Sandals (020-7581 9895, ) and SuperClubs (020-8339 4150, ) are the main contenders here. For more information or to book, call 00 1 876 965 0126 or visit .Otherwise either check out or, for self-catering, get in touch with the Jamaican Association of Villas and Apartments (01444 455993, ). It was designed and built in the 1930s by a Russian ?gr?n Art Deco “dacha” style, can sleep up to eight and costs US$150 (£90) per night for the whole house. Neighbouring Tensing Pen is a little more conventional but fun with quirky wood, stone and thatch cottages from US$80 (£47) per night, room only (00 1 876 957 0387, ).Another option is Folichon, a four-bedroomed villa in the south of the island. Double rooms start at US$125 (£73), without breakfast (00 1 876 993 7267, ).For total but easily accessible peace, try Jackie’s On The Reef, a holistic guest house and spa on the cliffs above Negril. Rates also start from US$125 per night but per person, although it includes breakfast, dinner, yoga, meditation, walks, snorkelling, bird-watching and other activities (00 1 876 957 4997, /jackies-on-the-reef). Billed as an eco hotel, the only plastic that guests are allowed to bring is their credit cards, and people are encouraged to go bird-watching, hiking or painting in the lush surrounding countryside.

The enthusiastic German-Jamaican owners can also arrange visits to local villages and craft workshops. Round Hill, for example, a few miles outside Montego Bay, was the first really exclusive Jamaican resort, boasting privately owned villas that are managed by the hotel when the owners aren’t there. The Kennedys had their honeymoon here and a mass of celebrities from No?Coward to Mia Farrow have either spent the night or bought a villa. These days the clientele is a little more egalitarian but fun is still to be had guessing whose villa you’re staying in. Double rooms from US$260 (£150), villas from US$370 (£220) per night, without breakfast (00 1 876 956 7050, ).Mocking Bird Hill, just outside Port Antonio, is one of Jamaica’s quirkiest places to stay. For all the above the website is . I THOUGHT JAMAICA WAS ALL ABOUT ALL-INCLUSIVES? Not at all.

It might have been the birthplace of the concept but there are plenty of more individual places to stay. In music he did it with Marley, and in Jamaica’s hotels he’s done it with: the cosy Blue Mountain hideaway of Strawberry Hill (00 1 876 944 8400) where doubles start at US$315 (£185); Ian Fleming’s former hideaway, Goldeneye, which is now a Bond hero’s dream hangout with maxi rather than minibars, a raft of jet-skis and all-inclusive villas that start at US$595 (£350) (00 1 876 975 3354); The Caves, in Negril, a funky honeymooner’s paradise with candlelit dining areas, sunny patios and all-inclusive cottages starting from US$320 (£190) per night (00 1 876 957 0270); and with Jake’s, on Treasure Beach, a more bohemian but equally glamorous version of the Caves, with doubles starting from US$105 (£60) per night (0800 028 3335). It is hard to dislike what may seem at first like a monopoly because the man really has a knack for spotting the wow factor. The village where he was born, Nine Miles, is now the site of his mausoleum but it involves quite an effort to get there and the end result is a bit underwhelming (00 1 876 995 1763, ).

Likewise, at the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston (housed in his former home at 56 Hope Road), almost the only glimpse you really get of the man behind the music is a peek at his favourite juicer, proudly displayed in what was brother Bob’s tiny kitchen. The company is still going strong with PJ Harvey, Portishead, Lionel Ritchie, Supergrass and Daniel Bedingfield among the label’s artists. But these days Blackwell has his finger in all kinds of money-spinning pies, the main one in Jamaica being hotels. WHO IS THIS CHRIS BLACKWELL? Anglo-Jamaican Chris Blackwell was the founder of Island Records, which put reggae, and hence Bob Marley, on the international map. It is open from 9am-5pm and entrance costs US$7 (£4) for adults and US$3.50 (£2) for children (00 1 876 675 8895, ).