Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall

Montego Bay, (mòn-tê´go) city (1991 pop. 83,446), NW Jamaica. A port, railroad terminus, and commercial center, it is one of the most popular resorts in the Caribbean. There is an active trade in sugar, bananas, coffee, and rum and some light industries.

Jamaica’s north-western node is the thriving port city of MoBay. This is resort Jamaica at its purest and most puerile, where a crowded touristy mishmash of one-way streets full of honking cars and pedestrians almost obscures the scintillating beaches, the golf courses, the historic houses and the mountain-village life going on behind the narrow coastal strip. Despite MoBay’s reputation as a hustlers’ city, there are attractions which make it worth being asked ‘Hey, Jake! Smoke? Coke?’ every few steps. Many admirable Georgian stone buildings and timber houses still stand downtown, and there is an excellent variety of arts and crafts. Every kind of water sport is offered, although most of the good beaches are the private domains of resort hotels. Those seeking a budget holiday with a lively nightlife and shops and markets packed with bargains will be right at home, as will those seeking to spend a week idly sunning at an all-inclusive upmarket resort. However, if you’re interested in Jamaica beyond the tourist ideal of ‘Caribbean-ness,’ you’ll find little in Montego Bay.