Cheap Holidays in Jamaica
Keeping in mind that an important expense for your holiday budget is the getting there part, if you have a limited budget but still want to visit Jamaica you can do it by finding cheaper accommodation and eating in local places. Jamaica is the island in the Caribbean Sea where everything and anything is possible. There are great beaches you can go to, a wide variety of things that you can do and a lot of places to visit. However before actually getting there, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. You need to plan your trip in advance in order to be able to get low cost accommodation. For some hotels, apartments or rented places reservations are made even several months before. If you plan to go during the season you have to make sure you have confirmed reservation. Since this can be the most difficult thing to get, once you have confirmed reservations you are good to go.
The most known places and towns are the ones from the tourist area: Montego Bay, Negril, Ocho Rios and Kingston, the capital. There are however other towns worth visiting like for example Spanish Town, Port Antonio, or Port Royal. The must sees of the island are the Bob Marley Museum, the Hope Garden, the Milk river Spa, the Dunn’s River Falls, the Dolphin Cave, the Blue Lagoon, the Lover’s Leap and many more depending on how long you can stay in Jamaica and where you are staying. Jamaica is the third largest island in the area and it has more than 100 hotels and guest houses, more than 800 cottages that can be rented, camping places, cabins and home-stay accommodation. The home stay accommodation can be one of the cheapest and it also gets you in contact with the every day life on the island as well as giving you the possibility to visit less tourist places or find out some insights about the island. If a day in an all inclusive starts from $300, a mid range accommodation will bring your expenses around $100 and if you sleep in home-stay accommodation and eat at the local places you can spend as low as $50 per day without including the entertainment and the fees to different places you want to visit. One thing to keep in mind about admittance fees to different places is that the fees differ for tourists and they can be as high as five times higher than the fees Jamaicans have to pay. The good thing about Jamaica is that English is the official language so getting around is easy.
Depending on the period of time when you are taking your holiday there are a series of events that you might be able to attend. You can attend the Jamaica Carnival in April, the Negril carnival in May, the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival in June, the Reggae Sunfest in August, or the Port Antonio Blue Marlin Tournament in October. There are other smaller festivals, concerts and events, but if you are not going there for any event in particular you can always find numerous other things to do. You can go hiking, horse back riding, golfing or biking and if you love water activities you can go swimming, fishing, snorkeling, jet skiing and rafting. There are several plantations that you can visit, like for example coffee plantations or banana plantations, Fishing parks and gardens as well as a lot of historical and cultural places. There are quite a few waterfalls worth visiting around Jamaica and you can even go tubing or join a safari on the island. Jamaica is famous for its white sand beaches, blue mountain coffee, white rum, wonderful waterfalls, reggae music, Bob Marley, street parties, cricket and great food. While in Jamaica you have to try their national dishes, ackee and salt fish, rice and peas and the famous jerk chicken and jerk pork. The main access to the island is done by plane through the two main airports located in Kingston and Montego Bay. Getting around the island can be done by car, bus, minibus and taxi.
