Negril Shopping
 

Looking for some information about shopping in Negril. We will be staying at Sandal's Negril and are considering doing some shopping in Negril. Should we take the bus or cab? How agressive are the vendors? Any special shops worth visiting or others to stay away from? Any information would be appreciated.

The gift shop at Sandals should have any items that you might want to buy in Negril. There is a straw market and a "mall" shopping area in town. The vendors at the straw market are very aggressive and both my husband and I felt apprehensive there. Same for the "mall" which is only a couple of T-shirt/tourist item stores. We did not feel safe shopping. (We were not with a large group, just the two of us and our driver).

There really isn't much to buy on Jamaica that you can't get in Sandal's gift shop. If you want to get off the compound, take a taxi to the cliffs area and have lunch at Pickled Parrot, swing and jump off the rope swing into the cove, or go to Xtabi or lunch and snorkel the caves and the cove. It is very different from the beach-y part of Negril.

Dont let anybody discourage you from venturing away from the hotel. Just having a little common since is all you need. We stayed at Sandals negril last Feb and we love it there and plan to go back next Feb to celebrate our 25 th Ann,and renew our vows. You will love it there the beach is 7 mile long and the sunset is the most beautiful I have ever seen. ENJOY YOUR TRIP !!!!!

Thanks for the replies everyone. We love Sandals Negril and can't wait to leave again in 4 days. The only thing we were disappointed in last year was the lack of items in the gift shop. We were interested in looking at some of the local people's crafts, etc. Sandals does allow some vendors onto the beach but the number of items worth purchasing are minimal.

Try and bare in mind these are poor people and have a limited amount of time to sell there wares. Jamaica rates 148th in the world in GDP/person. Of course they are going to be aggresive. We went through the crafts market just north of the negril river(south end of the beach) They may be aggresive but they will take no for an answer without getting physical. You can't buy from everyone, hard as this will be for them to understand. I recommend going and doing all your souvenier buying at one time. Check what you want and don't start talking price unless you are prepared to buy. Don't get mad. If you don't want what is being sold at a stall be polite, smile, be persistent and firm, and never lose your sense of homour. Remember to you it's just a few bucks on vacation. To them it's a lot more important than that. As for feeling nervous or apprehensive, My wife and I crawled around a four different craft markets and dozens of shops. No one even looked at us crossways. We even went to out of the way shops and beer joints, where only the locals go. It's amazing how you are treated if you go and act withdiplomacy. At one local beer joint, on the road to Savannah La Mar, We stopped in, started a conversation with the locals, bought a round of "Red Stripe" (Cost about $10) and sat and had a great long conversation. These are not violent poor people like you might come across in other places of poverty. That's my opinion.