Bocas del Toro is a group of islands off the coast of northeastern Panama, just a few miles from the border of Costa Rica. The region is best known for its party scene and beautiful beaches, and is a popular spot for backpackers from all over the world.
5 THINGS TO DO IN BOCOS DEL TORO
1. Take a Tour of the Surrounding Islands
While Isla Colón (the main island), does not have the most picturesque coastline (it’s mostly covered by shops and restaurants), Bocas del Toros’ less inhabited islands boast some of the country’s most beautiful beaches. In order to visit them, you’ll need to either pay for a tour or rent a boat and driver for the day, but they were the highlight of our trip to the region, so we highly recommend paying them a visit.
To read about our adventure to Zapatilla, click here!
2. Eat (and Drink) in Bocastown
One of the first things that caught our eye as we walked through Bocastown was the cheap price of booze. Most domestic beers will only set you back $1 at the bar, and are cheaper than water at grocery stores, so you will never go thirsty! Inexpensive, good food is a little harder to come by, with most restaurants offering entrees for $7USD or more. However, on our last day we were able to find a place where we got a massive portion of chicken, rice and lentils for $4/plate. Our advice – hunt around for the deals and look for where the locals are eating.
3. Visit the Plastic Bottle Village
We stumbled across this place as part of a failed biking attempt, but essentially it’s a massive sculpture made entirely of plastic collected from the island. There are quotes everywhere asking “If the fish are eating plastic, shouldn’t we too?” Definitely a great way of raising awareness about pollution on the island, and worth a quick visit.
4. Starfish Beach
Starfish beach is located on the northwest corner of the island, and as the name would suggest – it is home to many many starfish! To get there, you can either rent a bike from Bocas Town and bike the ~6 miles to the beach (this road is very hilly so make sure your legs are prepared!), or you can take the public “Bocas del Drago” bus that runs from the main park in the center of Bocas Town. This bus runs from Bocas Town every even hour from 6 am to 6 pm, and comes back from Bocas del Drago every odd hour. The round trip cost on the bus is $5 USD and it takes about 40 minutes to get there.
5. Bocas Filthy Fridays
It’s impossible to walk around Bocas without seeing an ad or a t – shirt for “Bocas Filthy Fridays”. The tagline says it all: “3 tropical islands. 1 crazy party in paradise!” Basically, every Friday Bocas hosts an event that includes a day of island hopping and unlimited booze, for the low price of $35 per person. Full disclosure – we’re old and boring so we did not attend (but 21 year old me would’ve been the first one on that boat)!
WHERE TO STAY
This one is pretty easy. If you want to party, stay in Bocas Town, Isla Colón. In particular, the Hostel Selina looked like it had a pretty lit party scene, with music every night and a stellar deck where you could buy $1 beers throughout the day, or even purchase entire bottles of tequila or whiskey for you and your crew. Dorm beds start at $20.
If you’re looking for a more chill (slightly cheaper) experience, our hostel, Camping y la Griega offered all of the essentials (lighting fast WiFi, relatively clean bathrooms, basic kitchen), for the reasonable price of $25/night for a private room. However, it was slightly annoying to have to walk two and a half miles to get to town, or a mile when we wanted to refill our drinking water.
If you have no strict budget and you want a more nature-filled experience, stay on Isle Bastimientos. It’s much chiller and cleaner than Isle Colon, but you’ll have to take (and pay for) a water taxi every time you want to go into town. For a great luxury option, check out Azul Paradise – they offer over water bungalows (at a fraction of the price of other places like the Maldives!)
COMPLETE COST BREAKDOWN
For the 5 days we were in Bocas del Toro, we spent $359.45 USD which averages out to $35.95/person/day.
Accommodation: $126.00 for a hostel on Isle Colon.
Activities: $115.00 for our boat trip and bike rentals
Food: $75.50 for two meals out, groceries, and lots of snacks
Transportation: $20.00 for our shuttle to Boquete
Misc: $21.95 for everything else, including bug spray and lotion
In all honesty, we were not super impressed with Bocas del Toro. We agreed that while it did offer some amazingly beautiful natural sights and would probably be a blast if you wanted to party, everything but the beer was just a bit too expensive for what you were getting. Overall, I would say it’s somewhere worth seeing, but 3 or 4 days is more than enough time to enjoy the islands.