Ocho Rios: beaches, shopping, nightlife...

"Ochee" is a synonym for beach, going out, shopping and most of all: being idle. The place for the spoiled beach lover.

Las Choreras
You can hardly name it a town. Once it was a quiet coastal village but since the fifties it became a seaside-resort with airs. Montego Bay is looking to Ocho Rios suspiciously, a serious competitor. One can venture to say that Ocho Rios is the Saint Tropez of Jamaica!
If you think you will see eight rivers we have to disappoint you. That means: We did not find them. The original name of the village was "Las Choreras" which referred to Jamaica's most popular attraction Dunn's River Falls, just west of the village.

Inhabitants of the village told me that the English misunderstood the name and since then they called the place Ocho Rios. Although it sounds reasonable I have no idea whether this explanation is true. Apart from that Ocho Rios is popularly called "Ochee". Asking for the way to "Ochee" will be resulting in an appreciative smile.


Harbor
For many people is Ocho Rios the first and unfortunately also the only acquaintance with Jamaica.
Many cruise vessels, scouring the Caribbean area, choose Ocho Rios as one of their mooring ports. It is an imposing sight as soon as such a huge cruise ship is mooring on one of the jetties Immediately every comes alive and the rest has gone temporarily. The tourists, just arrived with this ship, are an important source of income for the local people and it good without saying there is an active trade in crafts, souvenirs, rum, jewelry and so on.

In fact Ocho Rios is un-Jamaican.
The chain of American hotels and fast-food restaurants giving the city a westerly look. Nevertheless Ocho Rios is certainly a place to visit. The two most important beaches, Turtle Beach and Mallards Beach, are white as snow and a must for the sun lover.
The Shaw Park Gardens offer an unequalled view over the bay.
And for some Awarak-culture a visit to Coyaba gardens certainly is worth to look at. Inside the entrance gates of these gardens you can find a small archaeological museum where remainders of the Awarak period are on view.


The Falls
However... We cannot deny it: of course Ochee's most important attraction is Dunn's River Falls. This spectacular waterfall is a rather unique phenomenon: it is one of the very few falls in the world flowing out into the sea directly. Climbing up to this fall from the beach is a tradition you should have done at least once.
Driving over the A3 direction Kingston you will pass Fern Gully. Once a riverbed it is now a part of the road where the sun spontaneously disappears behind green ferns and trees. As if you are in the middle of the bush.

Oh yes, it is good over there in Ocho Rios.
During the day sunning yourself nicely on a beach, white as snow?
Thereafter diner under the stars?
And then up to the roaring nightlife?
Yes?
Then you are on the right place in Ocho Rios!