’t do a great deal – preferring to enjoy the views from our hotel and relax with books and Red Stripe.  But en route between hotels we did make a few stops, in addition to Lovers Leap.  We spent a pleasant morning at Greenwood Great House and another morning at YS Falls.  We had a few dinners out too – once at Jack Spratts on Treasure Beach which was good fun and another at Houseboat Grill which was a real treat. We chilled out one afternoon at Montego Bay yacht club – I have a ‘thing’ about signing in to yacht clubs around the world and chatting to fellow sailors!

Our final hotel was the real treat of the holiday – 3 nights at Round Hill, near Montego Bay.  If it is good enough for Ralph Lauren, then it certainly is for me (we even spotted him at afternoon tea)!  Round Hill is stunning and we had a gorgeous oceanfront room.  We were there on our wedding anniversary and the hotel certainly ensured we didn’t run out of fizz. Or rum. Or Red Stripe.  The hotel is much more ‘resort-like’ but there is such a lot of space and such attention to detail in the rooms that it really feels like a 5* boutique hotel despite its size.  The main pool is a great place to relax and watch sunset from, there’s also a second over in the spa and the villas all have their own.  The beach is perfectly good and we had some fun sailing and paddle boarding on one afternoon.

We were incredibly sad to leave the island paradise – one love for Jamaica indeed.  I really like it when I visit somewhere that I don’t have any expectations of and it blows me away.  We had a quirky trip home – BA had no fizz on the flight home… I can only imagine what kind of party the flight out must have had!  There was of course wine and it was a sleeper flight, so not really an issue.  However – I would have thought our flag-carrier would have been better prepared given that across the divider from my seat sat a member of the British royal family which they must have been expecting?…

Jamaica also has a special place in blogging too, it’s where it pretty much all began with this post on A Luxury Travel Blog.