Montego Bay, JM

Open-air jerk pit east of central Montego Bay — pimento-wood fires under corrugated roofs, chicken and pork smoked for hours, served with festival, rice and peas, and Red Stripe. The proper Jamaican jerk experience.

Original Hip Strip jerk shack — outdoor benches, walk-up counter, the cheapest authentic jerk in the tourist zone. Bare bones; the food carries it.

Restaurant on a converted wooden houseboat moored in Bogue Lagoon — short ferry from the dock, candlelit dinners, internationally-influenced menu changing weekly. The romantic-occasion dinner in Montego Bay.

Restaurant and bar on a pier off the harbour — lobster, grilled fish, jerk shrimp by day; live bands, DJs and a dance floor on weekend nights. The Friday-night institution in MoBay.

Long-established fine-dining restaurant at the Half Moon resort east of MoBay — Caribbean cuisine with French technique in a restored 17th-century waterwheel mill. The grown-up dinner in the city.

Hip Strip restaurant doing serious seafood and a sunset deck right on the water — flambeed shrimp tableside, lobster Thermidor, a long cocktail list. The fancy Hip Strip dinner.

Authentic North Indian restaurant on the Hip Strip — proper tandoori, curries cooked to order, generous portions. The non-jerk alternative when you've had two days of pork and chicken.

1965-vintage all-day restaurant on Gloucester Avenue doing the Jamaican comfort canon — ackee and saltfish, oxtail, curry goat, fish escovitch. Old-school, no-fuss, the place locals send first-time visitors.

Rooftop restaurant and bar on the Hip Strip with the only proper sky-bar in the city — sunset cocktails, small plates, a mid-priced dinner menu. Best on a clear evening.

Casual lunch spot doing the canon of Jamaican home cooking — brown stew chicken, ackee, callaloo, pumpkin soup. Cheap, fast, walking distance from the Hip Strip.

Roadside fish shack between MoBay and Falmouth doing fresh-from-the-boat fish, conch and lobster cooked any way you want. Cult favourite among locals; tourists tend to drive past.

Short raised boardwalk through the protected mangrove section of the Marine Park near the airport — mangroves, fiddler crabs, juvenile fish, a small bird hide. Twenty minutes.

Hilltop bird sanctuary west of Montego Bay where the resident docent feeds hummingbirds from her hand — visitors hold the feeder and have hummingbirds perch on a finger. Short bush walk, then the feeding.

Horseback trails through the 650-acre Rose Hall estate, ending on a private beach where you can ride into the sea. Three hours total; the iconic MoBay activity if you don't mind a horse.

Boat tour into the bioluminescent lagoon at Falmouth, east of Montego Bay — the water glows when disturbed at night. Twenty minutes of magic; the swim section is optional.

Three-mile bamboo-raft trip down the Martha Brae through bush and farmland east of MoBay, captained by a local guide. Peaceful, lazy, the river-tour equivalent of a beach day.

Hip Strip Jimmy Buffett-branded beach club with a slide that drops into the sea, swim-up bar, food and DJs. Touristy and unselfconscious about it; goofy fun for a half day.

The club that runs Doctor's Cave Beach — beyond the basic beach access, day passes get you cabanas, chairs, towel service and a swim-up bar. The polished alternative to the public beaches.

Half-museum, half-shop tribute to Bob Marley near Rose Hall — original photographs, gold records, a small theatre showing music documentaries. Tourist-friendly but heartfelt.

Distillery tour at Sangster's World's End operation east of MoBay — tasting flight of the rum-cream and aged-rum range, history of the brand. Small, hands-on, more interesting than a resort cocktail demo.

Open-air bus circuit between Hip Strip bars, party DJ on board, drink stops at four or five venues. Touristy, loud, exactly what some evenings want.

Annual mid-July week-long reggae festival in Montego Bay — multiple stages, headline acts, the genre's biggest annual gathering in Jamaica. Cult event in the global reggae calendar.

Crescent of white sand on the Hip Strip with a modest entry fee that funds the cleaning and lifeguards — pre-dates 'beach club' as a concept. Calm shallows, palms, the city's reliable swim beach.

Georgian plantation mansion on a hill east of Montego Bay, restored to its 18th-century state and surrounded by 650 acres. Best known for the ghost story of Annie Palmer, the 'White Witch'.

Smaller and far less polished than Rose Hall — the original 1780s home of the Barrett family (poet Elizabeth Barrett's ancestors) with the original library, music room and antique instruments still in working order. The quieter, more authentic version.

Two kilometres of seafront restaurants, bars, jewellery shops and beach clubs running from Doctor's Cave to Pier One — the city's tourist main drag. Touristy and chaotic; the easy first-day overview.

Historic square in central Montego Bay marking the 1831 'Christmas Rebellion' slave uprising led by Sam Sharpe. Original Georgian buildings, the Old Court House, the statue and the cage where Sharpe was hanged.

Public-access beach north of Doctor's Cave with calmer water, a more local feel and an on-site bar-restaurant. Smaller, often less crowded than its famous neighbour.