Blue House: "A gem of a B&B" Top 5 Page for this destination Ocho Rios Hotel Tip by toonsarah

When planning our trip to Jamaica, the only thing we were clear about was that we didn't want to stay in an all-inclusive. Then we stumbled across reviews of the Blue House on Trip Advisor, and suddenly we knew where we wanted to stay! But once it was booked I started to wonder - could it really be that good?

Well, I can assure you it can and is! We had a wonderful stay here and our only regret about choosing it was that we hadn't booked for longer ;) Everyone who stays here seems to enthuse about the hospitality of Elise and Darryl, and rightly so. We really felt as if we were staying with friends rather than as paying guests in a B&B. Nothing was too much trouble - a lift to church or to a local restaurant, a call to pre-book an excursion, checking shipping schedules so we could avoid the crowds at Dunn's River Falls, and so on.

But in enthusing about the hosts, I should also mention the house itself, which is very stylish and set in a pretty garden. Maybe its distance from town (about 2 miles) is a small drawback, but more than compensated for by the quieter location - apart from the crickets and frogs, that is! My favourite spot was the terrace, in the early morning before breakfast, with a mug of Darryl's strong coffee to wake me up and the hummingbirds flitting among the blossoms :)

Inside, there’s a comfortable seating area with good coffee table books if you have a spare hour to while away (we never did!) and four comfortable bedrooms. Ours, the "Sanctuary", lived up to its name: cool and comfortable after a day's sightseeing on the island. Elise also showed me the (slightly dearer) room next to ours, the Upper Room, with its large open air shower and king-size bed. And behind the main building is the Cosy Cottage, perfect if you’d like to be more self-contained.

Unique Qualities: UPDATE SUMMER 2008 - The Blue House has been awarded 2nd place in the Best New Hotel Of The Year - 2008 International Restaurant and Hotel Awards

Darryl's cooking is a real plus point. From the first evening, when we were welcomed with a dinner of curried goat and rice and peas, we realised we were in for a few treats. Both breakfasts and dinners here afforded us lots of welcome opportunities to sample Jamaican specialities - ackee & saltfish or rundown for breakfast, conch or that goat curry for dinner. We HAD planned to only eat a couple of dinners here and go out for the others, but the combination of tasty food and good company was too hard to resist!

An added bonus of staying somewhere like this is that you meet like-minded travellers. Within a few hours we had hit it off with Monica and Javier from LA and with Michael from Germany, and had agreed to do some of our sightseeing together – which added to the fun and reduced the costs.

And finally, a special mention for Dave, who drove us around so safely and was great company on those outings.

There are more photos of this special home in my Travelogue - do check them out!

We paid $130 a night for B&B only, and $180 a night on the days we had dinner (making the meal a bargain!).

Address: PO Box 6189, Ocho Rios, St Ann, Jamaica
Comparison: about average
Directions: A couple of miles east of town, about 50 metres up an unmade road that turns off the main through road opposite the entrance to Couples Sans Souci
othercontact: elise@thebluehousejamaica.com
Phone: (876) 994-1367
Price: US$40-80
Theme: Bed and Breakfast
Website: http://www.thebluehousejamaica.com/