About 60 caves are said to be in Saint Ann Parish, and the best known is Green Grotto in Runaway Bay. Historic traces, fern diversity and waterfalls each offer their own highlights. If you’re looking for a trip with a variety of things to discover, you can choose which themes to focus on according to your interests without following a fixed route.
Green Grotto: Caves and History
The Green Grotto Caves are limestone caves with a labyrinth of interconnected passages, stalactites and stalagmites. Guided tours take visitors through the caves and explain their historical and cultural significance. Here, you can experience both the distinctive shape of the underground chambers and their history and cultural connections.
Historical Traces in the Parish
St. Ann’s Bay Fort was built around 1750. St. Ann Parish Church was completed in September 1871 and consecrated as the Church of “St. Anne” on September 20 of the same year. Seville’s historical significance goes back further: it was Jamaica’s first Spanish settlement and the island’s first capital. The Bob Marley Mausoleum offers a different perspective. His body is buried there, and the mausoleum is also a tourist attraction in the parish.
These places offer different ways to explore history: Seville represents the early Spanish settlement and the first capital, while the fort and church are associated with their own dates of construction and consecration. The mausoleum adds another parish attraction to these themes. History here can therefore be explored through different places and periods, rather than being reduced to a single building or a single era.
Fern Diversity and Waterfalls
Fern Gully is designated a protected area by the National Heritage Trust. Visitors can see more than 500 species of tropical ferns there. At Dunn’s River Falls, the focus is instead on the experience of climbing: visitors can climb to the top and enjoy natural pools and views of the rainforest along the way. In one place, you can admire numerous fern species; in the other, the activity takes you uphill to pools and rainforest views.
Jamaica in a Broader Context
Beyond Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica also offers cultural and natural themes that can broaden your perspective on a trip. The Blue and John Crow Mountains area provided refuge for the Maroons, formerly enslaved people, and preserves tangible cultural heritage connected with Maroon history, including the Nanny Town Heritage Route. At the same time, the area is one of the world’s most irreplaceable protected areas for amphibians, birds and mammals. Reggae is a central part of Jamaican culture.
Coffee and cuisine are also part of this Jamaican context. Authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is grown exclusively at elevations between 3,000 and 5,500 feet in the cloud forest of the Blue and John Crow Mountains. Ackee and saltfish is Jamaica’s national dish and a popular local breakfast. Depending on the season, it may be served with fried dumplings, callaloo, green bananas, avocado and plantains, among other foods. The annual Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival celebrates coffee, and visitors can sample coffee-based products there.
Other natural experiences in Jamaica include YS Falls, a waterfall with seven tiers of cascades. Visitors can zipline 40 feet above the falls, go tubing on the river, use rope swings to splash into clear pools, and swim in a large pool fed by a natural spring. Check before your trip whether the activities on offer are currently available.
Discover More Destinations
Discover more destinations: Ocho Rios, Runaway Bay, Discovery Bay, Priory, St. Ann’s Bay, Claremont, Salem, Inverness.
For the broader travel overview: Jamaica.
