What to Do in Ocho Rios Beyond the Resorts

The falls nobody queues for

Everyone climbs Dunn’s River. Fewer people know Konoko Falls, on the same ridge as the villa, with gardens, a small museum and a waterfall you can have almost to yourself. The Blue Hole, fifteen minutes into the hills, is the local favourite: a string of blue pools with rope swings and a guide who knows where to jump.

The gardens

Shaw Park Gardens is seven minutes from the villa and twenty-five acres of tropical planting with its own waterfall and the classic view down to the bay. Turtle River Park in the middle of town is a shaded hour between errands.

The river

The White River is the gentlest adventure on the coast: an inner tube or a bamboo raft, a gorge of fern and bamboo, and an hour in which nothing happens. About 22 minutes from the villa.

The coast road east

Reggae Beach for a swim (20 minutes), then on to Oracabessa: James Bond Beach and, above it, the villa where Ian Fleming wrote. Further along, Firefly, Noël Coward’s house on its hill. It is a full day, and one of the best on the island.

The interior

Fern Gully climbs south out of town under a canopy of ferns. Beyond it the road winds to Nine Mile, Bob Marley’s birthplace, about an hour and a half away. Take a driver and go slowly.

The food

Jerk at Scotchies, Drax Hall. Jamaican cooking at Miss T’s. Patties and coconut water from the stalls on Main Street. And a chef in the villa kitchen for the nights you would rather stay up on the ridge.