What you can see on the Kingston cams
One camera looks across the harbour to the towers of downtown, the ships at the quays and the Blue Mountains behind the city. Five more follow the traffic at some of the city's best-known corners: the wide crossroads beside Devon House, the junction outside the Half Way Tree Transport Centre, the clock tower at Half Way Tree and West Parade in the old downtown, and a fifth looks down Barbican Road in uptown St Andrew. Most of them turn between several views. Another camera, on a rooftop in New Kingston, looks over a hotel terrace and a palm-lined avenue toward the hills, live and as a time-lapse of its last 24 hours.
Downtown Kingston across the harbour
From across the water, this camera looks over Kingston Harbour to the waterfront of downtown Kingston: its office towers and hotels along the shore, the ships tied up at the quays and, behind the city, the slopes of the Blue Mountains rising into the clouds.
It is the widest view of the capital on this page: the harbour, one of the largest natural harbours in the world, the traffic of the ships and the weather over the mountains.
The Devon House crossroads
High above a broad intersection uptown, this camera switches between a wide view and closer shots of the traffic. The wide view takes in several lanes, painted crosswalks and the traffic lights in the foreground, with a lawn and tall shade trees behind green railings on the far side; the close shots follow the cars queuing at the lights.
It is the cam for the pulse of uptown Kingston: how heavy the traffic is at the start and end of the working day, and how quiet the roads get on a Sunday. It is one of the See Jamaica cameras, streamed on YouTube.
Buses and crowds at Jamaica's busiest junction
This camera watches one of the busiest junctions in Jamaica, outside the Half Way Tree Transport Centre, and swings between several angles of it. Wide crosswalks fill the foreground, crowds cross between the bus terminal, the vendors under striped umbrellas and the shops opposite, where a bright yellow bank front stands out, and buses and cars wait at the lights. On clear days, one of the views shows the Blue Mountains rising behind the city.
Half Way Tree is where much of the city changes buses, so the picture changes with the hours: packed in the morning and at the end of the afternoon, thinner at midday. See Jamaica streams it on YouTube.
Half Way Tree and its clock tower
A second See Jamaica camera at Half Way Tree turns between views of the streets around the square. Some are tight shots of minibuses, route taxis and trucks squeezing past the stalls and shop signs; the widest takes in the white clock tower at the centre of Half Way Tree, with the bank buildings and the busy roads around it.
Where the transport centre camera shows the crowds crossing, this one shows the heart of the square and the vehicles that move people through it. It streams on YouTube, with the name of the spot and the time on the image.
West Parade, downtown Kingston
On West Parade, at the edge of the old Parade in downtown Kingston, this camera moves between a close view at street level and wider shots along the road. Close up, blue and white minibuses pull in to the kerb and vendors sell from carts and stands under big umbrellas in front of shopfronts painted yellow and red; the wider views follow the traffic and the crowds along the avenue, with the treetops of the park at one edge.
Downtown is the old commercial heart of the city, with its markets a few streets away, and this is the cam that shows it most directly: busy on weekdays and Saturdays, quieter on Sundays. See Jamaica streams it on YouTube.
Traffic on Barbican Road
Mounted high above Barbican Road, in the uptown district of St Andrew, this camera looks over a tangle of power lines down a busy avenue: lanes of cars and taxis queueing at the lights, a filling station and shops on the corners, and the hills above Kingston in the distance. The camera also turns to a wide crossroads with its zebra crossings and traffic lights.
It is the cam to see how heavy the traffic is in this part of the city, at the rush hours of morning and evening.
New Kingston from the S Hotel
From a rooftop in New Kingston, past the edge of a terracotta roof, this camera looks over the S Hotel: a white building with arched loggias, a terrace with a pool and white parasols, and a car park below. On the right, a straight avenue lined with royal palms runs away between office blocks, a tall tower stands in the distance and the green foothills rise on the left under a wide sky.
It is the calmest of the Kingston views, and the best for the weather. It comes from the hotel's own website, and here it plays through Windy as a time-lapse of the last 24 hours: a quick way to see how the day has gone, from the morning light to the clouds that often build over the hills before the afternoon rain.
From Port Royal to capital
Kingston was laid out in 1692, after an earthquake sank much of Port Royal, the old pirate harbour at the end of the Palisadoes, and its survivors moved across the bay. The new town became the island's commercial centre and took over from Spanish Town as the capital in 1872. Downtown, around the old Parade, still follows the grid of those first streets, while banks, offices and hotels have moved uptown to New Kingston and Half Way Tree.
Devon House
Devon House was built in 1881 for George Stiebel, who made his fortune in Venezuela and became Jamaica's first Black millionaire. The mansion is now a museum and a National Heritage Site, and its gardens, shops and ice cream parlour draw Kingston families at weekends.
When to watch Kingston
Half Way Tree is busiest in the morning and evening rush and quietest on Sunday mornings. The south coast lies in the shelter of the mountains and is drier than the north, but in the rainy months storms often build over the Blue Mountains in the afternoon.
Nearby
The Bob Marley Museum is in his former home at 56 Hope Road, uptown. Past the airport, at the tip of the Palisadoes, Port Royal keeps an old fort, and boats run out to Lime Cay, a small sandy islet at the mouth of the harbour. Behind the city, the Blue Mountains grow their famous coffee and rise to Blue Mountain Peak, 2,256 m (7,402 ft), the highest point on the island.
Getting there
Norman Manley International Airport is on the Palisadoes, about 19 km (12 miles) from New Kingston, where most hotels are. Jamaicans drive on the left.
