Negril · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
Seven miles of sand and a cliff coast — Negril has been absorbing budget travellers since the seventies.
Sleep on the West End
Guesthouses and cottages line Lighthouse Road above the cliffs, cheaper and quieter than the beach strip and better for sunset. Route taxis run both ways.
What a day costs
Bed J$3,500–7,000, jerk and patties J$1,500–3,000, route taxis J$600. Reckon J$6,000–12,000, roughly $40–75. Dollars are accepted but rates favour local cash.
Getting around cheap
Shared route taxis run Norman Manley Boulevard and the West End for a few hundred dollars a hop; the Knutsford Express coach handles Montego Bay and Kingston.
Free by day
The whole of Seven Mile Beach is walkable, Bloody Bay at the north end is quieter, and the West End cliffs cost nothing to watch the sun from.
Norman Manley Boulevard
The beach bars along the middle of the strip run day-drinking, dominoes and reggae sound systems, and are the default place to meet other travellers.