Personally speaking, I’d advise anyone flying to Montego Bay to get out of there as soon as you can. It’s the most touristy, un-Jamaican place on the island, but as most international flights land here, you’re bound to pass through at some point. If you do spend some time there, head for this wonderful little B&B, which is just two minutes’ walk but a world away from the hustle of MoBay’s self-styled Hip Strip (it’s not).
Like all good places to stay, you feel at home the minute you walk in, greeted with real warmth by owners Clarissa, who is Jamaican, and her English husband Jeremy, an accountant who came for three years in 1961 and never left – though he remains the quintessential English gent. Indeed, part of Polkerris’s charm is its mix of Caribbean setting and touches of good old-fashioned British B&B, such as the Royal Worcester china and the floral (but not chintzy) curtains in the immaculate, comfortable rooms, and the Palmolive soap in the bathroom.
They do what looked like a good full English but I opted for the classic Jamaican breakfast of ackee and salted cod, which was delicious. There is a pool which is just big enough for doing a few lengths before breakfast, served on the first-floor terrace overlooking the property’s tropical garden and the Caribbean beyond. The bay is dominated by the cruise ships that spill thousands of day-trippers into Montego Bay each morning, ships so enormous they look out of scale, like toy boats in the bath. I was so glad to be sitting in this delightful spot rather than on one of those leviathans.
To get a feel for the country around the city I took a tour with one-man operation Phillip Country Tours. MoBay native Phillip can take you to well-known sights such as Mayfields Falls or the beaches of Ocho Rios, but his forte is showing visitors rural Jamaica and its people (full day from $100). We spent the day driving through the rainforest, visiting banana and coconut farms, eating at small roadside shacks and stopping to chat with locals. Phillip seems to know half the island, and he showed me a calm and welcoming side of Jamaica I would never have found alone.
• Double rooms at Polkerris cost from $142 B&B inc tax, +1 876 877 7784, montegobayinn.com. Virgin Atlantic flies direct from London Gatwick to Montego Bay from £720 return for selected departures during 2015
