Jamaica > Kingston
Jamaica's teeming capital city suffers from a negative image that, though partly deserved, belies its many appeals. At first neither welcoming nor beautiful, the city is diminished by squalor, and its culture can be darned right intimidating. Seething tensions simmer below the surface and often boil over. But although there are places visitors are advised to steer well clear of, Kingston is the vibrant heartbeat of Jamaica and its center of commerce and culture. It hustles, it bustles, and it merits a visit, especially during one of the annual festivals.
The view from the mountains reveals leafy foothill suburbs overlooking a magnificent natural harbor. Just north of the waterfront is the historic downtown area, with its highrise hotels and offices, and its urban underclass: hustlers, street vendors, and beggars. New Kingston is uptown, north of the old center.
The Bob Marley Museum, at the reggae superstar's former home in New Kingston, is the city's most visited attraction. Highlights include the singer's simple bedroom with Marley's star-shaped guitar by the bedside, the bullet holes that ripped through the rear wall of the house during an assassination attempt in 1976, and the tree outside beneath which Marley would smoke ganja and practice his guitar.
Downtown Kingston's waterfront area is well and truly ready for its planned restoration, but it's still a good place for a breezy walk, and you can visit the craft market on the wharves. A few blocks westward is the National Gallery, displaying Jamaican works from the 1920s to the present, including a good collection of Edna Manley's sculpture. Every December it hosts a national exhibition of contemporary art.
The majority of budget hotels are on the south side of New Kingston. Pickings are slim downtown where options are mostly glitzy and upmarket. There are heaps of good food options downtown, however: Indian, Chinese and Yankee places rumble for the belly-dollar with local chowmasters. North of New Kingston and running away to the west, Red Hills Rd has plenty of jerk stands. You can smell the spice and smoke as you drive along. Red Hills Rd is also one place for street parties and discos, but regardless of which area you find yourself roaming, reggae music is sure to be blaring. This place jumps!