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Best Hotels in Jamaica

What makes a hotel qualify as one of the best in Jamaica? At Oyster, we know that the "best hotel" is different for just about everyone. For some, the best hotel is the most luxurious, and for others, it's the one that offers the most for kids. We compiled lists of the best value hotels, best luxury hotels, best family-friendly hotels, most romantic hotels, best hotel rooms, best hotel restaurants, best all-inclusive cuisine, super clean hotels, best hotel service, best nude beaches, best hotel beaches, best pools, best terraces, iconic hotels, and best cliff-diving hotels. Don't have time to read all that? Not to fear. We selected one hotel from each list that bests its competitors (if only slightly). Below, we present the best hotels of Jamaica.

Half Moon

Best Luxury Hotel

Drawing everyone from Queen Elizabeth II to rapper 50 Cent, Half Moon strives for timeless, understated luxury (even at the swim-up bar). Stretching over 400 acres (including two miles of beach), the 400-room all-inclusive resort brings attentive service, exceptional cuisine, and an unbeatable list of features, ranging from its own golf course to horse stables for some trotting along the beach.

Iberostar Rose Hall Beach

Best Value Hotel

For an upbeat all-you-can-drink mega-resort, the fresh-built Iberostar destroys the competition--better food, liquor, service, and activities (including free scuba tours) for less cash. You pay a little more for an all-inclusive up-front, but with this resort's high-quality liquor and variety of dining options, you'll definitely eat and drink your money's worth.

Beaches Negril Resort & Spa

Best Kid-Friendly Hotel

Partnered with Sesame Street, the Beaches brand of resorts offers Muppet-led activities for kids. Beaches Negril comes with a great water park, a pristine, calm beachfront, an extensive, supervised kids' club, and enough entertainment to keep kids totally occupied. The buffet's Kids' Corner comes with quartered grilled cheese, pizza, waffles, and french fries at all three meals. Even the a la carte restaurants have kids' menus -- a rarity among Jamaica all-inclusives.

Geejam

Most Romantic Hotel

These five modern villas on a remote mountaintop are cut off from prying eyes by thick stone walls or dense flora. Designed for utmost privacy, there's no communal pool, lobby, or front desk. Service is by request only, and each room comes with a cell phone so guests can call anyone from room service to the free staff driver to the hotel's owner. The rooms are self-contained sanctuaries with the 24-hour room service, in-room massages, free Wi-Fi, and the pre-programmed Apple TVs set with cult movies or eclectic reggae. Frenchman's Cove, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, is 10 minutes away.

The Caves

Best Honeymoon Hotel

The Caves is as honeymoon-perfect as it gets: just 11 spacious, private cottages; no guests under 17; all-inclusive food made to order; a drop-dead gorgeous cliffside setting; and a friendly, ultra-attentive staff, all set to a seductive reggae soundtrack. Perks include a private Jacuzzi for sunset viewing, and romantic candlelight dinners for two inside a cave.

Geejam

Best Hotel Rooms

The Geejam's five, extremely private cabins all have astounding terraces sheltered by dense forest. On the queen-size bed, there's a feather duvet, pillow-top mattress, and 500-count linens. Bathrooms either have steam-showers, standing tubs, or a private, four-person outdoor Jacuzzi (and that comes with the cheapest room). Plus, all rooms include techy comforts like 42-inch flat-screen TVs, free Wi-Fi, iPod docks, DVD players (with an extensive, free lending library), and Apple TVs pre-programmed with eclectic island tunes and cult movies.

The Caves

Best Hotel Restaurant

Featuring fresh, seasonal ingredients and inventive Jamaican-focused menus, the restaurant at the Caves offers such highlights as pumpkin ginger soup, saffron crab cakes served over spicy tomato salsa and drizzled with a herb-mustard vinaigrette, or rock shrimp simmered in a savory coconut sauce. The guests are encouraged to sample every dish if they like, and are also told "Anything else requested can be accommodated, never a problem!" The setting -- overlooking the sunset on the coarse rock cliffs or by candlelight inside a natural cave -- is beyond compare.

Half Moon

Best All-Inclusive Cuisine

Home to seven restaurants, the Half Moon resort has some of the best all-inclusive dining in Jamaica. The Sea Grape Terrace offers a popular "full Jamaican breakfast" buffet, which includes a mix of ackee and salt fish (the national dish), fried bread dumplings, grilled bananas, yams, and mixed vegetables. The Il Giardino Italian restaurant and the Sugar Mill, an upscale Caribbean restaurant housed within a centuries-old, dramatically lit sugar mill, both feature high-quality entrees. The resort's executive chef is among the best in the Caribbean -- he recently helped lead Team Jamaica to victory at the Caribbean Hotel Association Taste of the Caribbean competition.

Royal Plantation

Best Hotel Service

You quickly get used to hearing "Sure, whatever you want" from staff members at Royal Plantation, and by the third day, the thought of getting your own drink, lifting your own bag, or adhering to any of the resort's loosely enforced rules feels absurd. Offering such things as specialized dinner entrees, 24-hour room service, beachside drink service, and welcome "mangosas" (mango and champagne), the staff at the Royal Plantation is polite, professional, and friendly (without being flirty).

Grand Lido Negril

Best Nude Beach

Beachside body painting and late-night naked parties in the hot tub make for a nudist-friendly, and definitely R-rated, resort. On the fringes of the beach, this hotel designates the clothing-optional sections. Before entertaining fantasies of the Playboy Mansion, however, consider that the nude beach here is more like a coed locker room at the YMCA, populated in large part by the few people in the world who truly don't care what others think of their bodies -- in other words, seniors and daring drunks. Also remember that the resort is shared with many members of the Hedonism II crowd (an even more risque hotel).

Negril Tree House Resort

Best Hotel Beach

Negril Tree House Cottages has a choice spot on Negril's Seven Mile Beach, widely held as the best beach in Jamaica. The water is sparkling turquoise from afar, crystal clear up close, warm, and never crowded. There are always plenty of chairs, and the jerk pit and beach bar are never more than a few steps away.

Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort And Spa

Best Hotel Pool

The resort's 86,000 infinity pool is striking -- and enormous. It looks out onto the ocean, and it's never closed, so at night you can swim under the stars. Two Jacuzzis set into the pool are surrounded by white columns.

Round Hill Hotel & Villas

Best Terraces

Wood-planked terraces built into the cliff edge overlook the ocean and meld seamlessly with the open-air room.

Half Moon

Most Iconic Resort

Drawing everyone from Queen Elizabeth to 50 Cent, Half Moon strives for timeless, understated luxury. The columned portico at Half Moon's entrance and the marble-floored lobby -- filled with stone lions, crystal chandeliers, and contemporary Caribbean artwork -- highlight this classic resort's breezy yet elegant tone.

Tensing Pen

Best Cliff-Diving Resort

Guests can jump into the ocean from Tensing Pen's long rope bridge or from perches along the rugged West End Cliffs.

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Map Hotels in This List

Best Hotels in Jamaica Map
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Go to Hotels in This List

  1. Half Moon
  2. Iberostar Rose Hall Beach
  3. Beaches Negril Resort & Spa
  4. Geejam
  5. The Caves
  6. Geejam
  7. The Caves
  8. Half Moon
  9. Royal Plantation
  10. Grand Lido Negril
  11. Negril Tree House Resort
  12. Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort And Spa
  13. Round Hill Hotel & Villas
  14. Half Moon
  15. Tensing Pen

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