Things to Do Beyond the Blue Mountain Coffee Estates
The coffee is the reason to go up, and it is not the only thing on the road. Everything below sits on the same climb out of Kingston, or a short detour from it. That is why the longer tours pick up two or three of them without adding much to your day.
Holywell and the national park
Holywell is the recreation area inside the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, above 3,000 feet in cloud forest. It is run by the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust. There is a ranger station, a visitors' centre, ten gazebos with barbecue pits and five marked trails. The Blue Mahoe at 350 metres takes a quarter of an hour; the Oatley Mountain loop at 1.2 kilometres takes about an hour and a half.
Non-residents pay US$10 for adults and US$5 for children at the gate. Three furnished cabins let from US$60, and camping is US$5 a head if you bring your own tent.
The Maroons, and why the forest is World Heritage
The Blue and John Crow Mountains went onto the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2015. It was Jamaica's first inscription and the Caribbean's first mixed cultural and natural site, covering 26,252 hectares.
The listing is not only about the trees. The forest sheltered Taíno people and then the Windward Maroons, whose descendants still live in the settlements on the eastern side of the range. The natural half of the case is endemism: above 900 metres, roughly half the flowering plants grow nowhere else on earth.
Newcastle and the parade ground
Newcastle was founded in 1841 by Major General Sir William Maynard Gomm. He had noticed that yellow fever killed far fewer British soldiers in the hills than on the plain. The camp was cut in terraces into a ridge between about 3,500 and 4,500 feet, on what had been a coffee plantation.
The road to Holywell still runs straight through Sir William Gomm Square, the parade ground. It is a working Jamaica Defence Force training depot, so this is a roadside stop rather than a visit. Ten or fifteen minutes, a view back down over Kingston and the harbour, and the unit crests painted on the hillside.
Irish Town and Strawberry Hill
Irish Town is the village the estates sit above. A handful of buildings on a bend, and the point at which the road stops feeling like a suburb of Kingston. Just above it sits Strawberry Hill, a hotel whose terrace looks straight down the valley.
One tour offers it as an optional stop, and one reviewer says the lunch there was the best part of her day. It is worth asking for if your booking is private and your driver has the time.
Devon House, at the bottom of the hill
Devon House at 26 Hope Road was built in 1881 for George Stiebel, Jamaica's first Black millionaire. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust declared it a national monument in 1990. The property is open 9:30am to 10pm daily, with mansion tours Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 4pm and Saturday from noon to 8pm.
Most people come for the courtyard rather than the house. Shops, a bakery, and the ice cream that National Geographic placed fourth in the world in Food Journeys of a Lifetime. Several of these tours end there, which is a well-judged last stop after a morning on a mountain.
The Mavis Bank factory, if you arrange it yourself
The Mavis Bank factory has run since 1923 and handles over a million pounds of green beans a year from about 6,000 growers. Its own 45-minute visit runs weekday mornings and early afternoons at US$8 for adults and US$3.50 for children. Reservations are recommended, because walk-ins depend on a guide being free.
No tour on this list includes it. If the industrial scale interests you, and after a smallholding it is genuinely striking, book it directly and give it its own half-day.
Blue Mountain Peak, and who it is really for
The Peak is 7,402 feet, the highest point in Jamaica, and on a clear morning you can see both coasts from the top. Walkers start from Penlyne Castle on the far side of the range, usually around 2am, so as to reach the summit before the cloud closes in after sunrise.
None of the coffee tours here goes near it. That is the right answer rather than a gap: it is a different mountain, a different side and a different kind of day. If the summit is what you want, book a dedicated hike and give it its own night.
Birds, and the one everybody wants
The forest above the coffee is one of the Caribbean's great centres of endemism, and the bird list follows the plants. The one people ask about is the streamertail hummingbird, Jamaica's national bird, with tail feathers longer than its body.
You do not need a specialist trip to see one. A reviewer credits her guide with pointing out the birds and the habitat on the way up, which is what a good driver-guide on this road does anyway.
Where to eat on the mountain
There is not much, and that is worth knowing before you leave. The lunch stop on most of these tours is arranged by the driver rather than chosen by you. Strawberry Hill and Café Blue are the two names the tourist board points visitors at, both of them near Irish Town.
Take cash and eat when the chance comes. One saved review describes a lunch arrangement that changed on the day with no alternative offered, and the fix is simply to ask what the plan is before you set off.
Putting a day together
Everything on this list is on the same road out of Kingston, or a short detour from it.
| Stop | Where it sits | How long | Included on |
|---|---|---|---|
| The lookout over Kingston | 30 minutes up from the city | 10 minutes | Most Kingston departures |
| Irish Town | Just below the estates | 15 minutes | One tour names it |
| Craighton Estate | Above Irish Town | 1–2 hours | Named in two product titles |
| Newcastle | Above Irish Town on the Holywell road | 10–15 minutes | A roadside stop on some |
| Holywell | Higher again, US$10 at the gate | 1–2 hours | Arrange it, or a longer private day |
| Strawberry Hill | Above Irish Town | 1 hour 30 minutes | Optional on the north-coast day |
| Devon House | Back down in Kingston | 20 minutes to 1 hour | Several tours |
The private half-days have the room to add a stop. A Blue Mountains Jamaica coffee tour is the easiest way to see three of these in a morning. Every departure is on Blue Mountain Coffee Tours, and the practical page has the fees and the hours.
Tours that build in more than the farm
Blue Mountain Craighton Estate Coffee Tasting Tour / Devon House
PrivateTransport includedAir-conditioned
From $180 per person