If you read the travel.state.gov page about Jamaica, they will mention a few places you shouldn’t go in Montego Bay: Clark Street, Claver’s Street, Church Street, etc. We stayed at the intersection of Clark and Claver’s.

Here’s why:

Built in the 1760s, this beautiful building has had many lives. It has been a Church manse, synagogue, a hotel, a masonic lodge, an office space, and a restaurant, to name a few. Today, it is a registered historic heritage site and hostel called Mobay Kotch, which we were lucky to call home for a few nights.

Although it was located in a rough part of town, the walled yard created a quiet refuge to decompress after exploring and the second story balcony was perfect for calming travel jitters.

Plus, the gorgeous Georgian architecture inspired this kind of annoyingly cute porch photo.

There’s a city-wide 8pm curfew and state of emergency called in response to a high number of gang-related homicides in Montego Bay. Getting in and out of the city requires going through military checkpoints, but I can’t say we saw much police or military overall. Mostly, we saw a lot of private security. Poverty, homelessness, and mental illness are highly visible and striking.

Here was the view out of the window after curfew: