Runaway Bay

Runaway Bay sits fifteen minutes west of Ocho Rios and half a world away in pace. The bay itself is protected by an offshore reef, which means calm, glass-flat water almost year-round — the safest swimming on the north coast and a favourite for families with small children.

The village grew up around Cardiff Hall, one of Jamaica's oldest championship golf courses, and today combines quiet resort beaches with easy access to St. Ann's headline attractions: Dunn's River Falls, Nine Mile (Bob Marley's birthplace), and the Green Grotto Caves — 1,500 metres of stalactite-hung limestone tunnels used by everyone from the Taíno to Spanish colonists to smugglers.

The town is small enough that you'll know the bartenders and fruit vendors by day two, but the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay is only an hour away. Runaway Bay is the pick for travellers who want St. Ann's adventure without Ocho Rios's cruise-day bustle.