Idle awhile?

So we just got back from our 7th trip to Negril and have decided we are officially done with all inclusives. We are going to do a split for our next trip and probably going to stay at Tensing Pen again. Thinking Nirvana for our beach portion, but idle awhile keeps catching my eye too. Anyone have any input. Is it on the beach? Kind of confusing looking at the map it doesn't look like it, but reviews say different. Any input on tensing pen vs rockhouse? We had such a great time, I love Negril so much and can only count the days until my next trip.

We've JUST returned from 9 days at Idle Awhile and having had 8 previous Negril beach holidays in different places, this is the ONE. It's amazing and we will definately stay here next time if we can get in. It is very booked months and sometimes a year or more ahead, so get in early. Rooms 203 and 204 are upstairs facing the beach and 103 and 104 are downstairs. Out of choice, we picked 204 for the 'not overlooked' aspect. The whole place, staff, beach and ambiance is excellent.
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Rooms from the beach.

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View from balcony of 204.

we have stayed at t/p,idle awhile and rockhouse(and many other places). idle awhile is our favorite by far. even when we're not staying there we have gone for breakfast and ended up spending the day there having lunch and drinks. the staff there is great!(jenny, gumby and needles). it is sometimes difficult to get a room there because there are only 14,many people book a year ahead.
we got the living social deal for sea splash,so are planning a trip sometime this year.

Yes, Idle Awhile is on the beach.They do have one room across the street but the rest is on a great beach location. Stayed there last summer and loved it! It's now my second favorite place on the beach.(first choice continues to be Couples Swept Away). Have you ever stayed at Nirvana? Its one of the places on the beach that I"ve considered staying but havent yet.I love the look of it and the location is good but I was turned off by the chain link fence fencing it in but,if I"m not mistaken, last trip I think I noticed it was down. Hope that was a permanent change.
And I don't think you can do much better than Tensing Pen for the cliffs. I"ve been lucky enough to have stayed at some great cliff locations. Rockhouse, Tensing Pen, Catcha Falling Star and most recently The Caves. And for me, all things considered, Tensing Pen is at the top of the list.

We are at Idle Awhile as I write this, I would have to agree with everyone here that this is a great place ! Nice rooms , well maintained shady and tropical grounds, excellent staff, and yes, a very nice beachfront...we stayed at Tensing Pen last year and I can't say enough about that place, it's just beautiful, and the food is top notch...the staff too :-) I think if you were to split your trip between these two properties you couldn't go wrong...
Have fun choosing :-) I wish I was in your position right now...our trip is almost over...

Idle Awhile rocks!!! Yep! its located right on the beach Hands down, our favorite hotel in Negril. We will be back in Dec. I highly recommend a 2nd floor beachfront room. The rooms are modern and immaculate. The marble floors can get really slippery so watch out if you come in from the beach and drip a bit of water on the floor! The upper level beachfront rooms don't exactly have clear ocean views, but the bonus is that you will feel like you are in a treehouse on your balcony with all the lush foliage surrounding you. Great place for a nap! The upper room ceilings are also nicely vaulted and give it a very airy and spacious feel. Just be aware that the 1 bedroom suites only have AC in the bedroom and bathroom, so the living area, kitchen and dining room will get a bit hot and humid during the day. (it does cool off at night, though) That didn't bother us at all because we usually spend most of our time during the day out on the beach, but I thought I'd mention it in case you are the type that needs AC. I'm sure you can't go wrong with any room there. We have also stayed on the 1st floor before with our little guy and found it very convenient for beach access and didn't have to worry about him running around the room, and possibly disturbing any guests below us. We found that although mostly couples tend to stay there, the staff LOVES kids, and went out of their way to make our son feel special during our stay. When they found out that his birthday was the following week, (he kept telling everybody about how excited he was for his upcoming Cars birthday party!), they surprised him with a birthday cake, complete with sparklers, out on the beach one evening. He was beyond thrilled! Like others have already mentioned, book early if you know your dates, because the limited amount of rooms do fill up rather quickly. We have had to switch our dates before due to no availability, and another time got lucky due to a last minute cancellation. The staff there is top notch and will go above and beyond to make sure you have an amazing stay. I love your idea of splitting your stay with a cliff hotel,and we are considering that for our upcoming Dec. trip with IA and Rockhouse. Idle Awhile also has a cliff side sister property called Hide Awhile which you may want to look into. They offer a free shuttle between their properties, so if you want to spend part of your day at their cliff location, you can. Never stayed at Tensing Pen, but it looks really beautiful from their website. A friend of ours is planning a wedding there next year. Rockhouse is just amazing! We have have stayed there a few times, and their restaurant is also great,too. Very VERY romantic setting! I will have my boyfriend attach some photos later when he gets home. He has them all stored on his computer.

Stayed at Idle Awhile this past Jan and had a wonderful time. Stayed at Swept Away twice before this trip, before venturing to Sans Souci and Duncans. Missed Negril. Love Negril. Idle Awhile was just what we wanted from our beach vacation. We were not able to get a beach facing room, only 4 of the regular rooms facing the ocean. We reserved our trip in June so as far in advance seems to be the way to go. But we liked our second floor room in the trees. The beach is great. We love the trees. We love the umbrellas. We loved how they set our spot up everyday before we got to the beach. The most comfortable time, spent all day, every day from our base. Great location. We think the non-all inclusive is the way to do Negril, for sure. Why pay for all the stuff you are never going to do anyway. Food (fabulous) and drinks are cheap in Negril. Nirvana does indeed look great, the fence was gone in Jan. There is no bar or restaurant on site, if that matters. Would head there if traveling with a group, though.

Have stayed at Nirvana, twice. Already booked for 2013. Questions?

Spotty ate, is this a beachfront deluxe room?
Lady Jane, we stopped by when we were there last and got to see a beachfront veranda suite. Loved it,what room do you recommend?

Meant to say spottycatz. Darn auto correct:)

We rented a cottage so we had cooking facilities. There for 3 weeks. One meal prepared a day was really nice! Love the cottage for the space

How far is the couples sports complex? Is it walking distance and if not how do u get there?

Room 204 (our room)or 203, upper beachfront room. Can't recommend it enough, it was absolutely perfect! Hope you manage to book it.