planning a january vacation to jamaica.Looks like after reading other posts we have decided on negril.Trying to decide whether to stay on the beach or cliffs.We narrowed the choices to either coco la palm,or rockhouse.Would like to know how far is rockhouse to the beach area,and what the cost of a cab is.

I don't know about the cost of a cab or distance so I'm afraid I can't help you there.

My view? Stay at Coco La Palm (we stayed at Idle Awhile next door) there are so many nice restaurants within walking area and the beach is wonderful. We ate breakfast at IA and generally walked in one direction looking for lunch and in the opposite direction for Dinner.

Restaurants I would recommend, Norma's, Kubaba, Country Country and anywhere else that sells Red Stripe

How about splitting your time between the beach and the cliffs? We spent four nights at the Rockhouse last January, and if I had to plan the trip again, I would have spent two nights at the Rockhouse and two nights at Idle Awhile. That way you can easily explore the cliff area and restaurants as well as the beach area. If I remember correctly, it was around $8 for a cab ride from the Rockhouse to the beach.
Enjoy!

i have a 6 year old, so most hotels in the cliffs don't allow children. For good reason, it's tough walking around the rocky ironshore by yourself, let alone worry about a kid. I've stayed both in the cliffs and the beach about 15 times in the past 20 years, and I don't think anyone ever regrets staying on the beach, I would never just stay in the cliffs but spliting time between both works well. A cab from the Coco La Palm area of the beach to the cliffs, is anywhere from 7-10 US round trip. One way 5-7US. They of course will ask 15 US and go from there. At night on the beach you can go from bar to bar and resturant to resturant easier by walking the beach, but in the cliffs the properties only connect by the road which is narrow but we walked it with our child on my wife's back while I walked ahead to warn her when a car was coming and also let the car know we were there.

Part of our draw to Negril is the wonderful beach. I have never stayed in the cliffs, but have had wonderful dinners at places such as Rockhouse and Xtabi. But as Joshua indicates....never any regrets about staying and spending all of our time on the beach. This past trip we never even made it to the cliffs as we didn't want to sacrifice an afternoon or evening on the beach.

CaribbeanSoul, We celebrate my son-in-laws 50th birthday on New Years day while at Coco La Palm in a few weeks. Could you suggest a special dinner spot? Our ages are 11 to 65. Would either of the resturants you just suggested be appropriate? Our grandkids are very flexible with food. They will try most anything. Thanks, Owa

We actually stayed our first time in Negril on the cliffs. While we went to the beach one day, we kind of ran back "home", glad we had stayed away from the hustle and bustle and in-your-face tourism of the beach. People talked about beign hassled to buy stuff all the time and we had no clue what they were talking aobut. The cliffs are much quieter, and the hotels very private.

So it depends what you want

owa: I'd recommend Norma's at Sea Splash, a short walk to the north of Coco La Palm. Best restaurant in all of Negril....cliffs or beach. Stop by during the afternoon to make a reservation and check out the menu....something for everyone. It has newly been renovated since Ivan....very impressive.

Thanks CaribbeanSoul. I just spent the last hour going thru menus and I will print them before we go. Norma's is one of them. That way the 10 of us can look at the menus before we make a reservation. Two weeks from today we meet in Minneapolis to fly at 6AM on Monday morning. Transglobal just changed departure time for the 3rd time. At least we will arrive early in the day.

Thanks again, Owa

My wife and I really enjoyed our dinner at Kuyaba.