Jamaica · Saint Catherine
Where to Stay in Spanish Town, Saint Catherine
Spanish Town is a city of southern Jamaica near Kingston, the island's old capital for three hundred years, a place of Georgian squares and one of the oldest cathedrals of the Caribbean.
Find your area →
Where to stay in Spanish Town
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Where you stay in Spanish Town turns on the old town or Kingston. The centre around the square keeps the cathedral, the market, and the old halls within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the history. Flat ground runs out past the last streets.
Old stone lines the square. Out toward Kingston and the hills, the town gives way to the busy suburbs, the river road, and the way up to the Bog Walk gorge. A room out of the centre trades the old streets for the wider city, the green river, and the limestone hills to the north.
The plain reaches the sea. Stay downtown for the square, or out for the city. The old square and the cathedral hold the former capital.
About Spanish Town
Spanish Town is the old capital of Jamaica.
What is Spanish Town known for?
On the plain of the Rio Cobre west of Kingston, it ruled the island for centuries under Spain and Britain, and it keeps the fine Georgian square at its heart, the old cathedral of Saint James, the memorial to the admiral Rodney, and the ruined halls of the colonial government. The dry plain spreads around it. Old stone squares hold the past.
What are the main landmarks in Spanish Town?
The Georgian square is the pride of Spanish Town. The old colonial plaza with its ruined halls and its memorial to Rodney, the finest square in Jamaica, is the emblem of the town, downtown. An old cathedral crowns the streets.
The cathedral of Saint James, one of the oldest in the Caribbean, stands among the lanes nearby, while the king's house, the Rio Cobre, and the Bog Walk gorge mark the country around Spanish Town.
What is the history of Spanish Town?
Spanish Town was the seat of the island. The Spanish laid out their capital on the Rio Cobre and called it the Town of the Plain, and when the English took Jamaica they kept it as their capital too. A Georgian square rose in stone.
Around a grand plaza the rulers built their halls, their court, and their king's house, and the town held the government of the island for two hundred years. Freedom was proclaimed in the square. On the day slavery ended across Jamaica, the news was read out to the people in the old plaza, and the town remembered it ever after.
The capital moved away. In time Kingston grew larger and took the seat of government, and Spanish Town settled as a quiet town on the plain, keeping its square, its cathedral, and its long history. The old stones still hold the past.
Spanish Town keeps its old capital by the Rio Cobre.
Where is Spanish Town?
Spanish Town lies in the south of Jamaica, on the plain just west of Kingston. The city sits on the Rio Cobre where it runs down from the hills to the sea, on a hot dry lowland behind the coast, with the harbour plains to the east and the limestone hills and the Bog Walk gorge rising to the north. The river winds through the plain.
Dry hills stand to the north.
What is the climate of Spanish Town?
Spanish Town has a hot, dry lowland climate. Warm weather holds all year on the plain, with sunshine most of the year and short heavy rains in the storm season. Heat lies over the plain.
Brief storms break the dry spells.
How do you get to Spanish Town?
Spanish Town lies in southern Jamaica, on the plain just west of Kingston. The highway runs in from Kingston across the plain, and the old road climbs north through the Bog Walk gorge. Coaches fill the square.
Kingston lies east down the road.
Good for
Updated August 2026