Montego Bay, Jamaica. Credit: Wikimedia Creative Commons license

Montego Bay, Jamaica, is a western Caribbean cruise port and the tourism capital of Jamaica.

The second largest city on the island is a hub for many visitors to Jamaica. Besides a cruise terminal, the city also has the Sangster International Airport.

It is the flight destination for anyone planning to stay in hotels or resorts for Montego Bay, Negril and Ocho Rios, among other locations. Sangster is only 70 minutes by air from Miami, FL.

Cruise ships often come to Montego Bay from embarkation ports such as Tampa, New Orleans and Galveston and continue on to Grand Cayman and Cozumel for western Caribbean cruises.

Attractions and Shore Excursions

Cruise and resort visitors have shore excursions ranging from Jamaican bobsledding to bamboo rafting, ziplining, kayaking, waterfalls, beaches and dolphin swims.

The city has plenty of nearby beaches with at least nine of them within five miles of the city. Dump-Up Beach and Events Park is right in the city and often crowded. Belvedere, Cornwall, Doctor’s Cave and Walter Fletcher beaches are a mile or less away from downtown. Doctor’s Cave is one of the better known.

Other Montego Bay attractions include the restored Rose Hall Great House plantation, the translucent waters of Doctor’s Cave Beach and Croydon in the Mountains, a working plantation with panoramic views of the Catadupa Mountains. The Greenwood Great House was formerly owned by the poet Elizabeth Barrett-Browning.

Accommodations

Anyone planning to stay in Montego Bay itself will likely take advantage of the many hotels and resorts along Gloucester Avenue. They also will experience the duty free shopping and relax on the miles-long white beaches facing, of course, the water inlet known as Montego Bay.

While Negril and Ocho Rios are known for their all-inclusive resorts, Montego Bay has its share of deluxe hotels, such as Ritz-Carlton, Round Hill and Half Moon, besides its own collection of resorts.

This is one of the more commercialized destinations in Jamaica. However, one benefit of Montego Bay is that Negril usually requires up to a two-hour drive from the airport to get there.

Average Weather

Most months are a good time for weather in Montego Bay except for a short rainy season in May and a heavier rainy season in August, September and October caused by the annual Caribbean hurricane season.

Rainfall averages one to three inches a month from January through April and again in July, according to the Meteorological Service of Jamaica. It’s at least four inches during other months of the year and reaches a high point of nearly seven inches in October, which is the riskiest month of the year for weather.

The average high temperature is 88 degrees Fahrenheit or about 31 Celsius during the summer months. The averages high stay in the low 80s Fahrenheit or upper 20s Celsius during the winter.

The best months to go for a combination of warm temperatures and low risk of rain are April and July. These recommendations are based on long-term weather patterns and may vary from year to year.