Tropical beaches and a real island vibe. If you love this, Bocas del Toro is the right place for you. Bocas del Toro is an archipelago of about 200 islands in the northwest of Panama. You can stay overnight on only a few of these islands, the most famous are: Isla Colón, Isla Bastimentos, Isla Carenero, Isla San Cristóbal and Isla Solarte. In addition, there are islands that you can visit but where you cannot stay overnight. It is close to the border with Costa Rica and can therefore be easily combined with a trip through Costa Rica. Bocas del Toro is certainly the best part of Panama. Panama.
Isla Colón
The island of Isla Colón is the largest island on which you can spend the night. This island is like a small tropical Costa Rica. It has a lovely island vibe. It has beautiful tropical beaches and a large piece of jungle. There are also wonderful restaurants, hip bars, nice shops and you can certainly go to a nice party. It is therefore full of nice hotels and hostels.
Rent a bicycle or quad
You can rent bicycles and quads everywhere on Isla Colón to move around the island. With a bicycle or quad you can easily explore the entire island and discover all the beautiful beaches. You can rent a bike for a good price around €9 per day. Renting a quad, on the other hand, is a lot more expensive, namely €100 per day. A quad gives you the opportunity to go around the entire island in 1 day though.
Starfish beach
Visit the most beautiful beach of Bocas del Toro: Starfish beach. The water is almost still and very clear. Despite what the name claims, there are actually not many starfish to admire. If you do want to admire starfish, it is better to go on a tour to Hollywood Bay. You can easily get to the beach with a quad. If you find this too expensive, or you just don't want to, you can also take a local bus. This will cost you about $5 and it departs every 2 hours.
Other islands of Bocas del Toro
In addition to Isla Colón, there are also a number of other islands where you can spend the night. These other islands contain more large resorts, but do not have as many restaurants. For this you have to go back and forth to Isla Colón. This is not a problem as there are water taxis going to all the different islands throughout the day. You can also go island hopping to admire the other islands.
Zapatilla Island
From isla Colón you can do a day trip to Zapatilla Island. This is one of the uninhabited islands of Bocas del Toro. The day tour consists of a boat trip from Isla Colón to a beautiful bay where dolphins swim. The tour continues to Coral beach where you can snorkel. Then there will be time for lunch at a restaurant on the water. After lunch you sail to Zapatilla island where you have about 1.5 to 2 hours to swim and explore the island. Then you sail along Hollywood Bay where you can spot beautiful starfish. You don't want to forget this tour, and certainly zapatilla island, when you go to Bocas del Toro. The tour costs €35 p.p. and is well worth it!
How do you get there?
From Puerto Viejo
As you read above, Bocas del Toro is very close to the border with Costa Rica. This makes it easy to visit Bocas del Toro from Puerto Viejo. With a shuttle you first go to Sixaola, after which you walk across the border and bridge between the two countries. Across the border, board the next shuttle en route to Almirante. At the harbour you take the water taxi to Isla Colón. All this together will cost you about €30. You can of course also do it with the local bus. Then it will be a little cheaper.
From Boquete to Bocas del Toro
From Boquete you take the bus to David for $2. At David's bus terminal you can buy a ticket to Almirante for $8. Once in Almirante you take a joint taxi to the port for $1. Here you then take the water taxi to Isla Colón for $6. a direct shuttle and water taxi to Bocas del Toro.
From Panama-city
From Panama-city you can take the bus to Almirante for about $30. This is a long drive of about 11 hours. After this you also take the joint taxi and the water taxi, as mentioned above.
Favorite addresses on Bocas del Toro
We ourselves stayed in Villa Sevilla, which was beautifully situated just on the edge of the jungle. The rooms were super clean and the breakfast was delicious. Here we have also spotted howler monkeys, parrots and sloths from the garden!
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