Bob Marley Museum Jamaica & Coffee Plantation in Blue Mountain
Trip to Kingston & Blue Mountain Jamaica
Are you going to Jamaica? The whole island lives by Bob Marley’s music. His spirit is everywhere you go. Probably the first and the last thing you will hear every day is Bob Marley’s – One Love or Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.
Highlights
- Bob Marley Museum
- Kingston Jamaica
- Tuff Gong Recording Studio
- Reggae All Day
- National Heros Park Kingston Jamaica
- Real Jamaica Life – Explore Real Kingston Streets
- Blue Mountains Jamaica
- Coffee Plantation in Blue Mountain
- Devon House Ice-Cream
General Information
Bob Marley Museum is located in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. The wife of Bob Marley transferred the house into the museum 6 years after his dead. This is the house that Bob bought in 1975. Bob was living here, creating and recording his music. There is even the famous SHOT ROOM in which Bob, his wife, and his manager were shot. The tour of the house takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes including 20 minutes video presentation in the Shot room. This site is also offering a souvenir shop and One Love Cafe, serving delicious dishes and juices.
Bob Marley Museum Website: https://www.bobmarleymuseum.com
Opening Hours
Monday through Saturday, every half hour from 9:30 AM until 4:00 PM.
The museum is closed on Sundays and some major public holidays.
Entry Fee
Prices of Bob Marley’s House Tour:
Cost per Adult – $25.00 USD
Cost per Child – $12.00 USD (4-12)
Young Children – FREE (3 and under)
Accepts Cash & Credit/Debit Cards
You can book your tickets online:
https://www.bobmarleymuseum.com/bob-marley-museum-tour/
How To Get To Bob Marley Museum Jamaica & Cost
The cheapest way is to take a taxi from your resort and pay an Entry Fee at the entrance. In case you are sharing a taxi with 4 or more people this will be the cheapest option for tourists as you can also visit more attractions during the same trip, like The Blue Hole Jamaica, Dolphin Cove, and others. The cost to rent a taxi for a whole day trip starts from$250 – 300 USD and the taxi driver is waiting for you while you are at the attractions and is your “tour guide”. This is like having a private tour and it is probably the best way how to enjoy Jamaica on a budget.
The most expensive way is to book this tour by a tour operator in your resort. Those tours are the least comfortable as you will be collecting other members of your tour from their resorts and you must wait for the whole group at waiting points. The tours usually start from $150 USD per person. I do not recommend this kind of trip.
Top Tips For Bob Marley Museum Jamaica
- Book it as a private tour otherwise, you will miss a lot – check my experience.
- While waiting for the tour take pictures all around the house – You are not allowed to take pictures/videos in the house
Our Bob Marley Museum Jamaica Experience
Cost & Package
We booked this trip as a package by TUI REP at ClubHotel Riu Ocho Rios for $165 USD per person. This was the most expensive trip we did to Jamaica.
The package included:
- Transfer by a minibus from & back to our resort with a tour guide
- Entry fee to Bob Marley Museum House Tour
- Bus Tour of Kingston
- Tour of Coffee Plantation in The Blue Mountains Jamaica
- The Blue Mountains Coffee Tasting
- Lunch in a cozy restaurant in The Blue Mountains
- Stop for famous Devon Ice-cream – Ice-cream not included
Tuff Gong Recording Studio
The trip started by collecting all tourists from different resorts, which is a little annoying but that’s how a group tour starts. Once we arrived in Kingston our first stop was in front of Tuff Gong Recording Studio which is offering Bob Marley’sMaking Of The Music – Behind The Scene Tour. However, the tour of the museum was not included and weever did not have an option to pay extra. Basically, we were looking at the museum from behind the offense and we just could see paintings on the walls and the truck which Bob Marley and his band were using to travel for concerts. I consider this as a minus for the trip – the tour of the museum costs only $20 USD and takes around an hour.
Bob Marley House Museum Kingston Jamaica
Our next stop was the main highlight of the trip – Bob Marley House. The house and sounding areas look gorgeous. We made a lot of photos from the outside of the house as we were not allowed to take pictures inside the house. We had a lovely tour guide Stefano who showed us the house and told us all the great stories and important information.
We were quite surprised, there is almost nothing in the house. The rooms are mostly without any furniture and you can see there are mostly only posters and pictures on the walls. The only room with furniture was the bedroom and kitchen. Even in his office was only a table without a chair.
The best part of the house was The Recording Studio room which Bob Marley was using to record his music and his family is using it until today. There was great energy in the house and we felt so good. The part of the tour is 20 minutes video presentation in the Shot Room where you can see the holes in the walls from the shooting.
The souvenir shop which is situated behind the house was quite expensive but you can buy here nice pieces.
Streets Of Kingston
While we were driving through Kingston our tour guide gave us a nice tour of the city. We even saw a small fight between locals for a bottle of alcohol. However, we stayed on the bus at all times. The city looks gorgeous and you can see street markets and nice colorful buildings.
National Heroes Park Kingston Jamaica
Our next stop was at National Heroes Park Kingston Jamaica and change of the guards. We spent here just a few minutes to what how the guards are changing.
Craighton Estate Coffee Plantation In Blue Mountain
The second main highlight of the trip was a coffee plantation in Blue Mountain. It was quite a long drive up the hill by tiny roads, but the view was worth the journey. We visited Craighton Estate Coffee Plantation in Blue Mountain, which is the first Japanese coffee business in Jamaica, managed by UCC which directly manages coffee estates in Jamaica and Hawaii. You can find out more and visit their website here: https://www.ucc.co.jp/eng/company/about/estates/
Blue Mountain coffee is famous for its balanced flavor and is considered to be the highest-quality coffee in the World. This “king” of coffee beans is grown and harvested at approximately 800 – 900 meters over sea level on the volcanic mineral soil with a rainforest climate. Only 1% of Blue Mountain coffee is consumed in Jamaica, the rest is mostly imported to Japan where is considered as the highest quality coffee. You can find Blue Mountain coffee mostly only in Luxury shopping centers like Harrods in London. Craighton Estate Coffee Plantation is the first coffee estate in Caribbeanwhich obtained Rainforest Alliance Certification in 2008.
The estate house looks stunning, Pink House with a swimming pool is in contrast with the green background. We went only half way trough the plantation as in our group were mostly older people who did not want to walk through the plantation -better to go private so you can explore this stunning place on your own.
Blue Mountain Coffee Tasting
We spend a lovely time on the terrace tasting Craighton Estate Blue Mountain Coffee which is extremely balanced and tasted really soft. It was a great time and we felt like in a movie. The coffee was soft and not bitter at all because it was slightly roasted. The color of the beans was light brown, not the bitter-burned black coffee we can buy in our shops. We also could buy their coffee and the price was really high starting at $25 USD for 250g of coffee and even they were selling the special coffee for $50 USD for 250g. This was a huge difference from what told our TUI REP, as she said the coffee will cost there only about $2-3 USD.
Lunch in Blue Mountain
On the way down we stopped for lunch in a lovely restaurant with a stunning view. They served us traditional Jamaican food – Jerk Chicken. The food was tasty and the service was friendly, nice end to this great trip.
Devon House Ice-Cream
The last stop was at Devon House Ice-cream which is one of Jamaica’s most celebrated historic landmarks, the DevonHouse Mansion is the architectural dream of Jamaica’s first black millionaire, George Stiebel. Devon Ice-cream is rated among one of the best in the world. To find out more about Devon House Mention visit their official website: https://www.devonhouseja.com
Our Overall Experience
We strongly recommend visiting those stunning places in Kingston and Blue Mountain however I would recommend toconsider to check the private taxi option as it can be much cheaper and more comfortable. You can combine it even with extra stops like places in Blue Mountain or even Blue Hole Jamaica, Dunn’s River Falls, or the only night attraction -Luminous Lagoon Jamaica. This would decrease the price and it would be more special. Big minus of our TUI trip package:
- We did not visit Tuff Gong Recording Studio, even though we were next to it.
- We spend extra time waiting for our group members at every stop – time-consuming.
- We did not explore the coffee plantation because some group members did not want to walk.
- We spend extra time on the places we did not have to, but we were rushed to the places which were worth enjoying.
- More expensive and less comfortable than a private taxi tour.
- We could explore Blue Mountain more if we go private.
