Negril's best live-music spot hosts bands every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday night on a beachside outdoor stage. Very much a locals' hangout, it's also a place where guests from nearby hotels come for beers and lively dancing on the sand.

A top nightspot for Jamaicans, Amnesia also attracts intrepid resort guests who don't mind mixing it up with the locals. There's an outdoor patio for socializing; inside is a dance floor with disco lighting (and even a smoke machine) where people groove to live and DJ-spun reggae, dub, soul, and R&B.

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

If it looks like a casino at first, that's because part of it is. But just walk right past the ground-floor video arcade and the second-floor poker lounge, and you'll find two of the island's best nightspots. The Chilling Bar, on the second floor, is a cozy, tavern-style space that even has a fireplace; upstairs on the third floor (and past the slot machines) is the jumping Rum Jungle Bar, where live reggae bands play several times a week. Drinks are half-price if you gamble.

The elaborate decor at this sprawling nightspot includes potted plants, painted animals on the walls, and even a few live ones (there's a resident caged snake and also a fish pond). Steady crowds of locals and visitors flow between the two floors, where there are pool tables, a sports bar with a stage for live bands, a chill-out martini lounge, and a thumping disco with DJ-spun beats and a packed dance floor. The partying is serious here, and sometimes goes until five or six in the morning.