FRIDAY DECEMBER 16TH
We game to Negril by 4 different taxis (Treasure Beach - Black River - White House - Savanna La Mar - Negril) and the whole trip took about 3 hours with some breaks. We booked a tent on Airbnb for a good price for the whole stay here in Negril. We were excited and suspicious at the same time because we had never slept in a tent on our travels before and wanted to try what is it like to sleep outside and hear all the noise caused by animals, traffic and people. One of our biggest concerns was that would we be able to get sleep due all of the noise and lay on a hard ground.
Is this an all-inclusive resort?
This little fire alarm keeps us awake at night.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17TH, NEGRIL
After the first night in a tent and a few hours of sleep we got a ride from our hosts to Seven Mile Beach where we did some price hunting on snorkeling tours and ended up to buy a round trip to an island near the beach including the snorkeling gear. That deal was the only one where we got to snorkel for more than one hour for a decent price. We paid 9500JMD for the whole thing and we think it was a bit too much. That snorkeling was a great exercise since both of us were exhausted once we got back to the guest house.
Emmi found a cute seashell.
A view from the island we went to. Negril, Jamaica
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18TH, NEGRIL
We woke up early and walked to Seven Mile Beach. We thought we would walk the beach from the start to the end and back but only did about half of it because Henkka had to start his poker session earlier because it was Sunday. All in all our little walk was about a half marathon so we got a decent workout and tanlines in the Jamaican heat. After we got back to our accommodation Henkka played his Sunday poker session in our tent and Emmi enjoyed the rest of the day in a hammock.
The Seven Mile Beach witch real lenght is about 4 miles. Negril, Jamaica
MONDAY, DECEMBER 19th, NEGRIL
As we got used to sleeping in a tent the quality of our sleep increased and we woke up early and rested. We headed to Rockhouse for breakfast. We had smoothies and the best banana pancakes ever. We would have rented snorkeling gear from there but unfortunately they only rent them to their hotel guests so we walked around a little bit and found a resort called Xtabi witch rented the gear for 10USD for a day. Both Rockhouse and Xtabi have awesome cliffside snorkeling places right beside their resorts. We had a blast snorkeling in both of them even though the gear we got weren't the best possible quality.
Is this the right way to SUP?
Henkka coming up the ladder.
RiCK'S CAFE
On our last day in Negril we went to Rick's Cafe because we had heard it's a great place to visit and the sunset at Rick's is breathtaking. We had high expectations since we had read about the place on many websites and we had seen nice pictures taken by travelers at Rick's.
Henkka at Rick's Cafe Negril, Jamaica.
The food and drinks were over-priced and we had to pick them up on our own which felt ridiculous because of the high prices and the waiters were walking around with their hands empty. The service was bad and some of the staff were hard to discuss with due to their unfriendly attitude. What an overrated place full of tourists and families with kids.
We'd rather suggest people to go to see the sunset and jump down the cliffs somewhere else. There are many nice resorts on West End Road where you can rent snorkeling equipment and get great service like we did. We recommend Rockhouse or Xtabi if you're looking for nice cliffside snorkeling spots and delicious food brought to your table with smile on a waiters face. These resorts are more laid back, the prices were decent and the customer service was awesome. These places weren't such tourist traps as Rick's.
We rate Rick's Cafe 2/5 ⭐ because the view is beautiful and the burger tasted average. We recommend this place if you are a party animal, don't count every penny on your trip and if you are totally full of Jamaican style restaurants. There was also a Pokestop and quite a lot of different kinds of Pokemon so it might be a good idea to stop by if you're trying to catch them all.
All in all Negril is a good place for partying but also has something to offer for everyone. Negril has beautiful beaches, nice places for snorkeling, awesome resorts and seems like to be on the safer side of places in Jamaica. Like all the places where tourists like to spend their holiday the prices are a little bit higher because Negril is somewhat a tourist trap. Local taxis are mush more expensive and the drivers don't hide the fact that locals pay 1/3-1/4 of the price that travelers are paying. In most restaurants you may pay in USD but it's much more expensive to pay with USD than the local money in a long run. If you want to experience the real laid back Jamaican atmosphere you should visit for example Port Antonio or Treasure Beach rather than Negril. If you are looking for all-inclusive resorts and more of an international atmosphere then Negril is definitely your place to visit.
Negril is said to have the top 10 most beautiful sunset in the world. Indeed!
Thanks for reading!
Emmi & Henkka
