This island is a typical tropical destination with all the Caribbean ingredients: sunshine, good beaches, bright coves and attractive coastal landscapes full of cliffs and caves. Places like Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril and Port Antonio –all home to the country’s finest hotels- have helped put Jamaica on the map. When it comes to city life, Jamaica’s passion for culture and music are legendary, especially if it’s reggae we’re talking about, a style in which many Jamaicans have found a way to keep worshiping their idol Bob Marley.

Location Jamaica comprises a total surface of 4,243 square miles and belongs to the Greater Antilles. It is 149 miles long from east to west, and 49 miles from north to south. These sizes make it the third-largest Caribbean island. It’s located 93 miles south of eastern Cuba and 111 miles west of La Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Access Kingston –the capital– and Montego Bay (north) have international airports. Air Jamaica is the island nation’s flagship airline, though the country is hooked up with the rest of the world through such air companies as American Airlines, British Airways, COPA, Continental Airlines. A major cruise terminal operates in Ocho Rios, and for those willing to get to Jamaica on their own boats, there are well-equipped marinas in all major travel destinations across the island nation.

Weather The island’s climate is predominantly mild subtropical. Heavy rainfalls occur from May through August. The central mountain range and the high mountains of Blue Mount average up to 98 inches of rain every year. Rainfalls on the coastal areas are much lower.

Population 2.7 million inhabitants, over 90 percent of them of African origin whose ancestors worked as slaves in the former sugarcane plantations. A small percentage of the population is mixed race and there’s a minimum amount of whites and Indians. Jamaica’s population density is quite high, with a third of all inhabitants living in Kingston.

Language English is the official language. However, outside official spaces and mainly in the countryside, people speak a kind of Creole Patois with plentiful elements hailing from ancestral African dialects.

Currency The Jamaican dollar is the official currency.

Religion Unlike many other former British colonies in the Caribbean –like St. Lucia- Protestants and African-origin religions make up the largest chunk of Jamaica’s religious faith. There’s a minority of Catholic worshipers.

Main cities Kingston, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril.

Traffic Traffic circulation in Jamaica is on the right side, so visitors need to be on the lookout during their first outings in rented vehicles. Street signs and road systems are like those in the UK and other Commonwealth nations.

Transportation The island boasts a good network of roads that connects all major cities and travel destinations. Dirt roads only exist in the most humid, isolated and least circulated areas up in the mountains. Cabs are abundant and taxi drivers are usually pretty good guides. For those willing to move around on their own, there are car rentals in all top hotels, main cities and nearly all travel destinations. Major car rentals are Avis, Budget, Island Car and United Car. For day-trippers, small planes covering coast-to-coast domestic routes are very convenient for traveling in any direction across the island. Airfares are acceptable.

Cuisine Jamaicans cook mixed-race, tasty and well-seasoned food that relies, among other ingredients, on pumpkin, tomatoes, peppers and onion. There are two genuine gems on this island nation: its hallmark coffee with the Blue Mountain brand topping the list of the world’s finest, and a kind of spice known as Jamaican jerk, with a taste somewhere between garlic and pepper that’s used in all cooking preparations that include pork meat, chicken, fish, beef and vegetable salads. One of the most coveted dishes is a kind of strongly seasoned goat fricassee accompanied with cassava and other root vegetables. There are many restaurants in Jamaica housed in lovely locales or in hotels from Kingston to Port Antonio. They generally serve international food and a variety of shellfish plates with lobsters, shrimps, some crustaceans and fresh seafood. Some of the finest world cuisines, like Mediterranean and Chinese, are well represented here. National dishes are scarce on the fancy restaurants’ menu cards, only in some fusion cuisine cases. Fruits like limes, oranges, mangos, guavas, bananas, coconuts, pineapples, cashews and other are really exquisite.

Sports Water skiing, surfing, windsurfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, sport fishing, trekking, birdwatching, climbing, horseback riding, parachuting, rural tourism, cave exploration, golf –there’s a dozen superb golf courses on the island– tennis, bowling, cricket, soccer and others.

Shopping Good array of items, like glassware, porcelain, jewelry, watches, clothes and leather articles. Handcrafts, music, rum and coffee. Clothes and fabrics, towels and naïf art canvass. Hammocks, mats, creels, hats and other fabric-woven items. Carvings made of mahogany, red cedar, eucalyptus and other woods. There are excellent jewel stores in Kingston, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios featuring special discount offers for newlyweds and a variety of exclusive pieces from Bijoux, House of Gold, House of Diamonds, Jewels in Paradise, Things Jamaican and Tropicana Jewelers, among others.

Accommodation There’re virtually all lodging variants available in small villas, hotels, apart-hotels and fancy all-inclusive resorts. The best choices are in Negril, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Port Antonio, home to the largest travel destinations for international visitors coming to Jamaica. Some of the world’s biggest hotel chains run properties in the country, like Hilton. However, Jamaica-based Sandals and SuperClubs lead the pack in terms of hotel offers, chiefly in the all-inclusive system. Both companies own top-of-the-line lodgings in the finest places across the country. Inland towns have small hotels equipped with restaurants and other basic services. The mountain town of Mandeville in central Jamaica has several charming small hotels, perfect establishments for a good rest in a magnificent natural and tropical environment. For a good recommendation, click on www.excelenciastravel.com.

Sightseeing and Tours Sail off windward from Negril to Runaway on a catamaran, with a jam-packed icebox and a jaunty crew that plays reggae music all ride long. Make a stop for some scuba diving in the proximity of Discovery Bay. Have lunch with shrimps and fish at the lovely beach and enjoy the ride back as you gaze at a spectacular sunset over the Negril lighthouse –penciled in as one of the most beautiful such scenes on the face of the earth. Move anywhere around the country to the Ocho Rios waterfalls –the Dunn’s River Falls– that slope down through some 600 huge steps carved in the rocks and have been for many years one of Jamaica’s most sought-after attractions. Nature is simply breathtaking in the surroundings. You may even make canopy or walk deep into the shrubs through a number of paths. Take a ride in a makeshift bamboo raft down the lovely rivers of the island, something that was all the rage back in the 1950s thanks to U.S. actor Errol Flynn and that rapidly caught on in Rio Grande, Port Antonio. See Kingston, especially the downtown area, and visit the Bob Marley Museum and the Port Royal zone, home to Fort Charles and the Maritime Museum. Make a tour from here to Blue Mountain –the island’s green heart– featuring lovely scenery, tasty fruits and abundant populations of hummingbirds and other birds. Take a swim in Port Antonio’s Blue Lagoon and ride on a sailboat near Navy Island, a legit small-scale Caribbean Eden. Ride on horseback down the green fields of any place around the island and pay a visit to one of its botanical gardens, like St. Thomas or Castleton in St. Mary. They are lovely, and so are Coyaba River Garden, Cranbrook Flower and the Shaw Park in Ocho Rios. Take a stroll down Black River on the south coast, a genuine crocodile nest so used to the presence of tourists and acquainted with some of the guides who even venture to clean their teeth with toothpicks. This is an area of pleasant nature, typical towns and departure point for tours to a famous nearby distillery and the Pica Pepa spice factory.