Is Jamaica Safe?

While the news loves to cover negative things like murder and pickpocketing in Jamaica and then twist the facts to make some of them look like they are overrun with crime, the truth is Jamaica is a very safe place to visit.

Many first time visitors travel to Jamaica with concerns about being robbed or even worse and after a few days they figure out that it is all media hype!  Statistics prove that Jamaica is less dangerous than many parts of the United States.

Jamaica  Safety Tips

Below are some tips for having a safe vacation in Jamaica but these tips also apply anywhere in the world.

1.  Don’t carry large sums of cash on you.  If you are going out for a $50 dinner you might want to bring $100 not $2000!

2.  USE THE HOTEL SAFE!   Most hotels have safes and they are pretty SAFE, if you google around a little you will find that not many of them are broken into by hotel staff or random people entering the room.  If you have larger items like laptops that will not fit in the safe, put them in your suitcase and lock it when you leave your room.

3.  Leave some of your valuables at home!  There is no need to bring all of your fine china, diamonds, coin collections and electronics when you go on vacation, the less you take, is the less you risk.

4.  Take is easy on flashing fancy jewellery and money in public!  If some shady character is looking for an easy target you will stand out if you are flashing 3 carat diamond ear rings and Mr T gold chains around your neck.

5.  Don’t place all of you money in one pocket.     I generally like to carry about $20,000 Jamaican dollars when I am heading out for a day but I’ll split it up between 4 pockets.  I’ll keep $10,000 in $1000 bills in one pocket, $5,000 in another pocket in $1000 bills, and between the other two pockets I’ll carry some $500 & $100 bills.  If someone is able to get in one of my upper two pockets they will only end up getting maybe $50 USD.  With that said, I have never been robbed in Jamaica and while I know dozens of people that travel there at least once a year I have never heard of one of them getting robbed either.

6.  Use real taxi cabs!  In Jamaica they will have red license plates, and while all sorts of people will offer you a ride just make sure they have a red license plate so you know they are legal.  Another tip is to ask others for recommendations, it seems like everyone has a list of who they have used and liked in the past.

7.  Know where you are staying, where you are going and how you will get back!  As silly as it might sound people venture to Jamaica and have a few too many cocktails and wind up in the middle of the night not remembering where they are or where the heck their hotel is.  While it’s fun to venture off on a long walk in the hills or to a party a few miles out of town, just take along with you the name, address and phone number of your hotel, along with the telephone numbers of a couple taxis.  In order to call a taxi you should know where you are as well so write it down before you over indulge on that sweet tasting rum or ganja.

8.  Be respectful to others and their culture! Don’t try to get up in people’s face if they are doing something that you are not used to where you come from.  If someone is pestering you to buy their goods or hitting you up for some money just be polite (no thank you) and walk away.

9.  Make friends with a few locals and ask them where the safe places are and where you should keep away from.  A few towns have some areas that are not safe for tourists and generally people will be more than happy to point these out to you.  When you think about your town or a town around where you live back home, you might have some areas that you would not send tourists to after dark.

10.  Have safe sex!  Many tourists areas have “sex workers” and like anywhere else in the world they might have STD’s, protect yourself if you seek their company.