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Jamaica > Kingston & the Blue Mountains

Kingston, the largest English-speaking city in the Caribbean, is the capital of Jamaica and its cultural, industrial, and financial center. Kingston is home to more than 750,000 people, including those living on the plains between the Blue Mountains and the sea. The buildings here are a mixture of the modern, graceful, old, and just plain ramshackle. The bustling port is evocative of one in Africa, with a natural harbor that's among the largest in the world. The University of the West Indies has its campus on the edge of the city.

Few other cities in the Caribbean carry as many negative connotations as Kingston, thanks to widely publicized reports of violent crime, congestion, bad roads, and difficult-to-decipher traffic signs.

But it is also here that you find Jamaica at its most urban and confident, most witty and exciting, most challenging. No other place in Jamaica offers so many bars, clubs, or cultural outlets. And no other place in Jamaica has such a concentration of creative artists and opinions.

We've carefully screened our recommendations, eliminating any that lie within the most dangerous neighborhoods. Keep an open mind about Kingston-it can be a lot of fun if you keep your guard up, but isn't for the faint of heart.

When you've had enough of the city, escape to the Blue Mountains at the northern edge of the city. There is no more beautiful mountain chain in the West Indies. The hills are at their most stunning and evocative when a blue mist hovers over them. The Blue Mountains are most famously associated with a celebrated coffee bean, but they're also full of trails, rivers, waterfalls, bird life, fruit, even marijuana.

Don't expect superhighways: The roads are terrible. Luckily, the best way to appreciate this amazing scenery is by foot-though only if you're fit enough.

Historic Spanish Town and Port Royal can both be reached easily from Kingston and are well worth a visit.

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