Nothing not to like

The misleading best of this place is its location only because of the views, BUT BIG ISSUE HERE IS THE ACCESS TO THE LOCATION. The dirt road to the Hostel is very rough, muddy, slippery, full of potholes, rocks, steep ascents and descents and much longer than GMaps tells you. Before going we asked the owner if the Hostel was accessible with a normal rental car, he said the road was uncomfortable but normal cars came to the area and just follow the signs. Well if you have a 4x4 you are fine, but in a normal car I strongly advice you not to attempt it unless you want to get stuck in mud or much worse break you steering or the engine crankcase on a rock, pay a fortune to the rental company and ruin your holiday. The signs to the Hostel are also old, dark, blurry, half covered in vegetation and easy to miss, so do not even think to arrive at night unless you know the way by heart. Yes, other standard cars do make it, but this does not mean the road is good or in an acceptable condition, and you only need to look at the dilapidated condition of the local cars from the villagers around. Actually our way out we came across a French couple going to another nearby accommodation that exploded a tire and damaged the ring on a prominent stone, surrounded by locals arguing about how to get their car out of the way. Additionally, I can’t believe the suspiciously enthusiastic reviews about this place. Our little bungalow was nice and the view was also nice, but there was no hot water, actually there was barely cold water as the water pressure is so low you can`t wash your long hair; the lighting in the room is so poor you can’t read a book; wifi was erratic; not TV or AC (we don’t care about those but some people do); and the breakfast some reviews rave about is just bread, small pancakes, some fruits and coffee! The place is very isolated, the closest shops are several km way on that donkey road and the hostel has no restaurant, you have to bring all your food beforehand.

It’s very very very far and isolated from everything to get to see anything the owner has to take you all the way down with his jeep every day cause taxis don’t go there and it’s very far and then to get to town you need like another taxi or two from there very very clumsy in that way,had to ask the owner also to help us get grocers since it’s so far from everything

Probably best to get back at the time when Marian picks people up if the weather is rainy and it is late. May be a little strenuous for people not used to walking but you can also commission a taxi to take you to the hostel itself.

The property has two dogs - not a problem - but because they shared the furniture with the guests, the soft furnishings had a very strong smell of ‘dog’. A regular steam clean would solve the problem and keep the furniture in a more hygienic state

The location is very problematic. The road to access the hostel is too bumpy and drivers risk to damage their vehicles trying to reach it. If you decide to walk the road is quite long and muddy (we ended up walking more than 30 mins in the mud with our luggage). It makes sense if you are renting a Jeep or a car that can easily go on those kinds of roads. The hostel is very cheap but you’ll may end up paying so much money in taxis to go wherever you need to (the first day just to go to a beach in Port Antonio and come back we spent the same amount of the first night in the place). If you want to chill in a place for a few days and wonder around it’s great, if however you want to do day trips and move around the area it may not be the cheapest and fastest option. Also there is no hot water.

Getting to the location was very challenging. We were driving ourselves and had no heads up about how hard it was to get there, and how bad the road was. We had driven all over Jamaica and this was the worst road we had, crossing streams and very challenging for a regular compact car. Got there about 6pm as light was falling and then discovered you had to bring your own food, no heads up on the situation at all, which would have helped us. Everyone, including the owners are smoking dope almost all the time, not the experience we were hoping to get from a hostel