Where to stay in Negril
 

Posted a few times before and the readers of this board have been extremely helpful. My wife and I are still struggling with finding a place to stay in Negril, Jamaica. We don't want to stay at an all inclusive, but would prefer a more intimate hotel, inn, or cottage. From what we've seen on the net, each area of Negril--cliffs and beach--seem very appealing so we are going to try to split our week between the two. <BR> <BR>Our travel agent is pushing places that have package deals but don't quite appear to be what we want--small, private, initmate properties. So I'm turning to you guys for advice: On the cliffs, has anyone stayed at Sea Grape, Rock House, or Xtabi. <BR> <BR>On the beach: Gate House Villa, Cocolapalm, Charela, Idle Awile... <BR> <BR>Any advice will be greatly appreciated as we need to book soon, <BR> <BR>Thanks!

I know it's hard to choose - there are so many great places to stay in Negril. <BR> <BR>If it helps, I'm somewhat familiar with all the places you mention and I don't think you'll have a bad time at any of them. Sea Grape is the smallest - just 3 villas. THe rest are small hotels, Coco and Charela being the largest. <BR> <BR>If money is no object, I'd take Idle Awhile on the beach (very nice, very small, great location) and maybe a cottage at Xtabi or Rockhouse on the cliffs (nice cottages, don't get the cottage next to the Pickled Parrot at Rockhouse). <BR> <BR>What we did on our first Negril trip was admit we had to pick SOMETHING nad just do it. Then, while we were there and knew we wanted to return, we visited a bunch of other places. We stayed in one of those (Nirvana on the beach) on our next trip. <BR> <BR>Visiting the little places is fun, they'll all happily give you a tour :) <BR> <BR>:) Liz

For some odd reason, the people who hang out on this message board tend to go to the big AIs when visiting Jamaica. We rarely see a posting for the smaller, non-AI resorts in Negril. This is unfortunate. I haven't been to any of the places you mention, but I have read really positive comments about a couple of them. <BR> <BR>You should post your request for info at www.negril.com. The people on that board tend to go to the resorts you are interested in. <BR> <BR>Good luck with your planning. Please let us know where you decide to go and how the trip went. <BR>

Charela Inn on the beach hands down!! <BR>Best food there! We stayed at the <BR>T-Water Beach Resort (it was just ok) <BR>but checked out other places-- liked <BR>the intimate atmosphere of Charela, <BR>its gardens and the outstanding food! <BR>Very nice and professional service too! <BR>JanGail

I stayed at Xtabi last summer with two friends. We had cottage #2 right on the cliffs. Cottages #1 and #3 have kitchenettes which would be a big help. Our unit did have a small fridge. All the cliffside cottages had direct accesss down the cliffs. We had a massage in one of the caves. The restaurant was good but overpriced. We had a great meal at Rockhouse for a lot less money. The snorkeling off the cliffs was not the best. Make sure to ask for a cliffside cottage - not in the garden by the pool. Enjoy Negril.