Sunset at the Palms Resort

Guide to Gay Friendly Hotels in Negril Jamaica

The Jamaican Islands along with the capital Kingston and touristic city of Negril & Ocho Rios are considered a safe destination for LGBT tourists but in the same time Jamaica ins one of the least friendliest destination in Caribbean Islands for the gay travelers. But on the islands we can find some gay friendly hotels Negril, Jamaica.

Jamaica is the most homophobic island in the Caribbean, with harsh anti-gay laws, even though there’s a large local gay population.

Many all-inclusive resorts, notably the famous Sandals of Jamaica, allow same-sex couples, although they were forced to do so to be able to advertise in Britain. Still, avoid open displays of affection — such as handholding on the streets — in Jamaica: You could be assaulted for trying it.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Jamaica face legal and social issues not experienced by non-LGBT people. Sexual intercourse between men is legally punishable by imprisonment, though this law is no longer enforced and repeal is pending. Sexual intercourse between women is however legal.

Negril is a town in western Jamaica. It’s known for its miles of sandy beaches on shallow bays with calm, turquoise waters. Seven Mile Beach, particularly the portion overlooking Long Bay, is lined with bars, restaurants and resorts, many of them international and all-inclusive. Long Bay opens onto a lagoon protected by coral reefs and is a snorkeling and scuba-diving destination.

 

 Top attractions to visit in Negril

 

 Best Day Trips in Negril

See all Day Trips in Negril on GetYourGuide.

 

1. Sandy Haven Resort 4* – Gay Friendly Hotels Negril Jamaica

Sandy Haven Resort
Sandy Haven Resort

Located in Negril, Westmoreland, this Jamaican resort is 4.8 km from Cool Runnings Water Park. Boasting on-site dining, a spa and an outdoor pool, this resort offers comfortably furnished rooms.

Featuring tropical inspired decor, all rooms at Sandy Haven Resort feature a flat-screen TV with cable. Guests can relax in their spacious en suite room complete with a minibar. A bathrobe is provided.

All day dining is available at Sandy Haven Resort. Almond Tree Beach Grill offers an impressive continental breakfast and lunch menu. Bongos Restaurant serves Jamaican cuisine and an extensive cocktail list.

An exclusive boutique resort built in modern urban style set on the famous 7-miles white sand beach location of Negril with 33 units of luxury guest rooms and suites. The Sandy Haven Resort experience goes far beyond bricks and walls. The prevailing atmosphere is that of a meeting place for friends and colleagues to mingle.

Me and my boyfriend and a 2 week stay in this wonderful resort and I must say the staff were very friendly towards us – We was able to book a double room with double bed which made the trip really enjoyable and such an adventure

I would certainly recommend this resort to any gay couples that seek adventure but at the same time relaxation

The rooms are very clean and the bedspreads changed daily – Food is brilliant too.

Location, Location as they say, located on the awesomely gorgeous Seven Mile Beach, Negril, this boutique hotel has great character and because it’s not a large hotel it also has a very cosy feel to it. The rooms are big and airy with all the amenities you’d expect. In my opinion It’s worth paying a bit more for the “Front Ocean View” so that you can watch the sunset and hear the sea at night. The staff are naturally courteous and very accommodating.

The hotel is kept clean and tidy to a high standard by a small army of cleaners and general staff. It’s about 30 minutes walk to Negril’s town centre or 10 in a taxi.

If you’re looking for a place relax and unwind I can recommended Sandy Haven Resort.

Each morning, don’t miss the complimentary breakfast of melon, pineapple, delicious homemade muffins, mimosas and fresh juice, but get there before 10 a.m. Special shoutouts to Kedeen and Carrie for their wonderful attention. Bring your own floatie or borrow the hotel’s to enjoy the tranquil beach. Make sure you visit the fantastic little beach bar where Romeo and Duvane make the best drinks. While you are on the beach, Pops and Sinclair will make sure everything is secure while you relax, read a book, listen to music or swim.

Over many years I have stayed in numerous properties in Negril. I must say that this boutique hotel can now claim my “number one” ranking property on the seven mile beach. The rooms are spacious, clean and well appointed. The staff was very accommodating and professional. The Mavis Banks Blue mountain coffee, prepared in a French press was a nice start to every morning.

The beach bar was our go to spot. While enjoying fine Jamaican cuisine and rum and coke with lime. The bartender and servers would allow me to plug my iPod into their sound system to enjoy our loud reggae music. Needless to say a good time was had by all. I will definitely return to this gem on the beach.

The location of the hotel to us is the best on Seven Mile Beach. In the center of everything…so we loved this and walked almost everywhere.

The rooms come with continental breakfast which consist of a fruit plate, a pot of coffee, juice, a mimosa, and a bread basket. To us, the fruit on the fruit plate were lacking in flavor almost every day, and the bread basket always had lukewarm to cool toasted bread and muffins. This said, the ala carte food offered, from omelettes to pancakes to a true Jamaican breakfast were excellent quality and delicious. Contrary to other reviews here on TA, we thought the servers were wonderful and totally into what they were doing. A shout out to Melissa who’s big smile greeted us almost every morning.

At the beach, towels were plentiful- sometimes they ran out and you had to wait a bit for a refill, but they never ran out of towels.

Our other shout out would be to the guards at the front gate. We left the hotel every day to venture out and they made sure we knew they knew where we were going and were ok.

Gay Friendly Hotels Negril
Gay Friendly Hotels Negril

How much does a room costs Sandy Haven Resort?

Prices start 200 $/night for Double RoomThe Deluxe Room – Ocean Front  is 347$/room per night with breakfast included – if coming on a honeymoon this is the perfect choice for gay couples. double room features air conditioning.

This double room features a minibar, private entrance and bathrobe.

Where to book online Sandy Haven Resort – Gay Friendly Hotels Negril Jamaica – you can find the best hotels deals in Negril during Jamaica’s Carnival (Bacchanal)  which  is celebrated with much enthusiasm in Negril on  Booking.com or Trip.com or Expedia.com and see more reviews on TripAdvisor.

 

2. Sunset at the Palms Resort – Adults Only – All Inclusive 4* – Gay Friendly Hotels Negril

Sunset at the Palms Resort
Sunset at the Palms Resort

Boasting 3 km of private sandy beach, a full-service spa and gourmet dining is this luxury resort in Negril, Jamaica. It features treehouse-style rooms nestled among the 10-acre tropical garden.

Every room features an open balcony with a daybed. Satellite TV, free Wi-Fi and a minibar are included. Sunset at the Palms Resort’s rooms are styled with dark-wood floors and have Asian-inspired furnishings.

Guests can lounge poolside or work out in the well-equipped fitness center. Other on-site activities beach volleyball and snorkeling.

Sunset Resort Palms Spa offers massages, facial scrubs, and body and beauty treatments.

A great spot for romantics or a destination wedding. Nestled amongst tropical gardens and flowering plants at the edge of Negril, this unique all-inclusive gem is best described as intimate, chic and serene. The resort offers 85 “tree-house-style,” elegantly appointed guest rooms on ten-acres of lush landscaping, a design praised by Architectural Digest.

Melt away with a soothing spa service in our unique treatment garden, cool off at the swim-up bar with a tropical drink or “chill” at the resort’s five beachfront acres and two miles of white sand beach, just steps away. When dining is on the menu, you’ll enjoy both international and authentic Jamaican cuisine at four restaurants and bars.

We were pleasantly surprised that the room looked exactly the way it does on the website! It was beautiful! The ‘treehouses’ are actually duplexes that are connected by a porch. We never heard any noise from our neighbors. The safe is located in the closet and it is just about big enough for an iPad or two and smaller items. I don’t think a medium-sized laptop would fit in there.

The A/C unit in the room is located on the wall above and to the right of the bed. It has a remote and the temp is regulated in Celsius. I had made the mistake of leaving it on 16 degrees C and the room was freezing when we got back!! Even though the windows do not have glass and have louvered wooden shutters, do not be concerned! We never got hot or had insects in the room. We did speak to some other people that said they had mosquitoes in their room, but we never did. Either way, be SURE to take bug spray with you. You may want to use it in the open-air restaurants and at the pool in the evening. The temp was pretty hot when we were there…around 90-92 degrees F and humid.

The beach is across the street, as noted from other reviewers. It’s a little walk to get to the crosswalk, but there is always someone there waiting to stop the traffic (if any) to get you safely across to the other side. The beach isn’t directly across the street, so you’ll have to walk just a short way. The beach bar is large and there is a separate place where you can get some food. The hamburger wasn’t all that good (but the patty is HUGE), but the fish sandwich and the Jerk Chicken is GREAT!! Get the fries with both for a hearty meal to hold you over!

Grounds:
The grounds were beautiful, from the moment we arrived we felt like we were in a tropical paradise, as is to be expected. We highly recommend taking the nature walk with ‘Shorty’ (Clifton), but be forewarned: Shorty knows a LOT about the flowers and trees on the premises and our tour lasted 1:30, and it was fun and informative! The grounds are also immaculately cared for, the gardeners are frequently seen sweeping the sidewalks clean and on multiple occasions Lynford made my wife bouquets of flowers from the plants near our balcony.

The beach was very well maintained, raked every morning and the wandering vendors were kept at bay by the dutiful staff. Upon arrival across the street, chairs were placed where we liked and we were given a flag to raise if we wanted to order food/drink. The available water activities (kayaks, paddle boats, stand up paddle boards) were easy to access and enjoyable. NOTE: Small catamarans are available to sail, you can pay $20 for a lessons if you don’t know how, otherwise they are free to use. The beach was a very beautiful place where it was easy to lazily pass the day away in peace. When leaving the beach, there are many vendors selling souvenirs/songs/boat rides/marijuana, most of whom are easily placated with a ‘no thank you’.

TIP: if they are doing anything for you for free, they will ask for a tip after (singing a song, tying a bracelet on your wrist, telling you to get your camera ready to take a picture, etc).

The rooms are very comfortable, with A/C that works well to keep the room cool and good Wi-Fi (at least in 506); though it’s not the fastest internet connection, Netflix did work fine for us (but the selections were slightly different than what was available in the U.S.) and the TV’s do have HDMI connections. The balconies were lovely and quiet, but if you’re feeling frisky, they were not that private. The staff did an excellent job cleaning the rooms each day and if you have special requests for the stock of your mini fridge, you can leave a note and they’ll fill it how you like.

The beach is separated from the main grounds by a street. The street is pretty busy, but there is a crossing guard to help you. We liked the separation between the resort and the beach, seemed like everything was less busy being spread out.

Entertainment:
Nightly entertainment was available by the pool bar, and most evenings found a pianist in the piano bar. This always involved reggae music. Our favorite was the ‘one-man’ band, which consisted of a great keyboardist and a singer playing dance songs. It was fun, but not a big party, you could still casually drink in the pool if you wanted.

Being a smaller resort it is easy to see the same faces during your stay and make friends quickly if you want to get groups together for activities.

Gay Friendly Hotels Negril Jamaica
Gay Friendly Hotels Negril Jamaica

How much does a room costs Sunset at the Palms Resort?

Prices start 579 $/night for Treetop Deluxe.  The Treetop Deluxe One-Bedroom Suite  is 860$/room per night with breakfast included – if coming on a honeymoon this is the perfect choice for gay couples. double room features air conditioning.

These stylish rooms feature dark-wood floors, high ceilings with wooden fans and chic Asian-inspired furnishing, that includes a king-sized platform bed swathed in canvas drapes.

Where to book online Sunset at the Palms Resort – Gay Friendly Hotels Negril Jamaica – you can find the best hotels deals in Negril during Jamaica’s Carnival (Bacchanal)  which  is celebrated with much enthusiasm in Negril on  Booking.com or Hotels.com or Expedia.com and see more reviews on TripAdvisor.

 

3. The Cliff Hotel 4* – Gay Friendly Hotels Negril

The Cliff Hotel
The Cliff Hotel

Featuring free WiFi, a spa centre and an outdoor pool, The Cliff Hotel offers accommodation in Negril. The hotel has a year-round outdoor pool and sun terrace, and guests can enjoy a meal at the restaurant. Free private parking is available on site.

All Suites have pristine views of the Caribbean Sea and have private balconies with hammocks. All units are air conditioned and equipped with a flat-screen TV with cable channels. For your comfort, you will find free toiletries and hair dryer.

There is a 24-hour front desk, concierge service, hairdresser’s, and gift shop at the property. Guests can enjoy a variety of dishes at Zest restaurant and enjoy relaxing treatments at KiYara Spa.

The Cliff Hotel embodies the warm Jamaican hospitality, elegance & a carefree lifestyle that offers the ultimate escape. The Cliff boasts 33 suites & cottages to include two stylish one bedroom cottages and a magnificent four bedroom and a five bedroom cottage-all having direct views of the Caribbean Sea.

The hotel is in a beautiful location on the cliffs of Negril! If you are looking for a loud, crazy party atmosphere this is not the place for you. If you are looking for a quiet, peaceful, relaxing, rejuvenating hotel this is it! The views are breathtaking and the sunsets are amazing! You can jump off the cliffs into the ocean from the property. Our room was superb, quiet, clean and comfortable.

The service was impeccable from check-in/out to the bar to the restaurant (the food is delicious) to the morning yoga (yoga is complementary every other morning) to the spa to the evening turn-down service.

The Cliff Hotel is small and quiet, and has everything you could want in a Caribbean vacation. The whole time we were there we wondered why Jamaica was not crowded in January…..we only figured out that we were in our serene Cliff bubble and the crowds of high season were outside the Cliff. It was great to have a peaceful place to enjoy.

We took advantage of many of the amenities including the gym, exercise classes, yoga and the spa. The pool is beautiful, large and clean. It was nice to have all the amenities right on property. And do not miss the opportunity to jump off the cliffs….so fun to jump and swim around in the beautiful water.

Although all inclusive packages are available we choose to start our vacation without that package so we can enjoy the local restaurants. If you want to relax and spend time without any commotion then this place is for you, very private beautiful manicured grounds.

The Cliffs does not have a beach (hence the name cliffs) but laying out by the cliffs listening to the ocean was extremely relaxing. The bartenders made excellent drinks (try the pina colada made with fresh pineapple) and the food at the restaurant was very good as well.

Best place in Negril to stay. A little bit of a drive to get to from Montego Bay but once you get there its time to unplug and relax. Nestled on the cliffs overlooking the ocean (hence the name), the rooms and villas are very well appointed and all surrounding the pool. Pool is large and well maintained and a beautiful swim up bar where staff was awesome.

The Cliff Hotel offers a level of tranquility that’s hard to describe. There weren’t many guests during the time of my visit which worked out for me as I felt I had the place to myself. The grounds are gorgeous and well kept. The rooms are large and well-appointed.

The staff was absolutely amazing and very friendly. Special shout out to the bartender “hot dog” and the life guard that helped me conquer my fear of deep bodies of water lol. The food and drinks were good, but a little pricey. It’s in line with the standard pricing you’d expect at a 4/5 star resort though.

Gay Friendly Hotels Negril
Gay Friendly Hotels Negril

How much does a room costs The Cliff Hotel?

Prices start 350 $/night for Junior Suite. The One-Bedroom Cottage is 900$/room per night with breakfast included – if coming on a honeymoon this is the perfect choice for gay couples. double room features air conditioning.

This bungalow features a balcony, tile/marble floor and minibar.

Where to book online The Cliff Hotel – Gay Friendly Hotels Negril Jamaica – you can find the best hotels deals in Negril during Jamaica’s Carnival (Bacchanal)  which  is celebrated with much enthusiasm in Negril on  Booking.com or Hotels.com or Expedia.com and see more reviews on TripAdvisor.

by Sorin

Sorin is a freelance travel writer. He is an experienced travel writer and traveller. Since 2012 he explored more than 60 countries on 4 continents: Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. Currently is based in Romania after spending the last 7 years in Myanmar.