It’s always fun when you discover a new location where you feel like you stumbled upon that secret hideaway in paradise. Of course the Hyatt Zilara is hardly a secret, but this was our first experience with a Hyatt property and it blew us away. If you like luxurious surroundings and high end service, this is the place for you. From our rooms, to the pool areas to the beach everything here is gorgeous. Everyone we encountered, pool entertainment staff, bartenders and cleaning staff gave service from the heart. What’s great about this property is there is a Hyatt Ziva next door that is family friendly which makes this great for multi-generational family trips (Adults can get a reprieve from the kids), Destination Weddings, even corporate meetings.
The location here is fantastic. It is only 20 minutes from the Montego Bay airport and a little over an hour from Dunns River Falls/Ocho Rios area. This means there is a lot of options for excursions. As nice as the resort is, in our opinion you miss so much of the Jamaica experience by not getting out and exploring the culture, natural attractions, and other things to do in Jamaica. We were able to hike the falls, scuba dive, sail and snorkel on a Catamaran tour and also visit popular bars like Sharkies and Margaritaville Montego Bay.
My room here was one of the nicest rooms I have ever stayed in. It was very large with a king sized Bed and plenty of closet space for my suitcase. It had a tiled shower and soaking tube that could be open to the room or closed off with doors. The balcony was one of the larger balconies with a small table and a twin sized lounger where you could lay out and enjoy reading or resting with a beautiful view of the grounds and ocean.
The food was impressive here as well. There are 11 dining options. I loved the Jerk Chicken shack, the pizza by the beach, actually, everything I had here was good. One of the more interesting dinners was a weekly international food fair where you could go around almost food truck style and sample cuisine from different nationalities. Pacing yourself is the key here as you could make a full meal out of any one stop, but miss out if you fill up too quickly. The most interesting dish I got was at Jamaican RootZ where I ordered the sea bass. I was expecting a filet, but the entire fish showed up. Yep, fins, head, eyes everything. While I did not eat the, shall we say non-traditional parts, I did eat some of the skin and whatever batter they put it in before it is fried is delicious.
The resort is amazing. Everywhere you turn you see beautiful landscaping. I especially liked that there were multiple places to sit around the property that had landscaping around them to make them feel more private. Some had a hot tub, some had firepits, but all were very intimate. The beaches here were beautiful as well. There are some manmade breakers in front of the beach to provide sheltered areas for swimming. They do block the view a bit, but the water is clear and there was no seaweed. There were plenty of places to sit and palm trees for shade. If you want a cabana, you will have to rent those.
The last thing that impressed us was the entertainment. Both by the pool and the evening entertainment. When we were there the resort was at a very low occupancy, which means there are not as many people to participate in the entertainment. It’s a difficult job for the staff to get people involved but they did a great job. In the evenings, there were different shows each night. My favorite was the steel drum band. They played a mix of songs and were so entertaining mixing in dancing and switching around to different instruments it was so cool. There were also random entertainers going around. One morning at breakfast we were treated to a trio singing Bob Marley songs. Unfortunately I had to leave for the airport or I probably would have followed them around the resort.
We would not hesitate to recommend the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall or the Hyatt Ziva (for families), and in fact it is one we frequently quote. It is definitely on our list to visit again for our own personal travels. If you would like to see more please check out the link below.
Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall 5 Minute Review: