Everything about Bocas del Toro in 6 days

The group of islands in Bocas del Toro is perfect for everything you want to visit virgin Caribbean islands, everyone who wants to have very good secret parties!

How to get to Bocas del Toro?

1. First, get to Almirante: From Panama City There are direct buses from Panama City to Almirante that takes 10-12 hours and costs $ 30. The schedules can see them when they go to Terminal Albrook. We do not take this route since we leave Playa Venao, the least accessible place in all of Panama, you will see why ... From Playa Venao As you will have already seen in the Playa Venao article, it was a series of buses that we took to come here and also to leave, so we gave up and took a direct shuttle to Santiago. With a group of 6 people we arrived in Santiago paying $ 25 each for a 3-hour trip, expensive if it saved us a lot of time. If you want to save money, we recommend that you take the only bus that leaves Playa Venao in the morning and arrives in a town before Santiago, called Las Tablas. From Las Tablas, buses are more frequent and take you to Santiago (we will explain why this city is so important). In Santiago, a direct bus to Almirante leaves at the Bocas del Toro Terminal, leaving at 11 pm and which we believe is the only bus. It lasted 6 hours and cost us $ 18.75. Traveling friends it is very important that you travel well sheltered, although outside the bus the temperature is hot, inside you will feel that you are in Alaska !!!

2. Second, get to Isla Colón

The most difficult part is over, when you get to Almirante try to do it between 6 am and 6 pm since the last boat leaves at 6 pm !!. Then take a taxi that will take you to the port ($ 1 per person in a shared taxi) and here you buy your round trip ticket to Isla Colón, it costs $ 10, departs every 30 min, and takes 30 min.

What to do in Bocas?

We tell you that in Bocas there is a lot to do, but depending on the season you go, you will enjoy the different islands !!. Definitely the dry season (March, April, May, June) is the best: sunnier, less weather problems, more tourists, more parties, more handsome to break your heart !!. Unfortunately, we went in July but we still enjoyed it, and the best that the hostels were cheaper.

1. Cayo Zapatillas Island, Cayo Coral Island

Isla Cayo Zapatillas, beautiful, left us really impressed, totally virgin and you can walk it in 1 hour. To virgin, we mean that here there is no type of accommodation, and you can not camp because it is very small.

To get here, we came on tour (which we do not recommend much, we will tell you why). All places offer the same tour at relatively similar cost. We took the tour at Selina Hostel, it cost us $ 25 including lunch, alcoholic drinks and lasts from 9 am - 4 pm. The tour consists of going to two islands, the first is the Cayo Zapatillas, on this island we have lunch, relax for 1 hour and well very nice as you see in the photos. On the way to this island, the boat stops at two places to see dolphins and another to see lazy bears. The second island is the most beautiful Cayo Zapatillas, here they give you 1.30 hours to visit it, which you can actually go around in 40 min.

Now because we recommend that you take a large group of 10 - 12 friends, rent a boat and go directly to the two islands, or perhaps only the most beautiful. First, the dolphins and the lazy bears, almost nothing was seen so it was a complete failure. Second, we really hate being rushed and spending only an hour and a half on this beautiful island is very little. So try not to take the tour, or take one that assures you that you will stay many hours on this beautiful island !!

2. Isla Carnero This island is only 30 minutes from Isla Colón, grab a boat that will cost you $ 8 (round trip) per person. You can walk it, but it's not as small as Cayo Zapatillas, so definitely start your day early.

3. Playa de Las Estrellas For this beach you do not need any boat, because it is inside the Isla Colón. You can get here by bicycle, public bus or private transport. We took private transportation at Hostel Coconut, they charged us $ 7 to take us back and return, and most importantly they waited patiently for 3 hours. This beach is famous because you find starfish on the shore, but be very careful because every time a human touches them, they stress them out a lot. The public bus is a very good option, but the difference in cost is not much since it costs $ 5 per person.

4. Red Frog Island This island is for surfers, we have heard that there are good waves here. To come, it is the same, take a boat that will cost you $ 8 - $ 10 round trip per person, it takes 40 minutes. Admission is $ 5. 5. Isla Escudo, Isla Kusapi Unfortunately we could not go to this island, because the season we went was low, and well, it takes many people to rent a full boat, also, the outings depend a lot on the weather. However, we found out and most charge $ 100 per person round trip. But there is always a way to negotiate and find the best price. We highly recommend going to this island, some friends told us that it is really impressive !!

6. Filthy Friday Party If you go to Bocas del Toro and you did not stay on a Friday to attend this great event, then you never went to Bocas !!. This event is a very big party that only takes place every Friday, it costs $ 35 admission from 11am to 9pm, and at night they sometimes do free electronic parties for those who attended Filthy Friday. The party is on 3 different islands, which everyone takes in boats. No boys and girls, it does not include anything else, the food and the drink is separate although you are invited a few shots.

Where and what to eat?

In general, food is not cheap in Panama, and good in Bocas, less so it is very touristy. In addition, we could not find traditional dishes other than the inns and we had to eat mostly international dishes, what did affect us a little is finding fruit juices !! You don't know but in Peru, you can find fruit juice in every corner and at a cheap price, because not here, fruit juice cost us $ 4-6. As for the distance, Bocas is very small and all the restaurants are close. Here is the list of restaurants we went to and we recommend:

• Tom Restaurant - $

Very cheap and abundant, it is very hidden but it is the cheapest restaurant. They serve traditional food, the famous fondas consisting of beans, rice, salad and fish, all that dish cost us $ 5 including drink!

• La Italiana pizza Bocas - $$

We especially recommend this restaurant, I know you find pizza anywhere you go, but this restaurant is very good. The pizzas are great to share and cost between $ 10-12 !!

• Cool Crepes - $$

The pancakes here are very good !! Each crepe costs between $ 7-9.

• Amaranto - $$$

Amaranto is one of those restaurants that sell healthy food, salad bowls, fruit salad, fruit juices, among others. An example of their prices: the salad bowl cost us $ 10 and the fruit salad cost us $ 6.

• Brothers Burger - $$$

The burgers are very good !! although a little expensive. Approximately the burger dish costs between $ 10-13.

Where to sleep?

In general, Bocas is very expensive in terms of accommodation. As we told you, we went in the low season, so it was not as expensive as it is in the high season !! So if you travel here in high season, reserve your room in advance and most importantly, take your time to search because there are so many options. As for which area to stay, you will hardly disembark, because that is the area, it is like the center of Isla Colón, here there are many options and it is close to the port, restaurants and bars! We only stayed in two lodgings that we will list here !!

• Selina Hostel Isla Colón- $$$

This Selina is very simple, open to anyone (guests or guests), there is a party and the people are very good vibes. It cost us $ 14 a night per person in the cheapest shared room. Remember that in high season this price can double !!

• Coconut hostel- $

This hostel is very hippie, the owner is super pretty and good people, and she gave us very good information on activities to do. Overall, the hostel is a little run down and not very clean, but for the price it was fine. It cost us $ 8 a night in a shared room but with 4 beds, so we practiced it for ourselves !! The owner told us that in the New Year she charges up to $ 20 a bed and it is very full !!

And well guys, it is always good to look at Hostelworld for accommodation options, here you can guide the price and comments. But it is always good to enter the instagram or website of the hostel you choose, because well Hostelworld charges you an additional, which is not much but could be a great saving. Besides there is a hostel like the Selina that have promotions on the same page !!