Strawberry Hill

Three Thousand Feet Above Kingston, on a Coffee Plantation

The road out of the capital climbs through Irish Town in tight switchbacks, and the temperature falls with every bend. The hill was granted to Horace Walpole in the eighteenth century, who found the elevation suited strawberries and gave the place its name. Chris Blackwell bought the estate in the early seventies and turned it into the retreat it is now, part of the Island Outpost collection alongside GoldenEye and The Caves. What survives from both eras is the feel of a great house estate: a dozen cottages set along gardens, mahogany and louvred shutters inside, and, below the terrace, the whole sweep of Kingston harbour.

Why It Works

Luxury in Jamaica is usually horizontal and coastal: a beach, a bar, a swim up counter. This is the opposite argument, and it is the one the island makes best. The cottages are individually designed rather than interchangeable, the gardens are worked rather than landscaped, and the property runs on its own power and water, which tells you how far up it sits. The restaurant draws people from the capital who are not staying the night, which is the surest test a hotel table can pass. It is the Blue Mountain retreat the island keeps for itself.

Why This Location

New Castle Road, above Irish Town, roughly half an hour from central Kingston by mountain road and about fifty minutes from Norman Manley International Airport. At this altitude the air is cool, the coffee estates begin at the gate, and the Holywell Recreation Area and its hiking trails are a short drive further up the ridge. The view is the point: by day the harbour and the plain, by night a single sheet of lights. Be clear about the road, though. It is narrow, winding and unlit after dark, and most guests are happier being driven up than driving themselves.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Mountain great house, hushed, planterly

• Rooms: A dozen individually designed cottages and suites, four poster beds, kitchenettes in some

• Best For: Couples and honeymooners, travellers pairing Kingston with the mountains, anyone who wants Jamaica away from the beach

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The terrace at nightfall, when the capital and its harbour turn into one field of lights three thousand feet below

• Dining: The restaurant and bar, long a destination in its own right for people driving up from the city

• Amenities: Infinity pool, spa reached by flower scented garden paths, botanical gardens, independent power and water, bicycle rental, weddings and private events

• Attractions: Blue Mountain coffee estates, Irish Town, Holywell Recreation Area, Kingston (about 30 minutes by mountain road)

Cottages Built Like Great Houses

The units are scattered rather than stacked, each one designed on its own terms, in a nineteenth century Jamaican register: canopied four poster beds, louvred mahogany windows that open the room to the mountain, dark furniture, generous bathrooms. Some have kitchenettes, which makes a stay of several nights easy to organise. The real difference between them is what they face, so it is worth asking for the view over the harbour rather than into the garden. Walking between cottage, pool and restaurant means walking outside, through gardens, in mountain air. That is not an inconvenience here, it is the design.

Dinner on the Terrace, and the Pool That Hangs Off It

The kitchen works Jamaican produce with an ambition the setting demands, and the terrace is where it is best appreciated, with the plain falling away below the railing. The bar keeps the same view. The infinity pool sits at the centre of the property, edged so that the water appears to spill toward the valley, and it is usually quiet: this is not a hotel with a pool scene. The spa is reached on foot, along planted paths, which is the correct way to arrive at one.

Coffee, Cool Air and the Rest of the Mountain

Blue Mountain coffee is grown on the slopes around the property, and the estates are the obvious excursion. Beyond that the mountain offers trails, birdlife and the Holywell park, and the temperature makes walking a pleasure rather than an ordeal. Pack a layer for the evening, which surprises people arriving from the coast. Many guests use the hill as a counterweight to Kingston: museums and music in the city by day, silence and altitude at night.