The Caves open to public?

Is the bar at the Caves Resort open to the public or do you have to stay there?

The Sands Bar at The Caves is open to the public...Wednesday to Saturday from 4pm'ish to 7pm'ish...not sure if they've changed those hours but they are definitely open around sunset hours.

We tried to walk in for dinner but no-go, need reservations. Trying to get an idea of why it is so expensive to stay there - can't see much from their website.

It's expensive to keep it exclusive. Very chic, but not fancy, very small. Good food with anything you want for breakfast, choices for other meals. It's more like staying at a wealthy friend's estate than a hotel.

They cook jerk chicken at The Sands that you can order when visiting around the sunset hours on Wed to Sat...but definitely need reservations for an exclusive dinner...not open on a regular basis for outside dining guests.

I believe the only way to eat there (other than the jerk at The Sands bar) without staying there is to do the Cave dinner, which is very expensive and guests get first dibs. There's a nice safe spot to jump if you go to The Sands. They bus people in from MoBay I think, they go to Margaritaville for the day. You can also see the guys diving from the Lighthouse area.

The Cave dinner was fantastic!

When we stayed at the Spa a few years ago, we had a driver take us to the Caves in hopes of checking it out for a future possible stay. We were turned away and advised we need reservation to see the property.

Likkle farmer and I stayed at the caves for 5 days at the end of a long winter stay in Negril ,we wanted to know if it was really special. I think we paid $550 per night
( this was 6 or so years ago ) The property was nice and the rooms were funky ( in a good way ) . The food was good but have had better at other places . We did the cave dinner which was quite romantic lots of candles and again good food but not fantastic . Every day we had to wake early to get a good place to hang for the day unless you wanted total sun and no shade . For meals there was only a choice of two or three entrees which was ever changing . I can eat anything but likkle farmer doesn't eat seafood so some nights there wasn't anything she liked to choose from. But the biggest thing was the vibe just wasn't there for us . Other guests wouldn't think about leaving the compound and came for it's 5 star rating . So for us being longtimers in Negril we couldn't waait to get out . Just our feeling of the place. Farmer

I was staying at Tensing Pen in the early 1990's and Chris Blackwell was staying there at the time also...We befriended each other and I asked him about other areas of the island that he though I may find more beautiful and he said no need to search I already was there...Soon after he started building the "Caves" and I'm pretty sure he took some of the concepts at Tensing and made sure they were part of the "Caves"...Pillar thatch huts, Community Kitchen area etc...Both places are very nice but Tensing is the original!

My feelings on the Caves is similar to farmers. Was ok but really didn't see the value for the $. Liked the privacy and enjoyed breakfast but found the rest of the meals were not as good as I've had at other places in Negril. No way would I pay the price they are now charging for cave dinner,even for guests. But I would maybe make a trip to The Sands bar and try the jerk chicken there. Nice place but in my opinion over hyped.