Experience the best of Black River

Black River is the main town of St Elizabeth parish, on Jamaica's south-west coast, and takes its name from the river beside it, which runs the colour of strong tea from the peat and fallen leaves of the wetlands upstream. Georgian-style houses along the seafront recall its days as a port that shipped logwood, the source of a dye prized in Europe.

Boat trips go up the river through mangroves into the Great Morass, a wetland that shelters American crocodiles, herons and other water birds. Nearby, YS Falls steps down through pools in a forested valley, and the fishing village of Treasure Beach, with its dark-sand coves, lies along the coast to the south-east. Pelican Bar, a driftwood hut on a sandbar in the sea, is reached by small boat.

St Elizabeth is known as Jamaica's breadbasket, and roadside stalls sell vegetables and fruit grown on the plain. Fried or steamed fish with bammy, a cassava flatbread, is the local order, and Middle Quarters, nearby, is famous for pepper shrimp sold from roadside pots. The weather is warm all year, driest from December to April.