Montego has earned its reputation as a Caribbean tourist magnet thanks in large part to the Hip Strip, also known as Gloucester Avenue, where the daily fun begins with a breakfast of the country's national dish, Jamaican ackee and saltfish.
Then comes a morning of shopping for your obligatory "Life's a Beach" T-shirt, to be complemented by whatever duty-free bling catches your eye.
Spend the afternoon in the shade of a rented umbrella as you laze on the sand of Doctor's Cave Beach. Start the evening with a fresh seafood dinner at Marguerite's and end it with a nightcap at the bar named for Jamaica's underground national anthem, Margaritaville. And take a trip down the Margaritaville slide for a head-clearing plunge into the Caribbean.
As much fun as these Montego pastimes may be, they merely scrape the surface layer of sand from what this energetic hub of Caribbean adventure has to offer.
This Montego adventure is for the truly dedicated hiker and advisable only in the dry Jamaican wintertime. Crossing Cockpit Country is like navigating the interior of an egg container, over rounded limestone hills and through the valleys between, named for the cockfighting pits they resemble.
Lying beneath the surface of Cockpit Country is a network of limestone caves and rivers. The entire area served as a hiding place for Jamaica's Maroons attempting to escape British forces during the slavery days of the 18th and 19th centuries. A Maroon community still thrives at Accompong in St. Elizabeth parish.
In addition to the thousands of bats that live both in and outside its caves, Cockpit Country has more than a hundred plant species that grow nowhere else on Jamaica.
There are numerous species of ferns, orchids and bromeliads, more than 80 types of birds including brilliantly colored parrots, and colonies of both blue and giant swallowtail butterflies. Giant swallowtails are the world's second-largest butterfly species.
Prepare for humidity and mosquitoes, trade in your shorts for long pants and hire a guide familiar with the terrain.
A coastal town 23 miles to Montego Bay's east, the town of Falmouth still retains much of the Georgian splendor from its glory days as the island's major port for the export of sugar, rum and molasses.
Even more splendid and rare, however, is the lagoon about a mile east of the town, formed where the Martha Brae River pours into the Caribbean. It's now known as "Luminous Lagoon" for its vast colony of microorganisms called dinoflagellates, which emit an green phosphorescent glow when disturbed.
Nightly boat tours, including stops so passengers can immerse themselves in the eerie glow, are available.
Most tourists never leave the Hip Strip to enter the heart of the Montego Bay, but it's worth a short visit if only for the sights of Sam Sharpe Square. Named for an ex-slave Baptist preacher who was executed for his role in the slave uprising of 1838, the square has an excellent museum devoted to local history.
Follow pedestrian-only Market Street to the town's biggest crafts market. Remain vigilant for pickpockets, don't stray off the main streets, and your visit to Mo' Bay's other half should be both enlightening and fun.
