Jakes

Character and identity

Jakes is a 23-room family-run hideaway on Jamaica's quieter south coast, set across a meandering plot of hand-painted cottages and bungalows that artist-architect Sally Henzell shaped over decades. The aesthetic is hand-built, folkloric and unapologetically idiosyncratic, the antithesis of the all-inclusive megaresorts further north. Days bend around boat excursions, bird-watching, cooking and art classes, yoga and fitness retreats, with the Driftwood spa handling seaweed scrubs and massages. Dougie's, the thatched bar, pours a rum punch from a closely held family recipe, and the restaurant doubles as a dance floor. Service is warm, communal, and locally rooted.

Who's it for

Bottom line

What you're paying for here is atmosphere and authorship: a singular, hand-shaped property with a genuine connection to its village, not a luxury hotel in the conventional sense. Come if you value character over thread count and want a writerly, artistic side of Jamaica. Book a seaview cottage, and time a stay around Calabash if the literary scene appeals.