Fern hill club, Port Antonio
 

I'm planning a trip to Fern Hill Club in December, Has anyone actually stayed there? I'm considering Fern Hill or Rio Vista.

Fern Hill Club is closer to most things in the area , beaches , restaurants , etc. Rio Vista is very beautiful , great owners , great food , but it's either an expensive taxi ride or renting a car to get to beaches etc...... It is at the end of the Rio Grande rafting tour , sitting high on the river bank , with a view to the sea in the distance . Fern Hill Club had been closed for reno. after last years big hurricane , I am assuming it's up and running ? This place has stupendous views , and is great exercise ( lots of stairs !!! ) .

Yes, they are open now, I made reservations a week ago. Hopefully, the renovations are complete. The price is right and there is a very minimal extra charge to have a cook. I've been doing my research and so far it sounds great. I plan on renting a car but I also want to be close enough to the activities.

Thats great . You do know that besides outdoor excursions , there are not that many " activities " ?? This is a quiet area , hotels hidden in the jungle ( and not many of them ) . Incredibly beautiful and lush , laid-back , seemingly lost in time ....

Yes, "activities" for me is swimming in the blue lagoon, rafting on the rio grande, Eating Jerk chicken at boston bay. I have two small children 3 y/o and 1 y/o, so our activities will be very simple for a while. I chose Port Antonio because of the laid back attitude.

Awesome ! exactly as we did !! I went with my then 6 and 8 yr. old . We stayed at Goblin Hill Villas . My trip report is under Port Antonio Jamaica trip report , by Willem . any questions , fire away ! Amazing , amazing place !! ( visited 2x fern hill )which is accesible from goblin by a back road hike .....

My sister who lives in Kingston went to P.A. yesterday for the weekend, How convenient, She did a walk through of a few places including Fern Hill, she says it's not well maintained, They decided on Goblin Hill, more impressive. Originally, GH was my first choice but they had a 5 night minimum at Christmas and we're only going to be in JA for 3 nights. She's going to try to pull some strings.

We found Fern Hill looked just fine , everything in Portie is worn at the edges a bit , even Goblin Hill where we stayed ..... We would stay at both again in a second ! Very clean , staff cleaning up at every turn , but you will see some dated and chipped tiles etc. You probably would have been fine at Fern Hill , but Goblin hill is wonderful !!! looks like old world charm . Ask to have Joan as your housekeeper !

Great, if things don't work out at GH due to the # of days, then I'll stay at Fern Hill. I actually thought Fern Hill would be a little more private because of the option of having three pools, instead of everyone in just one pool.

I'm going to try to look at your trip photos now.

I have no photos posted ..... Just a long report . Liza has photos !

We stayed at Fern Hill and loved it. We had a car and no hotel reservations so drove around a bit before deciding where to stay. We looked at Frenchman's first (yuck), then Goblin Hill (nice enough but very quiet and too $$$), settled on Fern Hill's suite for $99 which was almost identical to the Goblin Hill $250 room. Fern Hill also ahs a bar/restaurant, 3 pools and San San beach apsses, all of which we used.

I do have photos: http://gallery.hookahheads.com/gallery/album569?page=3

...and a trip report: http://www.alink.com/personal/liz/negril/2003trip.htm

liza,
Your pictures were great..thanks for sharing them with us.:) Porty looks like a place that I would like to go..after Idle Awhile in Negril.;) You all looked like you had a blast!

That was my favorite Jamaica trip yet (of 15 or so)....no kids, rental car, only reserved a couple of nights' hotel, the rest we just went where the wind blew us.

I love Port Antonio...we have gone the last threee years. We rent of the Blue Lagoon Villas with a couple friend of ours. Do go to the beach at Frenchmans...there is a creek (not sure if it is a true creek) that runs into the ocean...we saw a lot of small children in it with their parents. Also recommend the spicey honey conch at the Blue Lagoon Restaurant (some what expensive but I loved it). When you get the jerk from Boston Bay if you get pork tell them no fat or they will load you up with it. Everyone is so friendly and willing to help out. I can not say enough good things.