GoldenEye Hotel & Resort

GoldenEye is drastically different than many Jamaica resorts. On an island filled with all-inclusive megaresorts hermetically sealed from the nature and culture that lies just beyond their cement parking lots, GoldenEye is a rare gem, taking advantage of its 52 acres of lush vegetation, rocky oceanfront outcroppings, and serene lagoon. The beach hasn’t been widened to fit more tourists (with just 22 rooms, space is hardly an issue) and nary a calorific all-you-can-eat buffet is to be found. Rather the resort, which reopened in 2010 following an extensive two-year renovation to the tune of $50 million, is serene, understated, and even covert. The property’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it front gate in Oracabessa just outside of tourist-packed Ocho Rios is exactly the type of entrance one would expect to find in a James Bond flick. A simple gate with a massive flag bearing a palm tree overhead features a terse “PRIVATE” sign in bold red letters. Guests must pause here for a moment to allow the guard to check their identities and ensure they're on the list, and then he’ll wave them on, pointing toward a winding jungle path that leads to GoldenEye’s modest front desk. Here, the lobby is so un-lobby-like that any interlopers who might make it past the guard -- perhaps via a covert scuba operation or by stealthy chopper -- would remain in utter confusion at the lack of resort-style environs. This Bond-like setting is no accident. In fact, 007 himself was born right here on GoldenEye’s lush grounds, back when the property was under writer Ian Fleming’s ownership. Every year, the scribe spent several months in his ocean-side villa, writing all 14 of his famous tales of the sleek and sophisticated spy. When Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chris Blackwell bought the property in the 1980s, he realized the appeal of the historic estate as well as its untouched surroundings and converted it into a resort. Today, the massive Fleming Villa remains intact, featuring its own private pool and even the writer’s original desk over which he slaved year after year.