Kingston Nature and History: Port Royal Ruins, Blue Mountain Peak, Maroon Country, and Hellshire Beach
The natural and historical destinations accessible from Kingston include the sunken pirate city of Port Royal, the challenging sunrise hike to the Blue Mountain Peak, the Maroon resistance landscape of the Cockpit Country, and the authentic Jamaican beach food experience at Hellshire.
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Port Royal: The Wicked City That Was
Port Royal on the Palisadoes spit enclosing the Kingston harbour was the most prosperous and most notorious city in the Caribbean in the 1680s, the base of Henry Morgan and the buccaneers who raided the Spanish Main with the licensed approval of the English crown, before the earthquake of June 7, 1692 sank two-thirds of the city into the sea in minutes. The Port Royal accessible today by ferry is a small fishing village with the ruins of Fort Charles and the ongoing underwater archaeological excavation of the submerged city.
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Blue Mountains National Park: The Forest Reserve
The Blue Mountains National Park, covering the highest section of the Blue Mountains from 1,000 meters to the 2,256-meter Blue Mountain Peak, protects the finest cloud forest in the Caribbean and the critical watershed that supplies the Kingston water supply. The peak hike, departing at 2am from the Whitfield Hall hostel to reach the summit for sunrise, is one of the finest mountain sunrise experiences in the Caribbean.
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Maroon Country: The Cockpit Country and Accompong
The Cockpit Country in central Jamaica, the almost impenetrable limestone karst landscape of hills and sinkholes where the Jamaican Maroons evaded British military pursuit for decades and eventually fought the British to a treaty in 1739 that recognized their independence, is the most historically significant landscape in Jamaica for the history of enslaved resistance. Accompong, the Maroon settlement in the Cockpit Country accessible by road from Montego Bay, celebrates the Maroon treaty anniversary each January 6.
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Lime Cay: The Weekend Sandbank
Lime Cay, the small coral sandbank accessible by water taxi from the Port Royal jetty, is the most popular beach day excursion from Kingston for the city population who come on weekends for the swimming, the beach bar, and the experience of a perfect Caribbean sandbank with the Kingston skyline visible across the harbor. The short boat ride through the harbor channel past the container port is an additional experience.
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Hope Botanical Gardens: The Victorian Pleasure Ground
The Hope Botanical Gardens, established in 1881 on the Hope River plain in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, is the largest botanical garden in the English-speaking Caribbean and the primary public green space of Kingston. The gardens preserve specimens of the native Jamaican flora alongside the colonial introduction plants and are the site of the Orchid House, the cactus garden, and the zoo adjacent to the eastern boundary.
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Hellshire Beach: The Fried Fish Tradition
Hellshire Beach on the southern Portmore peninsula accessible from Kingston by road, the most popular beach for Kingston residents seeking a local seaside experience without traveling to the resort areas, is famous for the beach-side fish vendors who fry fresh snapper, parrotfish, and lobster in the open-air restaurants behind the beach and serve it with festival and bammy cassava flatbread in the most authentic Kingston beach food experience.