"Reggae Beach" Top 5 Page for this destination Ocho Rios Things to Do Tip by toonsarah

There are several beaches in town, which we didn’t visit, but we were told they get busy and are less attractive than the only one we did visit, Reggae Beach. This is a few miles out of town – we went by hire car (thanks Michael!) but I reckon a taxi would cost US$10-15 depending on your haggling abilities. The beach is privately owned so there’s a small admission fee of US$5 (or JA$200) – however as guests at the Blue House we were able to get in for free as Elise and Darryl pay an annual membership fee.

You won’t find huge crowds or loads of facilities here. But there is a small wooden beach bar run by local Rastas, with cold drinks for sale (and I gather fish and other light meals too, though we’d already had lunch when we came). Water cost JA$50 (about 35p or 70 cents) and soft drinks twice that. You can chill here at the bar, listening to the reggae beats, or find your own patch of sand somewhere along the long palm-fringed bay. If you feel like a swim, there are changing cubicles and cold water showers, and you can also hire snorkelling equipment, though I’m not sure how much there is to see. When we were there the waves were quite lively, making the water better for splashing and wave-jumping than for serious swimming.

You shouldn’t really get much hassle here by the way, though we were pestered for a while by a local who wanted to sell us a “smoke” – but he moved off once he could see for sure that we weren’t buying.

Directions: About four miles east of town – look out for the gate on the left about a mile after crossing the White River and entering St Mary’s Parish.