Negril to Port Antonio is a LONG drive. It is driving, basically, from the Westernmost point of the island to near the Easternmost point.

Think 6 hours or so each way.

an organized transfer company (juta tours, clives ect) should do this transfer no problem... but you will pay for it... Negril to Porty will run about 250-280 one way... took me nearly 8 hours...

what you ware trying to do with the bus isn't really worth it... you can't do it on public transportation with luggage and on an organized tour you won't save that much money and just end up loosing time... it's already a day travel, no sense to add to it....

try one of the tour companies if you are determined to make this trip... or save PA for another time when you are closer and maybe the roads are better (they are horrible and undergoing a complete overhaul right around now... give it a couple years and this will be nice 4-5 hour drive i'm sure)...

Chelle

the 8 hours it took me was in prime construction time (elections), on a holiday, with 2 stops... yeah... great planning on my behalf, but hey... i got there... =)

Chelle

Which tour companies would you suggest? We would like to visit Ocho Rios for a little while, which is why we thought of taking an organized tour to there from Negril and then catching a taxi after the tour to PA. Is the construction really that bad?

how long are you staying in JA? will you be flying out of kingston for your return trip home?

if your trip is not overly long, it may be disappointing to spend two entire days traveling the JA roads from one place to the other.

you might consider checking into timair, the island's local air transport... they may be able to take you from negril to port antonio directly.

http://www.timair.net/index.html

but again, it is a rather large island and unless you are required to be in port antonio, it might be best to save that for another trip?

i believe i ended up on Juta tours... the place i was staying at called them for me (great huts)...

my plans got a little messed up and they actually called them the day before, had no issues getting me there... had a private nice airconditioned minibus to myself ...

not sure if they would stop enroute in Ochie, probably for food, maybe they'd let you quickly climb the falls or something.. but it will make it a LOOOONG day if you wanted to do much more than an hour stop...

I have not been since August, but many (including my friend from PA) says it is worse than it was... the construction means parts of the road are tore up and there may be detours going up into the hills... the parts of the road getting out into st mary that aren't tore up are AWFUL .. so yea.. it is really that bad... unfortunately..

how long were you planning on being in portland for? if it's more than 3 days, i'd say it's worth it... less than that and well you're spending more time travelling on bad roads than enjoying the beauty of the area... that would be up to you... i love the drives in Jamaica, bad roads and all... but many do not...

Chelle

to the best of my knowledge (and i could be wrong...) i thought that tim air didn't fly into Port Antonio anymore... i'm probably wrong, but i thought that airport was closed...

Chelle

We are staying 3 nights at Point Village in Negril, then 3 nights at Great Huts. We really wanted to see as much of the island as possible in 6 days - this is our first trip to Jamaica. I think we are prepared to spend most to the day in the car as we make lots of road trips in the states. Checked into TimAir and couldn't afford it. With the roads so bad, would it make more sense to go along the South Coast? Has anyone done this - it looks like an 8-10 hr. drive, but it sounds like the North Coast would take just as long and we would be stuck in construction traffic. How are the roads on the South Coast?

I think there are plans in the works for a new airport in Port Antonio, but nothing yet -

What you are proposing is a LONG LONG trip - I did the drive from Ocho to Portland and Port Antonio in March - that took almost 5 hours or so - the roads are really really bad, and it's an exhausting day - We basically drove over, had dinner with family, took a nap, and headed home -

There are so many beautiful spots near Negril - why not site see around there, and save Ocho RIos / Portland / Port Antonio for another trip?

that very well could be true chelle. i dont have any personal knowledge to say otherwise. :)