DANNY ROBINS' INDIE TRAVEL GUIDE TO... JAMAICA

With temperatures dropping into the minuses and snow falling, I thought we'd go somewhere warm for this week's Indie Travel Guide. To get the sun at this time of year you do have to fly long haul, so, to combine warmth and music with somewhere that won't break the bank, I settled on Jamaica.

There's two ways to do Jamaica. The easy way is staying in one of the many 'all-inclusive' resorts, most of which are around Montego Bay, Negril and Ochos Rios on the North and Western side of the island. The harder way is to plan your own freewheelin' trip. There are loads of great independent places to stay and beautiful scenery to explore but Jamaican roads are notoriously rubbish and dangerous. My memory of driving around is that even short journeys take hours and it's bumpy, full of potholes and makes you feel sick. You do need to keep your wits about you about where not to go too as not everywhere will be safe, especially in the capital, Kingston (strange fact for you - Kingston is twinned with Coventry).

Whichever way you do it, I'm sure you'll have fun. The former option is less stressful probably but you'll feel a bit cocooned behind security fences and separated from the 'real' Jamaica. Also, sadly, most of the big tourist resorts are run by Americans or Columbians, most of the produce is flown in from one of those countries and very little goes back into the local economy. The indie way would be to do it yourself and, as long as you plan well enough, you'll be fine. My advice would be to slam on Damian Marley's 'Welcome to Jamrock' as you drive around - what an album, that was the soundtrack to my Jamaican holiday. And for the moments when you want to be a bit more chill, try Bim Sherman's Miracle.

Just some reggae music...

Obviously, there's no shortage of musicians that have come out of Jamaica. For an island of only 2.8 million people it's had a staggering effect on music history. Reggae was born there, as was ska, rocksteady, dub, dancehall and ragga.

Lots of musicians have recorded out there hoping the island's laid back vibe will help their musical muse; some have taken it a bit too far. Who, for instance, thought it was good idea to send the Happy Mondays there to record their fourth album? Apparently they were selling the sofas in their recording studio and riding around in golf carts so high they didn't realise one of them had broken his arm.

Johnny Cash had a holiday home in Jamaica and spent a lot of time there over the years.

Of course, one figure looms above them all - Bob Marley. Had he lived, he would have been 65 this year. Bob is almost like a God to Jamaicans, and certainly a massive folk hero. Travel around for more than 5 minutes in Jamaica and you'll see Bob's likeness everywhere - on walls, T-shirts, posters, shrines, everywhere you look, basically. For Jamaicans, he's sort of like The Pope meets David Beckham meets Winston Churchill meets Elvis meets JFK. Not sure that really does him justice but it wasn't until I visited the country that I fully appreciated the huge impact he'd had politically and culturally as well as musically.

You'll hear his music everywhere as a constant soundtrack to your stay. Obviously, whether this is a good or a bad thing depends on how much you like Bob Marley. For me, it made me reassess his output which I hadn't really listened to much since my teenage years. The man was a damn fine songwriter.

Bobmania!

Listening obsessively to Bob Marley is a sort of rite of passage thing for a lot of people at some point in their life I think and many people go to Jamaica on a bit of Bob pilgrimage.

Half the people on the island will be happy to tell you they knew and quite possibly played football with Bob, but if you really want to try and get closer to the man behind the legend, you can visit:

The Bob Marley Museum

Based in Bob's old house, 56 Hope Road in the capital Kingston, it was home to his Tuff Gong record label and was the site of an assassination attempt on Bob in 1976 - you can still see the bullet holes in a wall. As you'd expect, it's full of Bob memorabilia including his favourite old denim shirt that he used to wear on stage.

Strawberry Hill

A lovely hotel perched high in the Blue Mountains (famed for their coffee plantations). Bob fled here for sanctuary after the assassination attempt. It's owned by Island Records supremo, Chris Blackwell. The Rolling Stones stayed here in the 70s too. It oozes rock n roll history.

If you want to stay there, it's not cheap, bedrooms start from US$195 a night.

Nine Mile

This is the village Bob was born in. You can get a guided tour around it by someone who claims to have known Bob. It's run by the Marley family and is pretty touristy - you have to put up with people trying to sell you Bob Marley merchandise the whole time - but it does have a charm to it and you get a real sense of the poverty in which he grew up. You can see the shack he was born in and it's also where he is buried if you want to get contemplative at his grave.

Stay in a Recording Studio

If getting in touch with Bob makes you want to make your own sweet reggae music, how about staying at a recording studio used by the likes of Sly and Robbie, Gorillaz, Björk, and Gwen Stefani?

Geejam is run by Chris Blackwell and basically comprises a lovely hotel and excellent recording facilities. Whilst a lot of the time these are being used by proper credible artists, if you time it right they do a package where as part of your stay you get to cut a track in the studio with their engineers.

It's definitely something for a big treat/special occasion - it's more expensive than Strawberry Hill, but it sounds like a pretty cool experience. It's on the Eastern side of the island, about 3 hours drive from Kingston.

Sarfraz Manzoor, the Guardian journalist, wrote a good article about his stay there.

Surfin' JA

If you fancy something a bit more active, how about a stay at Jamaica's only surf camp? Surfing doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with the laid back Jamaican lifestyle, perhaps explaining why this is the only one.

Jamnesia is about 8 miles from Kingston. It's run by Billy Mystic, who's not only the inspiration behind the Jamaica Surfing Association but a successful musician and the star of a Jamaican soap opera.

They run nice laid back surf holidays from beginner to advance level. The whole of Billy's family get involved giving lessons and cooking and playing music in the evenings. They organise 'Jamnesia Sessions' where people get together and jam with a mixture of music, poetry and dance, right by the beach. Sounds great.

Food Glorious Food

Jamaican food is pretty famous. We get quite a bit of it here in the UK so you're probably familiar with jerk chicken and rice and peas and maybe even with ackee and saltfish. But anything you have here is going to taste so much better in Jamaica where it's all fresh. The fruit is great there. Ackee, which, even though it looks like scrambled eggs, is a fruit, picked from the mountainside and cooked fresh is so much nicer than the tinned stuff.

There are so many restaurants to choose from but here's a couple of tips for getting some good feed:

Cuddy'z

A sports bar in New Kingston, this is the place to go if you are a cricket fan. It's run by West Indies cricketer Courtney Walsh and he's often around for a chat.

Dickie's Best Kept Secret

Great name and it is pretty secret - it's an un-signed Victorian cottage on the A4 road 2km west of Port Antonio, perched right by the sea. It's bring your own booze and Dickie and his wife cook stuff they've just caught - great fish and seafood and they do a mean callaloo omlette. You need to book in advance as it's really small.

One restaurant review had this to say, "crazy-angled dining rooms loaded with a surrealistic combination of High Victorian English and Jamaican Rastafarian accessories. Dinner unfolds with bemused humour, something like a High Tea in the Cotswolds on psychedelics." Awesome.

Getting there....

You can get flights from about £400. It seems to be cheaper to fly to Montego Bay than Kingston. Liligo is my favourite website for checking what's out there flight-wise.

If you want to go the package route, you can get two weeks from about £1000 per person at the moment, maybe cheaper booking further in advance. A week isn't that much cheaper so it's worth staying for the two.

If you want to do it independently, I recommend getting something like the Rough Guide to Jamaica and really reading up on the options. The South and Eastern side of the island is less touristy, more unspoilt. Port Antonio would be a good place to base yourself.

i-Escape has few suggestions of nice interesting and unusual places to stay on a range of budgets:

One other tip... Stay on a coffee plantation - Lime Tree Farm, not far from Kingston, stunning beauty of the Blue Mountains all around and ecologically friendly policy. What's not to like?

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