Negril, JM

Cliff bar and restaurant founded 1974, famous for 35-foot cliff jumps, sunset crowds, live reggae bands and a frenetic late-afternoon atmosphere. The most touristy place in Negril and unmissable for it.

Rockhouse Hotel's restaurant on the West End cliffs — modern Jamaican cooking, a sharp room cut into the cliff face, a swim ladder down to the sea. Sit-down dinner alternative to Rick's chaos.

Casual cliffside spot inspired by Jamaican street-food carts — jerk, fried fish, oxtail, festival, the canon at fair prices in an unfussy setting. The local-feeling option on the West End.

Casual roadside restaurant on the main road into Negril — proper home-style Jamaican cooking, curry goat, oxtail, brown stew chicken — at half the cliff-restaurant price. Locals' default.

Garden restaurant on West End Road doing vegetarian Jamaican — Ital cooking, tofu, callaloo, vegan curries — under a canopy of fruit trees. The breakfast-or-lunch destination if you want a break from meat.

Farm-to-table restaurant on an organic farm in the hills above Negril — eight-course tasting menu of vegetables, fish and free-range chicken from the property. The destination dinner.

Beachfront restaurant on Norman Manley Boulevard doing lobster, conch and grilled fish in surf-shack style. Cheap, fresh, the easy beachside lunch in Seven Mile.

Family-run beach restaurant on Norman Manley Boulevard for 50+ years — fresh seafood, jerk dishes, fish escovitch, picnic tables on the sand. The Seven Mile institution.

Open-air jerk pit on the West End Road, pimento-wood fires, tables under a thatched roof. Locals' jerk default in Negril.

Boutique resort restaurant on Norman Manley with a long deck on the sand — Jamaican-international menu, breakfast through dinner, beachfront tables right at the water's edge.

Informal walking route along the cliff edge linking the West End hotels, bars and the lighthouse — about 2km one-way if you walk the full stretch. The slow way to see the cliffs.

Wooden boardwalk through the protected wetland forest of the Great Morass east of Negril — royal palms, crocodiles, birds. About 2km of walking; an interpretive nature centre at the gate.

Walk the full length of Seven Mile north-to-south, popping into beach bars and food shacks as you go. Three to four hours if you stop; bare feet only.

Short walking path along the cliff edge from Rick's Cafe to the Negril Lighthouse — about 1.5km one-way, low cliffs and small coves all the way.

The 35-foot cliff at Rick's is the iconic Negril cliff jump — open to anyone brave enough, with shorter platforms for beginners and a 35-foot main jump for the committed. Watch professional divers throw 60-foot jumps from a tree.

Sail catamarans leave Seven Mile Beach late afternoon for two-hour sunset cruises with rum punch and snorkel stops. The lazy sunset option that beats sitting at Rick's.

Long-running Norman Manley Boulevard nightclub — reggae and dancehall DJs, mainly local crowd Tuesday-Saturday. The least touristy late-night option in Negril.

Beachfront water-park-and-bar branded by Jimmy Buffett — sea trampolines, water slides, swim-up bar. The family-friendly fun version of cliff-bar drinking.

Beach hotel that runs a regular sunset concert with live reggae bands open to non-guests — small cover, good cocktails, no cliff scrum like Rick's. The grown-up sunset alternative.

Actually closer to four miles of unbroken white sand stretching north from central Negril, lined with resorts at the southern end and quieter local stretches further up. Long Bay Beach proper is the local name.

Coral cliff coastline south-west of central Negril where the sand ends and dramatic limestone cliffs begin — Rick's Cafe, the lighthouse, a string of cliff hotels with restaurants and pools. The town's other half.

1894 lighthouse on the far southwestern tip of Jamaica, marking the western point of the island. Free climb to the gallery; the keeper still lives on site and will tell stories if he's around.

Smaller crescent of white sand just north of Seven Mile, with an all-inclusive at one end and a string of local food shacks at the other. Quieter, calmer, the alternative beach when Seven Mile feels too long.

Small uninhabited cay a short boat ride from Bloody Bay — a postcard sandy beach, snorkelling reef, no infrastructure beyond a couple of vendor shacks. Half-day boat trip default.