Negril is one of the Caribbean’s most laid back destinations for a large-scale resort setting, so much so it’s earned a reputation as "the capital of casual." The selling point here is simple. Visitors have direct access to seven miles of uninterrupted, pure white beach fronting an unbelievably calm blue-green ocean. This is what the postcard promised and this is what Negril delivers.
No hotel is more than three stories tall, and much of the beach is home to an array of funky beach bars and restaurants with most of their tourist clientele barefoot and grinning. Every year, it seems another small and colorful inn-style resort opens up where visitors feel like they’re staying with a Jamaican family and their cute, well-manicured gingerbread home.
Bordering the main beach is seven more miles of seaside cliffs and grottos first popularized by visiting hippies in the 1960s. Dotting the cliffs are a series of open-air restaurants and bars that cater to hundreds of tourists nightly who migrate here to watch the nightly sunsets over the Caribbean Sea. As the dying sun lights up the waters, the reggae bands start pumping out their hip-swayin’ beat while everyone knifes into their spicy Jerk chicken and sips on Jamaica’s Red Stripe beer. One special event during sunset on the cliffs are the professional cliff divers at Rick’s Café who perform graceful acrobatics from 60 feet above the warm crystalline waters.
Most importantly in Negril, the region has the highest number of hotels in the Caribbean certified by Great Britain’s Green Globe environmental organization. The local government is adamant about keeping the destination in its pristine ecological state, meaning no cruise ships or heavy industry.
