| riding tours are a wonderful way to explore Jamaica. | | | | enjoy wild life sights that are found nowhere else in the |
| Traveling by automobile just can’t provide the | | | | world outside of Jamaica. They’ll see waterfalls |
| same experience. You miss so much, like the scents | | | | and have the opportunity to enjoy a refreshing swim in |
| carried by the wind – the smell of the ocean, the | | | | the cool, clear mountain water. You’ll want to |
| tropical forests, the mountains, and the abundant | | | | remember to bring a swimsuit, towel and camera. |
| flowers and other plants. The slower pace allows you | | | | Manfred’s Jamaican Mountain Bike Tours, |
| to really see what you’re looking, to talk to local | | | | located in Saint Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, offers a |
| people, and to really savor the experience of Jamaica. | | | | wonderful one-week get away tour. Participants enjoy |
| Blue Mountain Bicycle Tours, Ltd., located at 121 Main | | | | quality lodging and excellent local cuisine on a 500 acre |
| Street, in Ocho Rios, is one of the most well known | | | | farming estate in Apple Valley. Each day features a |
| providers of these sorts of adventures. Their specialty | | | | bicycle tour to a different part of Jamaica, revealing |
| is a day long bike tour that begins 5,600 feet up in the | | | | parts of the country far beyond the usual tourist |
| Blue Mountains, which are the highest mountains in the | | | | destinations. This experience of the real Jamaica |
| Caribbean. Blue Mountain Bicycle Tours, Ltd., makes | | | | – beyond the glitter and glitz of the tourism |
| these tours available out of both Ocho Rios and | | | | industries – is simply unparalleled. |
| Kingston, Jamaica, providing charter bus service from | | | | In Negril, Rusty’s Xcellent Adventures offers a |
| these points to the mountain for groups as large as | | | | variety guided bicycle tours at different skill levels. |
| 150, with the average group being made up of about | | | | Biking equipment and, if necessary, biking instructors, |
| 40 people. All necessary biking equipment is also | | | | are available. For those who prefer independent |
| provided, as are meals, and rates are reasonable -- | | | | exploration, there are numerous places throughout |
| $93US for adults and $65US for children under 12 | | | | Jamaica that offer bicycle rentals, as well as rentals of |
| years of age. | | | | scooters and the like. |
| The bicycle tour is all down hill, which makes it | | | | Bicycle tours are an excellent way to explore Jamaica. |
| appropriate for almost all age groups – age 7 is | | | | In addition to enjoying the natural Jamaica, its |
| the youngest recommended for participation -- and | | | | ‘real’ people and culture, you’ll be |
| means that you’ll be able to devote your most | | | | doing so in away that has less of a negative |
| or your energy to enjoying the magnificent scenery. | | | | environmental impact. Bicycle tours allow you to slow |
| And, magnificent it is! Bikers pass through stunning | | | | down and to savor your surroundings, collecting |
| mountain vistas that include the remarkable coffee | | | | memories – and perhaps even a newfound |
| plantations that produce the Blue Mountain coffee | | | | cultural awareness and understanding -- that will last a |
| beans that are becoming well known to coffee | | | | lifetime. |
| connoisseurs for their superior taste and quality, and | | | | |