Signature Luxury Travel & Style
JAMAICA Is the Island of One Love the most romantic destination on Earth?
Karen Halabi succumbs to the pull of Jamaica to find an island of colour, music and rhythm that dances to the tune of love.
Lured by the romantic reputation of this warm tropical paradise, I’m on my way to Jamaica, an island in the West Indies less than two hours’ flight from Miami. Sprinting phenomenon Usain Bolt, singer-songwriter Grace Jones and reggae legend Bob Marley all hail from here and, as I soon discover, Jamaicans are full of heart, and romance is in their soul. Many tourism destinations claim to be warm and friendly, and it’s often true, but they’re not a patch on the Jamaicans. When a Jamaican engages you, holds your gaze and smiles, you feel as if nothing else in the world exists. Bob Marley’s lyrics – “One love, one heart, let’s get together and feel alright” – just about sums it up.
It’s warm all year round here and I laze away the beautiful days snorkelling the reef, exploring the cerulean
Caribbean waters of Pristine Cove, and jumping off the volcanic rock cliffs into the water five metres below. And I spend hours swimming in natural rock pools on the edge of dramatic cliffs, watching schools of tiny black and yellow fish dart to and fro.
Jamaica has countless romantic resorts to enjoy, from the aptly named GoldenEye resort at Oracabessa (former home of Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond series of novels) to Round Hill Hotel and Villas (Ralph Lauren designed the Oceanfront rooms and owns a cottage here).
Seaside sanctuary
I’m staying at the much newer The Cliff Hotel, a collection of 22 stunning suites and two-storey villas – all with hammocks – looking out over azure waters, coral bluffs and limestone cliffs. For me it’s love at first sight.
Located at the end of Negril’s strip of clifftop resorts, The Cliff is set on volcanic rocks at sea level; Jamaica evolved from an arc of volcanoes, rising from the sea millions of years ago, along with the other islands of the Antilles. The resort has a contemporary feel, with lots of lounging areas nestled into the rocks.
Love is always in the air at The Cliff. Stretched out over two hectares of tropical tranquillity, it’s the perfect place to say “I do” or renew vows in an elegant oceanfront gazebo with a fiery sunset as your backdrop. Wake up married in one of the honeymoon villas, or celebrate an anniversary with a candlelit dinner. Zest restaurant is widely considered the best on the island.
Nearby is the Australian-owned Rockhouse, a collection of more rustic, but still romantic, clifftop thatched stone villas. Here I take a cooking class and learn how to make a local staple, spicy jerk chicken, as well as a Jamaican saltfish seafood coconut curry known colloquially as rundown.
Beach life in Negril centres around Seven Mile Beach, a 10-minute drive away. Both resorts have regular dropoffs so you can spend the day on the beach of exploring Montego Bay.
Reggae culture
I take a rum tour at Appleton’s Estate, where some of the island’s best rum is made, then in the evening head to the legendary Rick’s Café, Jamaica’s most popular gathering spot at sunset. It’s here that the real die-hard Jamaican cliff-
jumpers leap from dizzying heights into the water below. I get my hair braided, then try some more silky local rum while listening to live reggae at Alfred’s Roots Bamboo, Pushcart and Bourbon Beach, where you can dance, Caribbean-style, to the “rittims” of Jamaica alongside the dreadlocked locals.
Jamaican reggae grew out of African drumming rhythms such as mento and calypso. In turn, dancehall music grew out of reggae, so Jamaica is definitely the place to get your jive on.
There’s no point visiting the Island of Love without making a pilgrimage to the home of the ‘No Woman No Cry’ and ‘Is This Love’ singer in the district of Nine Mile. You can also visit Marley’s mausoleum at Mount Zion, where he was laid to rest at age 36, and the Bob Marley museum in Kingston to learn more about the man himself.
For couples, some of the most romantic things to do in Jamaica include visiting the Blue Hole and the mesmerising Blue Lagoon, where the movie of the same name was filmed, and to some of the of spectacular falls, natural cascading water pools and waterfalls, such as Reach Falls.
Or take a one-and-a-half-hour speedboat ride out to Pelican Bar, a makeshift bar patched together out of driftwood and bamboo that sits 15 minutes off Treasure Beach on a sandbar in the middle of the sea.
As Bob Marley said, it’s a great place for couples to “get together and feel alright…”