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The West End begins at the roundabout in the centre
of town and meanders along the cliffs for some three miles,
becoming Lighthouse Road at Negril lighthouse and winding
inland to Orange Hill and ultimately Sheffield Road.
The first stretch is the liveliest, with jerk shacks, bars,
juice stalls and craft shops - including the official A Fi
Wi Plaza craft market - lining the inland side and
restaurants hanging over the sea's edge. There are a couple
of ramshackle beaches where fishermen moor their
canoes but the murky water makes swimming inadvisable. The
road opens up a little once you get to the fancy Kings Plaza
and Sunshine Village shopping malls, but the true West End
begins over the next blind bend; the road narrows, the water
clears and the hotels that carve up the rest of the cliffs
begin in earnest.
As this is Jamaica's extreme westerly point, the sun set
view from the West End is the best you'll see.
Sunset-watching is an institution here; most bars and
restaurants offer sunset happy hours and the half-hour or so
before dusk is the closest the West End gets to hectic.
Coach parties descend in droves upon undeservedly popular
Rick's Café , where you pay for your drinks with plastic
tokens, cameras click and local lads dive off the cliffs.
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After Rick's the road becomes a country lane and the
hotels are interspersed with near-wild coastline. A main
point of interest is Negril Point Lighthouse ,
standing 100 feet above sea level at Jamaica's westernmost
tip. Built in 1894, the 66-foot tower now flashes a
solar-powered beam ten miles out to sea. Workers who live on
site are usually willing to take you up all 103
leg-quivering steps to the top.
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Jamaica
Travel Guide
Montego Bay, Kingston, Ocho Rios, Negril, Blue Mountains, Portland
Jamaica map
- Google Maps
Caribbean Travel Guide
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