The town was a shooting location during the filming Dr. No, the first James Bond film, released in 1962. The Sans Souci hotel was used as the exterior of the Blue Mountain cottage, the home of Bond villain Miss Taro. A decade later, the town was used again in a Bond film, this time 1973's Live and Let Die.

Ocho Rios was originally settled by the a tribe of Arawak Indians called Taino, who had settled in Jamaica at around 1,000 BC and called the land Xamayca, meaning land of wood and water. After Christopher Columbus landed in 1494 and claimed the island for Spain, Ocho Rios was names Chorreros meaning rapid rivers. The Tainos were ultimately obliterated by disease, slavery and war. Some also committed suicide, presumably to escape their conditions as slaves. Spain brought the first African slaves to Jamaica in 1517 as labourers to work on plantations throughout Jamaica, including Ocho Rios.

When someday comes you'll need to get in.

When someday comes you'll need to be able to get around.