Guides
Best Photo Spots in Jamaica: Where Our Drivers Actually Stop
The best photo spots in Jamaica, picked by our drivers: clear rivers in the morning, Negril cliffs at golden hour.
The best photo spots in Jamaica are the clear rivers inland from Falmouth and Ocho Rios, the west-facing cliffs at Negril in the last hour of light, and the Blue Hole up in the hills. All of them fit inside a normal day trip from Montego Bay, Ocho Rios or Negril. Where you go matters less than what time you get there.
Where do people actually get their best pictures in Jamaica?
On the river. The bamboo raft trips are the ones guests send back to us more than anything else. You sit two to a raft, the captain stands at the front and poles, and the water is shallow and so clear that it goes green and blue in the same frame. Because you are sitting up out of the water, you can do the whole trip dressed the way you want to be photographed. The lady on the cover of this post did hers in a long gold dress and never got wet past her ankles.
Martha Brae is about 45 minutes from Montego Bay and the drift takes roughly an hour. Our driver waits at the landing, so nobody is rushing you at the end of it.
What time of day should you shoot?
Morning for rivers and waterfalls. Get to the water before ten and you beat the tour buses and the high sun that flattens everything out. By one in the afternoon the light is straight overhead and the water loses that colour.
Evening for Negril. The whole west end faces the sunset, so the light comes across the water at you instead of from behind you. The last 30 to 40 minutes before the sun drops is the part worth building your day around. Sunset moves a lot through the year, from around 5:30 in December to just after 7:00 in June, so check the date you are travelling and tell your driver what time you want to be standing there.
Dunn's River Falls or the Blue Hole, which one photographs better?
They give you two different pictures. Dunn's River is the famous one, 600 feet of tiered rock you climb hand in hand with a guide. It is the shot people recognise, but you are in a human chain with strangers and your phone needs to be in a waterproof pouch, so plan for video more than careful framing.
The Blue Hole, about half an hour up in the hills from Ocho Rios, is the quieter picture. Smaller pools, deep green water, a rope swing and a few ledges to jump from. It is much easier to get a frame with nobody else in it, and the colour of that water does most of the work for you.
Is Negril worth the drive just for photos?
If you have a full day, yes. Negril is about an hour and a half from Montego Bay airport. Seven Mile Beach gives you the long empty sand early in the morning, and Rick's Cafe gives you the cliff divers and the sky in the evening. The crowd at Rick's starts building from about half four, so get there before that if you want space at the rail.
Do you need a real photographer, or is a phone enough?
A phone handles most of it honestly. Two of our excursions are built around pictures if you want more than that. The Clear Kayak Photoshoot in Ocho Rios puts you in a see-through kayak over the reef with a photographer shooting you from the water, and the Bali Inspired Swing is a harnessed swing out over the jungle with the frame already set up for you.
If someone at an attraction offers to take your picture for a small fee, that is normal and usually worth it. Agree the price before they start. And please ask before you photograph people going about their day. Jamaicans are generous about it when you ask first.
What should you bring for photos?
A waterproof pouch on a lanyard, because you will want your phone on the raft and at the falls. A microfiber cloth, because your lens will fog the moment you step out of an air conditioned van into the heat, and it can take ten minutes to clear on its own. Water shoes for the falls. A change of clothes left in the van if you plan to swim. And more battery than you think you need, because heat drains a phone faster than most people expect.
Ready to plan the day around the light?
Tell us the spots you have in mind and we will build the day around when they look best, instead of the other way round. We can start you with a private airport transfer on arrival day, then book a tour for the rivers, the falls and Negril on the days after.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best photo spot in Jamaica?
For most of our guests it is a bamboo raft trip on one of the clear rivers, because you stay dry and dressed while the water does all the work. Martha Brae near Falmouth and the rivers around Ocho Rios both photograph well. Go in the morning while the water still holds its colour.
Can you take your phone on a bamboo raft or to Dunn's River Falls?
Yes, but put it in a waterproof pouch on a lanyard. The raft is dry most of the time, though the captain poles through shallow spots and water does come over the bamboo. At Dunn's River you are climbing through moving water with both hands busy, so a pouch around your neck is the only safe way to carry it.
What time is sunset in Jamaica?
It shifts through the year, from around 5:30 in the evening in December to just after 7:00 in June. Negril faces west, so the light there is best in the last half hour or so before the sun touches the water. Tell your driver what time you want to be standing at the cliffs and we will work the day backwards from that.
Do you have to pay to take pictures at Jamaican attractions?
Your entry fee covers your own photos. At the bigger attractions local photographers will offer to shoot you and sell you the pictures afterwards, which is normal and often worth it. Agree the price before they start. If you want to photograph a person, ask them first.