Music, art, people, history and of course immense natural beauty help define the magic of Jamaica, and the Caribbean island’s small boutique resorts allow visitors to connect with it all without having to make any concessions to comfort.
Here are seven of Jamaica’s best boutique resorts for immersing in Jamaican culture up close and personal.
Tensing Pen, Negril It’s hard to find a literal definition of a “tensing pen,” but I like the notion that this Negril resort takes your tension, confines it to a little cage, and tosses it off the nearby cliffs into the Caribbean. Often described as “rustic” due to its construction from blocks of local stone and thatched-roofed buildings, Tensing Pen is hardly a place where guests need to rough it. Inside the walls of the hotels’ rooms and cottages you’ll find bamboo and mahogany furniture that blend as well with the garden setting as the hotel walls do with Negril’s famous cliffs. Likewise, trails lined with lush foliage wander from the rooms to a freeform pool, open-air restaurant, a spa, and spots where you can test your courage with a cliff dive into the inviting waters below.
Skylark, Negril The Skylark on Negril’s Seven Mile Beach is a dazzler — it’s fine to wear your sunglasses inside when the midday sun blazes off the chalk-white walls of this 28-room boutique hotel. Miss Lilly’s, the Jamaican restaurant that found success in New York before coming home to Skylark, is by contrast an explosion of color both in decor and on the plate, the latter filled with jerk food smoked on-site and a wide variety of locally inspired “yard food.” Owner Paul Salmon says Skylark, opened in 2018, is “architecturally designed on retro bones — with its breeze blocks it’s got a retro vibe and a different design aesthetic than most boutique hotels in Jamaica.” A younger demographic helps energize Skylark, which despite the attention to aesthetics and beachfront location appeals to budget-conscious travelers with rooms rates starting as low as $150 per night in high season.
Geejam, Port Antonio Geejam is the kind of stylish boutique hotel you’d imagine appeals to publicity-shy celebrities, but it’s not just the isolated location and intimate surroundings that draws stars close. “Geejam is a magical destination for those not looking to escape life but inspire it,” says co-owner Jon Baker, who developed the property at the foot of the Blue Mountains along with fellow music industry veteran Steve Beaver. Located on the property is Geejam Studios, which attracts world-renowned music and creative artists, who can record an album, rent out the studio, or have customizable workspaces set up at their private villa — a stay-and-play setup much in the tradition of George Martin’s Air Studios in Montserrat in the 70s and Chris Blackwell’s Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas in the 1980s. “Anything is possible at Geejam,” says Baker, and for guests (artistic and otherwise) that includes rooms, cabins and villas adorned with local artwork and vintage photos, drinks and dining at the poolside Bush Bar (which of course has a state-of-the-art sound system and a DJ booth in a treehouse), a cove beach, and a fitness center.
Rockhouse, Negril Before there were “overwater villas,” there was the Rockhouse hotel in Negril with its round, thatched roof cottages built on rock formations thrust over the waters of the Caribbean Sea. The views from atop the 30-foot cliffs of Negril are of course spectacular, as is the experience of swimming in the hotel pool with waves crashing against the craggy shoreline mere feet away. The thatch and timber rooms may look rough-hewn, but they are actually the work of acolytes of Frank Lloyd Wright, and resort expansions over the years remain “in line with that ethos,” says resort owner Paul Salmon. The 40-room property also features the locally inspired Pushcart restaurant and rum bar, a world-class spa, a snorkeling cove, and a reputation for attentive service, environmental stewardship, and giving back to the Negril community, including funding Jamaica’s only inclusion-style school for special needs students. “To me, what distinguishes Rockhouse is this connected experience of Jamaica — a responsible, sustainable idea of what a hotel can look like,” says Salmon.
Jakes, Treasure Beach It’s hard to get much further than the Jamaica’s typical coastal tourist destinations than Treasure Beach on the island’s South Coast, and that’s exactly the point for the solitude seekers who occupy this boutique resort’s brightly colored and individually appointed villas, cottages, and bungalows. Jake’s began life as a restaurant, so no surprise that great food and drink are still in the resort’s DNA, whether that’s locally sourced dining at Jack Sprat’s and Jake’s Restaurant or sipping the house rum punch and playing dominoes at Dougie’s Bar. Don’t miss the weekly screening of the seminal reggae film The Harder They Come, directed by a member of the Henzell family that owns the resort.
GoldenEye, Oracabessa
James Bond author Ian Fleming’s Jamaican home was a beacon for visiting celebrities long before Island Records founder Chris Blackwell purchased the property and transformed it into one of Jamaica’s most luxurious boutique hotels. “Sir Anthony Eden, who visited the property in 1956, said it best: “I do not think that there is any other place in the world that could have given me the rest I have to have. The bathing, the beach, the seclusion, the size of the grounds were all just perfect to enjoy,’” recalls Blackwell, who adds: “For me, swimming in the lagoon that runs through the grounds is so special. It’s located right next to the original Fleming land, and is a priceless piece of property. The allure of the calm turquoise water is actually what spurred me to buy the land and expand GoldenEye into a hotel.” In addition to the placid lagoon surrounded by a tropical forest, the resort has private villas, cottages, and huts spread across 52 acres of waterfront property that includes four beaches, pool and rum bars, a rooftop lounge, and a treehouse-style restaurant.
Strawberry Hill, Irish Town (Kingston)
GoldenEye is often though of as the hangout for Island Records’ stable of reggae and rock artists (Sting memorably wrote the Police hit ‘Every Breath You Take’ while sitting at Ian Fleming’s desk, but Chris Blackwell’s other Island Outpost resort, Strawberry Hill, also attracted the fruit of rock royalty. “I had the honor of hosting and entertaining many musicians at the property — the Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithful, Grace Jones, and Willie Nelson, just to name a few,” said Blackwell. “Musicians would link up at Strawberry Hill and jam together. One of my favorite memories is when Studio One brought their mixing board to record Mick Jagger and Peter Tosh. Much of the history can still be seen – with black and white photographs that line the bar — the main hub at Strawbery Hill.” Located 3,100 feet up in the Blue Mountains, Strawberry Hill is built around an estate dating to the 18th century. An infinity-edge pool takes full advantage of the views down to Kingston and its harbor, and the resort also features a mountainside spa, reimagined Colonial style architecture and room designs, and a restaurant showcasing New Jamaican cuisine.