Call or email for assistance planning your trip: +1 (212) 203-0064 | reservations@moonjamaica.com
Cinchona Gardens, while not the best-maintained botanical gardens, have a spectacular variety of plants, including many orchid species, making it a magical place with an incredible view. Cinchona Gardens can be reached by turning left at the Anglican church in Mavis Bank, and then descending to cross the Yallahs River at Robertsfield.
Jill Byles, a retired horticultural enthusiast who lives at Guava Ridge near Mavis Bank, offers tour guide services (US$50 per day regardless of group size) on hiking trails in the area.
Consisting of nearly 81,000 hectares in the parishes of St. Andrew, St. Mary, St. Thomas, and Portland, the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park (BJCMNP, tel. 876/920-8278, jcdt@cybervale.com, www.greenjamaica.org.jm) covers the highest and steepest terrain in Jamaica.
The centerpiece of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, Blue Mountain Peak can be reached by a variety of means depending on the level of exhaustion you are willing to endure. Generally, people leave from Whitfield Hall at Penlyne, St. Thomas, after having arrived there by four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Forres Park Guest House and Spa (US$75-220) is the best option for bird-watchers and hikers, especially for groups looking to stay in the immediate vicinity of Mavis Bank. A two-story main house and four cabins are surrounded by a small coffee farm that attracts many endemic and migratory bird species.
Lime Tree Farm (US$365 per couple per night, inclusive of three meals per day, wine with dinner; other alcoholic beverages served at additional cost) overlooking Mavis Bank, and with a spectacular view of Portland Gap, Blue Mountain Peak, and the Yallahs River Valley, is a small coffee farm with tastefully decorated concrete cabins owned by partners Charles Burberry an
Portland Gap has six wooden cabins, lead-tos and camp sites. One cabin one has six bunks sleeping 12, at US$27/night; the second cabin has nine bunks, sleeping 18, for US$40/night; Cabins 3-6 are unenclosed with no beds but space for up to 15 people to on the floor. Foam sleeping mats can be rented for US$1 per night, but hikers should carry their own sleeping bags.
Mavis Bank is not the place to go for culinary delights or nightlife of any kind. Nonetheless, Karen’s Container Bar around the corner from Forres Park is open whenever there are customers to serve.
Now suburban outskirts of Ocho Rios, the area between Tower Isle and Boscobel is dotted with cottages and villas on the sea side of the road, with several housing developments inland that are home to many commuters working in Ocho Rios.
