Spreading inland from a large natural harbor and cradled to the north by the peaks of the Blue Mountain range, Kingston is Jamaica’s cultural and commercial center. The city is loosely divided into New Kingston and Downtown. At the heart of New Kingston is Knutsford Boulevard which holds the manicured Emancipation Park  at its southern end, with fountains, a jogging track, and Laura Facey-Cooper’s Redemption Song  sculpture. Roughly parallel to Knutsford, Hope Road swings past some of the classic Kingston sights. Shady gardens surround the splendid Devon House , built by the nation’s first black millionaire. The complex is a popular place to head for an ice cream or a snack, a tour of the house, or just to relax on the park benches. Farther along Hope Road, Rasta flags and mural-painted walls enclose the Bob Marley Museum . Set in his former home, it is a surprisingly low-key tribute to Jamaica’s most famous son, with displays of gold and platinum discs, stage clothing, and a wall papered with newspaper reports of his exploits. His kitchen and bedroom remain as he left them, while in a room at the back, bullet-holes testify to a failed assassination attempt in 1980. At the northern end of Hope Road, it is worth making time for a stroll around Hope Botanical Gardens , set in a former sugar estate and filled with rare trees and plants.

Downtown is home to banks, offices and, on its fringes, some of the country’s roughest ghettos. Right on the waterfront, behind the grassy lawns and swaying palms of Ocean Boulevard, the National Gallery  houses the best collection of home-grown art in the country.