Kingston is Jamaica’s capital city and cultural center. With the largest natural harbor in the Caribbean (and seventh-largest in the world), Kingston is also an industrial center where Georgian architecture mixes with modern office blocks while, on the outskirts, spreading suburbs house the hundreds of thousands who increasingly work in the city. Although most tourists head for the beaches and resorts, Kingston has much to offer in the way of sightseeing.
The National Gallery of Art has a colorful display of modern art and is recommended. Hope Botanical Gardens contain a wide variety of trees and plants and are particularly famous for orchids. A band plays here on Sunday afternoons. There is a Crafts Market on King Street and the Port Royal, on top of the peninsula bordering Kingston Harbour, is a museum to the time when Port Royal (Jamaica’s ancient capital city that was submerged under the sea after an earthquake in 1692) was known as the ‘richest and wickedest city on earth’ under the domination of Captain Morgan and his buccaneers. The White Marl Arawak Museum is also worth seeing; here, visitors can see artifacts and relics of the ancient culture of the Arawak Indians. The grounds of the University of the West Indies, built on what was once a sugar plantation, are open to the public. Caymanas Park is a popular racetrack, where you can bet on the horses every Wednesday and Saturday and also during public holidays.