Fun Excursions To Do With Kids In Jamaica (And Ones You May Want to Avoid)

Now... 

A Review of the Tour We Actually Did

For this trip to Jamaica, we opted to hang out mostly on the resort and only sat aside one day to do an excursion. With that being said, we wanted to squeeze the most "stuff" into that day as possible. We chose to do a combo tour that offered horseback riding on the beach, a trip to Dunn's River Falls, and a rafting trip down White River!

While the day was fantastic overall, there were some things that I wish I would have known before booking. I'll provide the link to the tour we did so you can decide for yourself once you read about our experience: Dunns River, Horseback & Raft Combo Tour 

Key Things:

1. Our driver was great! He picked us up promptly from the resort, talked to us about the area as we were driving, and overall very friendly. Because there was a cruise ship in port that day, he suggested an alternate schedule to the one that was published in order to avoid the cruise ship excursion crowds. That was really nice, as I have seen photos of Dunns River Falls being packed with people and was hoping it wasn't going to be like that (although I was mentally prepared for it).
2. The horseback ride was fun but there were some things I could have done without. At the entry point there are people selling souvenirs and 1) They don't accept credit card (cash or cashapp they said) and 2) once they knew I was interested in a particular item but had no cash to buy it (all my cash was reserved for tips), they were very persistent about using cashapp which I don't have and don't want. It made me uncomfortable.
   • You will spend a lot of time with the horses in the water which we really enjoyed! But we felt a little confused at some points because the workers would give us directions that were not, or seemingly weren't, very clear. They had someone walking beside us at some points but at others there was very little supervision. That was fine but it seemed odd since we have been on other beach rides where there are multiple guides on horseback riding alongside the entire time.
   • I loved that they used our phones to take pictures for us and didn't try to charge a ton for their "professional" photos like some places. They took some really great photos and videos which my family really enjoys looking at in our memory book.
   • I would do this part of the excursion again but I would make sure to get clear directions from the guys on shore before going in the water so that when they shout them at me I will already know what they're saying.
3. The river rafting experience was pleasant for me and my youngest son who was 7 at the time. But the rest of my family are thrill seekers and kind of found it a little too slow for them and would opt to not do it again (plus my husband has another reason I'll explain below).
   • There was a spot about half way down the river where all the rafts stopped. Here, my adventure lovers did have fun because they could rope swing into the river! My husband and one of the 10 year olds did it multiple times!
   • Toward the end of the ride, our guide gave my 7 year old a chance to steer the raft! He loved standing at the front of the raft showing off his muscles as he helped us slowly make our way to the landing point. Such a wonderful memory for he and I!
   • Again, at the end of the experience we came across a souvenir seller which was cash or cashapp only again so we were out of luck.
   • Now here is what we did not like AT ALL here: Me and the kids met our driver and got in the van while my husband went to go tip the guides. After a few minutes, he was not in the van so I went to go see what he was doing and he was essentially being cornered by one of the guides who wasn't pleased with the sum of his tip and was harassing Kyle for more. He was very insistent and it was actually a little scary since we had never experienced that before and we are pretty good tippers. It definitely put a damper on things.
4. Dunns River Falls was our last stop of the day, and definitely our favorite! We could have spent all day there, and there is more to do than just the falls!
   • The falls are such an incredible experience! My kids and husband really enjoyed climbing up and down the falls, sliding down from one pool of water to another, and splashing around in such a unique spot!
   • We knew ahead of time to bring water shoes but I forgot to get any. We went barefoot.
   • You are not allowed to take anything with you as you climb the falls so phones and cameras, sunglasses, etc are not allowed. I saw several people breaking that rule and I felt that they were being disrespectful and also a bit reckless. The falls are beautiful but they can be dangerous, too.
   • There are other areas in the park that you can visit. We enjoyed walking around a little garden area and as we were leaving the kids enjoyed a small splash pad as well. There are shops there as well but it began raining heavily as we were leaving and we didn't stop at any.
   • If we have another chance to visit Dunns River Falls we would do it in a heartbeat. We all enjoyed it so much!

That is our personal takeaway from this combo trip. Of course everybody will have different experiences and different opinions but in the spirit of being helpful I wanted to give a very honest review for you to make an informed decision for you and your family.

Oh, another nice thing about this specific touris that everything was all very close to our resort (RIU Ocho Rios) so we spent very little time between activities and in the van over all. As we were leaving, a torrential rain began and it was hard to see the road infront of us so I was grateful that the drive was very short.

Check out some of our photos from the excursion below, and see the description for yourself here: Dunns River Combo Excursion