Panama Beaches

Although many people immediately associate Panama with either the Canal or the famous Van Halen “Panama” song, Panama is also home to many fabulous beach destinations. And, because Panama is only about 400 miles wide, it is easy to visit both the Caribbean and Pacific side beaches in the same trip. Still lagging behind Costa Rica and Mexico’s development of tourism and beach-side resorts, you can still find great deals, inexpensive hotels and hostels and cheap eats at many of these tropical beach destinations. However, the tourism industry in Panama is on the brink of major new developments and soon sleepy beach towns and islands will become host to mega resorts, higher prices and more gringo tourists.

Bocas del Toro

A group of small islands situated on the Caribbean close to the Costa Rica border, this beach destination has long been discovered by backpackers and is on its way to more major outside tourist development. Although slightly more expensive and touristy than the rest of Panama, the island is still home to a plethora cheap hostels and inexpensive hotels. Drawing mostly a younger crowd, many travel here to bask in the sun during the day and party at night. Just a short boat taxi ride away is Isla Bastimentos, where you will find Red Frog Beach and Wizard Beach. It is also definitely worth shelling out the extra bucks to take a boat out to the National Park located on Isla Zapatilla, where you will find a pristine white-sand beach, clear blue waters. The US$20 to get there and pay for the park fee are well worth the spectacular scenery and little slice of heaven. The beautiful scenery will bode well with you and sand and surf can rejuvenate you for the popular nighttime activities in Bocas. A great hostel in Bocas del Toro is Mondu Taitu, which for US$10/night you can get a dorm style bed (or for a few dollars more share a private room), will land you in backpackers paradise. Hammocks, free pancake breakfast, an international crowd and an in-house bar that becomes the hot-spot at night guarantee for a good time.

Santa Catalina

This rather remote surfer’s haven on the Pacific Coast will not disappoint. Still a sleepy fishing village (though much beach front property has recently been snatched up by foreign investors for development), Santa Catalina offers spectacular views of green, jungle covered bluffs dropping into the ocean, a huge black sand beach, and great breaks for surfers. For divers, a boat ride to the nearby Isla Coiba will take you to an amazing marine preserve and provide for an amazing dive where you can see dolphins, whale and bull sharks, coral and a plethora of tropical fish.

The San Blas Islands

This group of islands off the southern Atlantic coast of Panama is autonomously ruled by the native Kuna Yala indigenous group. Never conquered by the Spanish, the Kuna are a fiercely independent and proud people who have lived on the picture-perfect islands for centuries. With non-Kuna not allowed to own or invest in the limited real-estate here, the islands have remained relatively untouched by commercial development. Hotels like the Hotel San Blas offer simple, rustic accommodations, 3 meals a day and boat tours for about US$35. With no real road to the coast line here, you have to fly, but the journey is well worth it. The crystal clear turquoise waters, amazing coral and white sand, palm-fringed beaches are sure not to disappoint.