Negril vs Zanzibar

Large turquoise pool with lane markings at Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa, flanked by white buildings, palm trees, and blue lounge chairs under clear sky.

Thatched-roof pavilion with blue curtains surrounded by palm trees, flowering plants, and a small pool at The Palms Zanzibar.

Negril and Zanzibar, side by side: live travel advisories, our resort catalog's real guest data, and each destination's honest weather picture. Everything you need to break the tie.

By the numbers

Negril compared with Zanzibar
Negril	Measure	Zanzibar
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
14	Resorts in our catalog	15 (better)
★ 4.5	Average guest rating	★ 4.6 (better)
$138–$543/night pp	Nightly rates	$93–$723/night pp (better)
8 of 14	Adults-only resorts	0 of 15
In the hurricane belt	Hurricane exposure	No hurricane season (better)
May–June and September–November	Rainy season	Long rains mid-March to May (April is the wettest month), short rains in November
December–April, with a sunset every night of the year	Sweet spot	June to October and December to February
Sangster (MBJ), ~75–90 min transfer	Airport	Abeid Amani Karume (ZNZ); listed transfers run 40 to 97 minutes

Advisory levels sync from travel.state.gov; catalog figures reflect the resorts we've researched, not every hotel in the country. A marked row is one we are willing to call; rows without a mark are a matter of taste, or we have no comparable figure for both sides.

On the map

Negril

Zanzibar

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Negril and Zanzibar
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Negril · high °F	83	83	84	85	87	89	89	89	88	87	86	84
Zanzibar · high °F	89	90	90	87	84	84	83	83	84	86	88	89
Negril · rain (in)	0.8	0.6	0.7	1.3	4.2	3.8	2.6	3.8	5.5	7.0	3.2	1.4
Zanzibar · rain (in)	3.0	2.4	5.9	15.3	7.8	1.9	1.1	1.4	2.0	3.5	8.0	5.5

Approximate climate normals for Seven Mile Beach and Zanzibar (ZNZ): planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.