I've visited the yard a few times as I stay within walking distance. It usually seems to be a meeting place for a variety of unwelcoming locals, and the woman that is said to be in charge is often absent. I have to say I get a better welcome in Fourth or fifth Streets nearby! I guess for ardent Marley fans there is no substitute for visiting the Culture Yard, but for the average visitor I feel there's little of interest to see, but a rather high fee is charged. 56 Hope Road and Nine Mile are much more worthy of a visit, so if time is limited, I would put this attraction at the bottom of your list.
The lure of this is that Bob Marley spent a large portion of his life here but half of the tour focuses on someone else and some parts of its history on Bob were inaccessible. Your not allowed to take pictures of the room he apparently shared with Rita and conceived Ziggy in. There was no Bob Marley music playing and for the $2500 Jamaican dollars we paid each to get in, it lasted all of 10 minutes and was not worth it. The guide seemed to have an attitude and was quite rude.
Don't miss this. It is still real and important to see and experience. Go with someone who knows the area and who can explain the history.
My husband and I went there on our tour with our tour guide. I found it interesting and consider it a must do when visiting Kingston. The Bob Marley museum itself was closed for renovations so we could not go there. However my husband did not feel comfortable or safe here while I felt ok. A group of men were openly "smoking" in the yard and one gentlemen was trying to impart his prophesies he reads in his stones and another wanted to sell us some artwork.
I was lucky enough to get my own guided tour by Oswald the man who takes care of the place. he explained the history , showed me where Bob Marley took his music lessons and where he composed three little birds.
We walked around several streets, played football with the boys, held a small class lesson the street with the children & shared stories with the women having their hair done. An unforgetable experience.
I have been visiting friends and family in jamaica for many years and have always wanted to visit Trench Town my cousin recommended that we check out this tour and I'm so glad that we did...... Went phoned ahead of our visit so that we were expected as we are traveling with our 1yr old daughter our friend who lives in Kingston came with us too. Very interesting tour guide Stoneman, we did the shorter tour which took in the culture yard, reading centre and 2nd street. This was a very interesting place to visit and we were made to feel very welcome especially our daughter who everyone wanted to stop and say hi. I felt that seeing one street was enough as it is people's homes and you wanted to respect them and you really get a good understanding what it's like in trench town. I would recommend this tour to everyone as it really makes you stop and think about how lucky you are, and it's a really worthwhile cause which jamaica needs to encourage more of! Well done to all involved in the project and keep it up will definitely support from home
We visited Trench Town Culture Yard on our last day in Kingston. I guess one could describe it as a museum of sorts. Unfortunately, there really aren't any exhibits to be seen. The on site manager gave a great oral history of the yard. This was the place where Bob Marley spent most of his early life and wrote so many of the songs for which he is famous. I am sure the Bob Marley Museum is much nicer (we didn't actually visit it), but Trench Town Culture Yard is where the Bob Marley one knows through his music came to be. I wish there had been more there to see....but unfortunately, it wasn't.
The place is basically a set of (almost empty) rooms. Some of them describing the history of Trench Town and others left as they were in the past. The yard is nice, but all the rest can be missed without any problem. Even if you're a Bob Marley's fan.And the place is really overpriced as most of the attractions in Jamaica.The guide was also very unprofessional, always chatting on the phone while describing the various things.It was a lost of time and money. I don't recommend it.
This is a nice place where Bob Marley used to live when he was young. The museum has photos of those times, Bob's old guitar etc. Nice place to visit.