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Jamaica > Kingston > Blue Mountains > Getting Around

If you're not a hiker, the easiest way to tour the Blue Mountains is by car, although you can't visit the most remote or difficult-to-reach beauty spots that way. You can, however, get quite a dramatic preview via road. The main route into the Blue Mountains is the B1, which begins on the western outskirts of Kingston. Follow signposts to the hamlet of The Cooperage, the gateway to the mountains.

Though improved, this narrow road is still difficult; landslides do occur during the rainy season. Many drivers prefer a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Also watch for oncoming trucks - the macho drivers won't give an inch. And remember that the last gas station (called petrol here) is on the outskirts of Papine, in northeast Kingston. You'll need to fill up there.

Public transport in the mountains is hopelessly unreliable.

Organized Tours

Cycling is a good option when touring the Blue Mountains. Blue Mountain Bike Tours offers all-downhill bike tours through the Blue Mountains - you peddle only about a half dozen times on this several-mile trip. Visitors are driven to the highest navigable point, then cruise most of the way down. Lunch, snacks, and lots of information about coffee, local foliage, and history are provided. The cost is about $85 per person.

You can opt to head out alone into the Jamaican wilderness, but considering the dangers of such an undertaking, and a possible mugging you might encounter en route, it isn't advisable. A better bet involves engaging one of Kingston's best-known specialists in eco-sensitive tours, Sunventure Tours, 30 Balmoral Ave., Kingston 10.

The staff offers lots of tour choices. The Blue Mountain Sunrise Tour involves a camp-style overnight in one of the most remote and inaccessible areas of Jamaica. For a fee of $150 per person, participants are retrieved at their Kingston hotels, driven to an isolated ranger station accessible only via four-wheel-drive vehicle, and guided on a two-stage hike that begins at 2pm. A simple mountaineer's supper is served at 6pm around a campfire; late, at 3am, climbers hike by moonlight and flashlight to a mountaintop aerie selected for its view of the sunrise. You stay aloft until around noon, then head back down to Kingston. There's also a shorter 4-hour trek offered, costing $25 to $30 per person.

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