Things to Do in Portmore, Jamaica

Portmore isn’t a tourist town, and nobody from here would pretend it is. It’s a big, busy commuter city in St Catherine, across Kingston Harbour from the capital, where a lot of Kingston’s workers live. In February 2025 Parliament passed a bill to make the Portmore City Municipality Jamaica’s 15th parish, and the 2022 census found St Catherine was the fastest-growing parish on the island.

So why go? For the same reasons Kingstonians do: fried fish by the sea at Hellshire, a day at the races at Caymanas Park, or a movie. This list only includes places I could confirm from an operator or official source in October 2026. Anything I couldn’t confirm is at the bottom, clearly marked.

Hellshire Beach (check before you go)

Hellshire is where Kingston goes on a Sunday for fried fish and festival. You pick your fish, usually snapper or parrot, and have it fried, steamed or roasted, served with festival or bammy and a cold drink, eaten with your feet in the sand. It’s loud, social and very Jamaican, and the fish is the point more than the beach.

Hellshire is open, with several fish huts serving, though not every hut is back, and erosion has taken most of the sand: go for the food, not a beach day. My Hellshire Beach guide has the details.

Behind the beach are the Hellshire Hills, dry forest where the Jamaican Iguana Recovery program works to protect the island’s native iguana by removing invasive animals. It’s conservation land, not a place to wander, but it’s worth knowing the iguana lives a few miles from the fish shacks.

Caymanas Park

Caymanas Park, on the edge of Portmore, is Jamaica’s horse-racing track, run by Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment (SVREL). Race days are a proper Jamaican day out, part sport, part fashion show, with food and music around the betting. Caymanas lists its next race day as October 10, 2026, and posts race cards, a live stream and replays on its website.

The big days are worth planning around:

• Diamond Mile: held on Saturday, July 25 in 2026, after SVREL moved it from July 19.
• Mouttet Mile: billed as the richest race in the English-speaking Caribbean, expanded in 2026 to a two-day racing carnival on Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5.

Check the race calendar on the Caymanas Park site before you go, since dates do move.

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Sunshine Palace cinema

Palace Amusement’s Sunshine Palace opened on July 24, 2019, at 7 Braeton Parkway, and it’s still on Palace’s current list of cinemas with showtimes and online tickets. It shows mostly Hollywood releases, and in April 2026 Palace announced it would start screening live sports and other events in its theaters from May. It’s a good rainy-day or evening option if you’re staying in Kingston with kids, and the crowd reactions to a big film are half the show.

Not confirmed

These appear on older lists of things to do in Portmore, including the earlier version of this page. I couldn’t confirm in October 2026 that they’re still operating, so I’m not recommending them. Call ahead if you’re interested.

• Rocket Go-Karts: opened in 2018 at Congreve Park, near Bayside, according to the Gleaner.
• Buzzers gaming arcade and laser tag, and VRX virtual reality at the Sovereign Centre.
• Fort Clarence Beach: the paid beach next to Hellshire, leased to Guardsman Hospitality from the Urban Development Corporation in 2019; I found no current update.

Getting there and where to stay

Portmore is across the harbor from Kingston, linked by the causeway and the toll road, so it’s an easy trip from New Kingston in light traffic and a slow one at rush hour. Go mid-morning or early afternoon, and don’t drive back into Kingston at 5 p.m. if you can help it. A taxi arranged through your hotel is the simplest way to do Hellshire, since you’ll want a cold drink with your fish.

There’s no reason to stay in Portmore itself. Base yourself in Kingston, where the hotels, restaurants and attractions are; my Kingston guide covers where to stay. For more ideas across the island, see my list of things to do in Jamaica, and if you want a park day in town, Emancipation Park is the easy one.