The 8 Best Villas in Jamaica (With Prices)

Last week I covered the best all-inclusive resorts in Jamaica so now it’s time to talk about the best villas. Villas offer an intimate luxurious experience for small groups with complete privacy– no worries about strangers photobombing your pictures and you can laze around in the pool or common areas without worry of disrupting other guests. More importantly, villas allow you to have fun while maintaining social distance. As a result, Jamaican villas grew very popular during the pandemic and were the perfect place to be during lockdowns and curfews. Jamaica has officially reopened but the seclusion of villas will keep them popular for years to come. Nearly all have an oceanfront, river or mountain view, while many are beachfront or have a lovely private pool. Read on for how to book a Jamaican villa and get my top recommendations for which ones to visit.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

The 10 Best All-Inclusive Hotels in Jamaica

As a Jamaican travel blogger, I often get asked about hotel recommendations by friends, readers and associates. However, I’m frequently stumped for answers because everyone’s needs are different. Choosing the right all-inclusive hotel in Jamaica depends on whether you’re travelling alone, with friends, as a couple or even as a family with young children. Also, the answer depends on which end of the country you’d like to stay, your budget and what are your tastes. Are you going for the activities, the views or for a special occasion like an anniversary or honeymoon? Well, I decided to put together a list of the best all-inclusive hotels in Jamaica that should cater to all tastes (updated for 2026).

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle29 Comments

‘Cyaa Stall’: A Jamaican Dancehall Art Exhibit

Kingston is the capital city of Jamaica, located on the island’s south-eastern coast on one of the world’s largest natural harbours. This vibrant city is home to the most recording studios per capita in the world, and gave rise to six distinct musical genres– namely ska, mento, rocksteady, dub, reggae and dancehall. For this reason, Kingston was awarded UNESCO Creative City status in 2015. Kingston has famous museums which immortalize the origins of our musical genres but our music does not stop there. The Rastafari religion, reggae music and its raunchier cousin dancehall are intimately tied to the fabric of the Jamaican culture and its people. Named for the lyric in artiste Vybz Kartel’s song Dancehall (2015), Cyah Stall is an exhibit which narrates Jamaican dancehall as a musical genre, aesthetic, language and resistance. Here’s why you should catch it if you can.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

Folly Ruins & Lighthouse, Portland

Isn’t it magical that everywhere has a story to tell? Tales of romance, tragedy, wickedness, bravery, cowardice etc. If you’re familiar with my travel posts, you’ll know that I love to give a historical perspective. That’s because the past explains the present– how did a place get its name, why does it looks the way it does now or even just for general knowledge and appreciation. However, history is sometimes the only thing that entices people to visit a place. That, my friends, is how I found myself at the old Folly Mansion (Folly Great House) on my way back to Kingston from the Portland Sea Cliff Resort & Spa.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle25 Comments

The Sea Cliff Resort in Portland, Jamaica (Review)

Portland is easily the most beautiful corner of Jamaica. The parish is home to unspoilt beaches, cliffs, mountains, rainforests, rivers and waterfalls. For an island which thrives on tourism, Portland has been spared from mass tourism by some miracle. The all-inclusive hotel model was introduced to Jamaica by local hotelier John Issa in 1978, but to date, there are still no all-inclusive hotels in Portland. Instead, the welcome alternatives are luxurious waterfront villas, rustic wellness retreats, intimate bed-and-breakfasts and secluded boutique hotels. Before now, my only trips to this parish had been via daytrips which limit the number of places and activities one can accomplish each trip. Thus, when a special occasion came around last December, I traded my usual daytrips for a weekend stay in the parish. Here’s how the Sea Cliff Resort exceeded my expectations.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

Kingston Reggae Garden, Saint Andrew

I’m a city girl with a love for the country and thankfully in Jamaica, the country is never too far away. A short drive of fifteen minutes can land you in lush peaceful 360° greenery, seemingly far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Every time I visit the country and admire the slow laid-back pace of life, I can’t help but think that this is how we were meant to live. I’m happy to report that I’ve found a new chill spot near the capital city of Kingston, Jamaica for us nature-lovers to unwind and reset. Kingston Reggae Garden is a restaurant, bar and oasis in Golden Spring, St. Andrew which opened in May 2021.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle14 Comments

22 Travel Resolutions for 2022

‘New year, new you’? Just so you know, that doesn’t require a big change. Around the New Year many of us quickly stumble into disappointment by shooting for resolutions which require a total shift, instead of easing into them with smaller, manageable steps. While you may be looking for ways to improve yourself, take it a bit further by considering the following list by SimplyLocal.life below, which may also help positively contribute to the improvement of others as well as lovely Jamaica on a whole! Here’s what the lovely queen, Jhunelle, behind Jamaican travel blog SimplyLocal.life had to say.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle35 Comments

A Guide to the Two Turtle Bays of Portland, Jamaica

Portland is my favourite place in Jamaica as the parish is home to some of the most breathtaking views I’ve ever seen. This northeastern parish has been spared from the gigantic all-inclusive hotels and over-commercialization of our other resort towns. I find it amusing (– and confusing) that they named two places Turtle Bay in the Manchioneal district of Portland, and they are ten minutes apart from each other. This trip, I visited the two Turtle Bays of Manchioneal so read on for more details and pictures of these delightful destinations.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

A Guide to Solo Travel in Jamaica

Let’s clear the air by saying I’m not much of a solo traveler. I usually travel with family, my partner or a small group of friends for safety and convenience, even if you won’t see photos of them on my blog or social media for privacy. This causes people to falsely assume I travel alone, so I often get DMs on Instagram from would-be and experienced travelers who express awe at my “solo travel” or from people looking for tips on how to do it. While it may not be my usual modus operandi, I have done solo trips and am aware of how to accomplish them safely. Read on for my solo traveler’s guide to Jamaica for every kind of traveler.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle32 Comments

Guide to Jamaica’s Best 3 Rum Distillery Tours

I’ve had the pleasure of taking all three Jamaican rum tours and I even took one of them more than once, so I’m qualified to pit them against each other, right? Rum is a quintessential Caribbean alcohol. Our history is unequivocally tied to it as for three hundred years, Caribbean society revolved around sugar plantations. It was on these plantations that millions of enslaved Africans forcibly brought to the Caribbean would convert sugarcane, a species of tall perennial grass from the genus Saccharrum, to sugar and rum. In this blog post, I’ll give an overview of the process, share the three main remaining distilleries then compare them so you may choose the best tour for yourself. Perhaps I’ll even convince you to take them all, you rumaholic.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle22 Comments