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A holiday in Jamaica is special. You get the full Caribbean holiday experience with beautiful beaches and warm aquamarine waters, but you also get a bonus. World famous for its music and laid back Rastafarian vibe, Jamaica is truly a fascinating mix of cultures and history, all wrapped up in one beautiful tropical package.
To take advantage of all that Jamaica has to offer, we have selected three uniquely Jamaican experiences that help tell the story of the island and its people. Take a short tour of Jamaica with visits to the Rastafari Indigenous Village, Rose Hall Estate, Jamaica’s most famous mansion, and the quaint Nine Mile Village, where Bob Marley was born and is buried.
Rastafari Indigenous Village
The Rastafari Indigenous Village is just outside Montego Bay, but it feels a world away from our twenty-first century lives. Bring your water shoes for this thrilling experience of the Jamaican Rasta community, which begins with a symbolic crossing of worlds as you paddle across a shallow river to the entrance of the village.
It’s hard to put into words what an otherworldly and magical experience it is to visit this little place in Jamaica. It is best to visit with a small group to get the real feeling of being ‘in tune’ with the Rasta people. The beating of the drums, the gentle and serene way of life of the Rastafarian community works its way into the hearts and minds of visitors.
The tour includes a description of the values and principles of the Rastafarian people and a discussion of the movement in Jamaica. You will visit the community kitchen and gardens, with an emphasis on the vegan values of the Rastafarian way of life. The tour ends with traditional drumming and singing in the village centre. Tours take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10am to 2pm.
Nine Mile Village
Don’t worry about a thing,
Three Little Birds, Bob Marley
Because every little thing is gonna be alright.
When you visit Nine Mile Village, you can’t help but worry about the little things. Located high in the mountains in St Ann Parish, Jamaica, Nine Mile Village is the birthplace and final resting place of one of Jamaica’s most famous sons, Bob Marley. Although the organised tour of the village is a little more commercial than the indigenous Rasta Village, it is well worth a visit for any Bob Marley fan. This is where it all started, the musical career that gave us the unique musical style of Bob Marley that is as popular today as it was fifty years ago when people first learned to love the sounds and message of reggae music.
There is nothing better than listening to Marley’s reggae in the place that inspired his music and influenced him throughout his life. It is easy to see how this sleepy little village inspired some of Marley’s most famous songs.
The tour includes a visit to Marley’s birthplace and home for the first twelve years of his life, where he would return from Kingston for inspiration and peace to write and play music. You can also visit the Marley mausoleums where Bob and his mother Cedella Booker are buried. Tours depart daily at 8am and you can reach the village by taxi from Ocho Rios or on an organised island tour.
Rose Hall Great House Estate
Perched on a hillside overlooking the Caribbean Sea, the majestic Rose Hall Great House Sugar Estate is one of the island’s most famous and beautiful plantation estates. The six thousand acre plantation is also home to one of Jamaica’s premier hotels, the Hilton Rose Hill Resort and Spa.
After being abandoned for over a hundred years, Rose Hall was restored to its former glory in the 1960s by former Miss USA Michelle Rollins and her husband John Rollins. The couple wanted to tell the story of the plantation’s slave history and show the world the beauty of the Hall’s Georgian architecture.
Almost as famous as the Great House is its former mistress, the ‘evil to the bone’ Annie Palmer and resident ghost of Rose Hall. Annie Palmer is said to have poisoned her three husbands, murdered several slave lovers and terrorised her slaves to such an extent that she was dubbed the White Witch. The legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall is one of the reasons why the Great House attracts thousands of visitors each year, another is the magnificent 18th century colonial décor found throughout the estate, a perfect backdrop for any potential ghost sightings!
Tours of Rose Hall take place daily between 9.15am and 5.15pm, and if you’re feeling brave, the estate also offers a candlelit evening ‘Ghost Tour’ of the Hall from 6.30pm to 9pm. All tours include the house, grounds and Annie Palmer’s grave.
