Howdy all! Last time I was writing on Jamaica, not so long ago, I wrote about Kingston and the places I was able to visit there. But In was also able to get out of Kingston for a day trip to the north of the island.

It’s around an 80km drive from Kingston to Dunn’s River Falls, which on its website is considered ‘World Famous’. Certainly I think it’s one of the most visited spots in Jamaica and I gather is busy most days. Luckily I had someone taking me there from Kingston – the incredible Rochelle Knight from Adventures from Elle!

The drive is actually very scenic and enjoyable from Kingston through the mountains to the north coast of Jamaica. From this side more tourists come to Jamaica I gather from the big cruise ships and others staying in resorts or Montego Bay. Dunn’s River works its way from the mountains to the north coast and makes its final descent over a series of falls that take it from 292 metres down to sea level and into the ocean. The falls are famous not just because of their beauty but also because they have a series of pools, and are not steep so what has become the thing to do is to ascend them from the ocean by foot.

It’s a money making venture, there is a huge car park at the top, gates to enter and of course admission to pay. There are also a couple of connected zip lines over the falls reached by bridges if you want to pay extra, but to be fair the lines look short and there is no great height reached either.

Admission price does vary if you are or are not Jamaican. Jamaicans pay an entrance fee of $6.85USD and others are charged $25USD, which honestly I paid without fuss but later though back and thought it was a lot to pay for a natural attraction. It’s hard to say whether I was there on a busy day, there seemed to be a lot of people at the falls that day, but at the same time there were plenty of spaces available in the car park so I except that on a day approaching capacity there are a lot more people visiting.

Anyways, you walk a path to the falls from the entrance, it’s not super far, and alongside the falls is a path, partly boardwalk, steps of course, all the way to the beach that goes under the coastal road at one point. Where there are pools etc there are larger platforms and so you can walk the path and stop off at the pools and hop in there.

The beach was a decent beach and there is a designated swimming zone. There are also lockers at the bottom and changing rooms, as there are at the top, lockers you have to pay for. We enjoyed the ocean water but I will say that because the swimming section is at the base of the waterfall the water from the river/mountains primarily is what we swam in and so it was actually a little cool, unlike the Caribbean Ocean waters which are very warm. The swimming area is sectioned off so you can’t go swimming out to deeper ocean waters.

Here we saw people all connected by hand, lines of up to 20 people with guides who helped them climb the falls from the base. The base looked the hardest part to climb, and it’s all on slippery rocks and so I felt, I’ll leave that to others. You can stand and get little waterfall massage too there which is cool but again, the water is not warm, so it’s cool in two different ways!

We went back up the path to the first pool which I think was called the ‘Whirlpool’, and from there did ascend a bit here and there up to the entrance level. Some on tours were going further I think up the river. The rocks were slippery and even in this area you did have to be careful. I bought a pair of brightly colour water shoes at the entrance (Jamaican colours) which I think was a very good choice. Less likely to slip and less damage to the soles of the feet.

Whilst we did do a little climbing of the waterfall, I played it super safe, I’m 50 and had a bad experience in the Philippines walking and slipping on rocks in the water where I bled from my shins. I avoided it here and I did see one person slip quite badly, and frankly it could ruin your day.

The falls are gorgeous, that’s no exaggeration and they demand photos with their beautiful greens. The pools at the top are nice to chill in and you look up and see the zip liners not too far above and can relax and enjoy the vibe. If you do visit, it’s definitely worth visiting despite the crowds. There are a lot of staff around too so I would think if you did have a serious fall or some other issue there would be plenty of help on hand.

Also, if you’re looking for souvenirs, there are loads of stalls at the entrance/exit. All in all it was a great little side trip and huge thanks to Ro for taking me and saving me the trouble of having to work out how to do it solo, and thanks for being great company too!

For any and all information you could want on Jamaica, of course check out Ro’s blog Adventures from Elle. There you will also find links to Ro’s book ‘Sightsee Jamaica’.

Thanks for reading the ol’ blog today. The vlog above shows you the experience, however I will at some point be releasing a vlog solely on Dunn’s River Falls which will obviously go into more detail! Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!