World class beaches in Bocas del Toro

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
1
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
7
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
67 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
192nd/454
Top 40%
continent
North America
country
Panama
Length of time
3-4 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$100 (typically $70 - $130)
Time of year visited
April
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Beaches Islands Jungle
All Tags
Boat trip Snorkeling Wildlife - Dolphins Wildlife - Hummingbirds Wildlife - Sharks Wildlife - Sloths
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

Bocas del Toro is a gorgeous piece of island paradise:

✅ Some of the most beautiful beaches in the world with the A boat trip of the Zapatillas Islands

✅ Laid back hotels all the way along the long coastline of the main island

✅ A great Caribbean small party backpacker vibe in Bocas del Torro Town

✅ A range of wildlife including humming birds, sloths, dolphins and sharks.

Beautiful place to relax for a few days – so much so that we extended to a week! – and the Highlight of Panama

Highlights

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#1 The white sand beaches of Zapatilla Island - a true mini paradise

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#2 Chilling out on some of the northern beaches - in particular cycling up to the northern point and stopping at the secluded beaches and bars along the way

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#3 Further(!) chilling out in some of the beach front hotels hidden in the jungle along the northern beaches - often with hummingbirds and sloths around to keep you company

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#4 Enjoying the backpacker style Bocas Town with all of its bars, restaurants and hotels on stilts right by the water line

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#5 Stopping off in some of the small water front restaurants along Bastimentos Island as you take a boat trip around these beautiful islands for the day

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#6 Walking along some of the desolate beaches spread all around the main island

Travel Tips

Stay outside of Bocas Town – Bocas Town is great for the Caribbean beach village / backpacker vibe and has that added cool angle of having so many places on stilts on the edge of water that you can work your way through.  It’s also a great spot for being able to head off on boat trips to the surrounding islands.  But I’d probably recommending staying in one of the places further to the north just so you can get that full relaxed feeling.

The highlight of our time in Bocas del Toro was the boat trip to the Zapatilla Islands – you can arrange with anyone in town or through the place you’re staying.  Its an all day trip where you’ll probably see some dolphins as you head from Bocas Town; stop in a series of places on Bastimentos Island to see some sloths and mangroves, grab lunch nearby (there were some super cool sharks that came right under the restaurant where we ate) and ultimately spending a few hours in the mini paradise of the Zapatilla Islands.  See here for my tips – A boat trip of the Zapatillas Islands.

The boat ride – as always, its worth pushing to try and get a smaller number of people on the boat, but to be fair we didn’t see any boats with more than 8 people on them.  Just to be warned – it can get a bit bumpy when on the boat.

Beautiful spot on Zapatilla Island – make sure you head to the far west of the island which has the most gorgeous white sand spit stretching out into the sea and also where two sets of waves meet – super fun to jump around in.

Accommodation – we stayed at Bluff Beach Retreat on the north east shoreline of the main island.  Super relaxed spot where you can see the hummingbirds, the sloths, nice restaurants nearby and right on the beach.  Would recommend.

Bike ride – if staying around Bluff Beach, hire some bikes and cycle up to the far north of the island.  Great fun to cycle through the jungle and you’ll often find yourself stopping to chill out in some of the secluded beaches.  Plus, there’s a beach bar towards the end of the beach which is a real Robinson Crusoe style piece of paradise.

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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