Making the most of Montego Bay
Use these notes to shape a realistic day ashore, then confirm any time-sensitive information for the date of your call.
Arriving at the port
Up to four cruise ships can berth at the pier in Montego Bay’s Freeport zone, around 3 mi/5 km west of downtown. From Freeport, the city extends east and north around the harbour, through the town centre and tourist district. Inside the cruise terminal are a tourist-information booth, telecommunications centre with phone and Internet, a refreshment stand and numerous duty-free shops.
Licensed transport is plentiful, and a taxi into the city centre costs about US$7. Reaching town on foot involves a hot, exposed 3-mi/5-km walk from the terminal.
A Hot Spot Shuttle runs from the pier. Its $17 day pass allows unlimited hop-on, hop-off travel throughout the day between shops, craft markets, bars, beaches and restaurants.
Bring a printable map.
Montego Bay ranks as Jamaica’s second city by size and importance, while serving as the island’s tourism capital. It has the greatest concentration of hotel accommodation and transport facilities and is a cosmopolitan holiday centre with a broad range of amenities. Three distinct areas make up Montego Bay: the busy city itself; the mile-and-a-half “hotel area” extending from town past Doctor’s Cave Beach to the Dead End Bar; and the outlying hillside or beachfront hotels and villas.
The lively city streets are busy and colourful. People from the countryside arrive for the markets, shops and banks, while hotel and cruise guests head to in-bond stores and Crafts Markets. Housewives, office girls and market higglers move among bar-front conversations and pavement domino games.
Last-century wooden “gingerbread” houses mix with modern architecture, much of it blending successfully because Georgian façades never truly disappeared from fashion.
Roughly at the heart of town is Sam Sharpe Square, a pleasant, cobbled focus of activity. Here stand the Cage, once used to jail runaway slaves, and the Courthouse ruins; the building was completed in 1804 and destroyed by fire some 20 years ago.
Doctor’s Cave Beach in MoBay charges $5 entry per person.
Getting around
Jamaican local buses need not be intimidating and are 10 times less expensive than tourist taxis. Be alert to tourist taxi drivers overcharging. Local “route taxis” are another interesting way to travel and cost far less than tourist cabs.
Car-hire fees in Jamaica already include the cost of insurance. Vehicles are driven on the left-hand side of the road.
Nearby places
Common trips from Montego Bay include visiting historic houses and plantations, playing golf, taking overland journeys by bus or horseback, and exploring beneath the water from a semi-submersible boat or behind a snorkelling mask.
Near Ocho Rios, Dunn’s River Falls is a celebrated waterfall.
Known as the Jewel of Montego Bay, Rose Hall now offers award-winning golf courses, five-star resorts, modern convention venues, appealing shopping and attractions to delight those choosing this part of Jamaica.
Food and shopping
In true Jamaican fashion, the city centre is not geographically central, but it is the focus of in-bond shopping and contains all the main in-bond stores.
The principal Crafts Market is on harbor Street near Sam Sharpe Square. Two smaller markets serve the hotel district: one beside Fantasy Hotel and another on Fort Street, occupying the site of a 17th century fort. Haggling with craft sellers is customary.
Other Montego Bay shopping arcades provide further souvenir options. St. James and Fantasy Plazas are in the hotel area, while Montego Bay Plaza and Bay West Plaza sit on the town waterfront. Farther away are Montego Freeport Shopping center west of town and Blue Diamond Plaza to the east.
East of town and opposite Holiday Inn, Holiday Village is Montego Bay’s largest shopping center. Its broad selection of in-bond, souvenir and craft shops is all easily walkable, and there is an art gallery as well.
Attached to the Half Moon Hotel, Half Moon Shopping Village is a particularly luxurious retail area.
Money
Approximately 70 Jamaican dollars (JMD) are equal to 1 US$.
International bank cards work in many Jamaican ATMs.
Staying connected
Jamaican Creole, locally called Patois, is spoken by most Jamaicans; English is also widely used.
For police assistance, call 119.
Opening Hours and
Typical shopping hours are Mon-Fri 0800-1600 and Sat 0800-1300. Some Kingston shops close for half a day on Wednesday, while elsewhere on the island the early closing day is Thursday.