What's on in Ocho Rios, Jamaica through the year

Peak crowds — Cruise season, Christmas and New Year

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Christmas and New Year (18 Dec – 2 Jan)

Busy — Cruise season

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Busy — Cruise season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Busy — Cruise season

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  Sargassum east of town

  1 May – 30 Sep · usuallySargassum season

  The bays east towards Oracabessa collect a fringe of weed through the summer. Hotel beaches are raked before breakfast and the boat trips move west when a big raft lands.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Hazard

  Hurricane season

  1 Jun – 30 Nov

  The north coast sits on the sheltered side of the island, but Melissa crossed the whole of Jamaica in October 2025. September and October carry both the risk and the cheapest rates of the year. Source ↗

Still on: Sargassum east of town (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Sargassum east of town (1 May – 30 Sep (usually)), Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Busy — Emancipation and Independence, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Emancipation and Independence

  1–6 AugMajor festivalCrowded

  Emancipation on the 1st and Independence on the 6th turn the first week of August into one long holiday. Dunn's River and the beaches are Jamaican that week and the sound systems run late. Source ↗

Still on: Sargassum east of town (1 May – 30 Sep (usually)), Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Sargassum east of town (1 May – 30 Sep (usually)), Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Busy — Cruise season

• Season

  Cruise season

  1 Nov – 30 Apr · usuallyCrowded

  Two ships alongside at the Reynolds and Turtle Bay piers and Dunn's River is a chain of hands on the rock by ten. Going up before nine or after three is a different waterfall.

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Peak crowds — Cruise season, Christmas and New Year

• Holiday

  Christmas and New Year

  18 Dec – 2 JanChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  Jonkonnu troupes out on Boxing Day, Jamaicans home from abroad filling every flight, and the highest rates of the year along this coast. Source ↗

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))