Bocas Del Toro Archipelago

Bocas Del Toro is a series of 300 spectacular, tropical islands in northern Panama (very close to Costa Rica’s southern border), along the Caribbean coast. You can only get there by boat or plane, and once there, water taxi is the most common form of transportation. Isla Colon has roads while the rest do not — hence you need a boat to navigate these islands.

I flew in from Panama City but next time I will take a shuttle from San Jose, Costa Rica. Bocas Town is the main town is on the main island, Colon, the epitome of small, sleepy, beach town and definitely worth a visit! The common approach for a visitor is to stay in town and then take day tours by water-taxis to the other islands. Less than 20 islands are inhabited but Isla Colon, Isla Bastimentos and Isla Carenero all have great accommodations.

When Christopher Columbus visited Bocas del Toro in 1502 during his 4th and final New World voyage, he was so taken by the beauty of the area that he affixed his name to many sites, including Isla Colón (Columbus Island), Isla Cristóbal (Christopher Island) and Bahía de Almirante (Admiral’s Bay). And, he named it after the sound he heard on one of the islands that reminded him of the roar coming from a “mouth of a bull”.

I spent 4 nights in Bocas Town at Hotel El Limbo that I booked thru Airbnb ($18/night) . There are lots of accommodation options including some very nice resorts like Red Frogs on Bastimentos Island. No matter what island you rest your head, you take water taxis everywhere. Colon island is the only one with roads — I rented an e-bike one day and an ATV another day to explore the island — it also has numerous local buses and taxis.

Bocas Town has the charm and pace that beach towns in Belize wish they had and a smaller price tag to boot. It’s like a Central American version of Key West from 50 years ago and it makes the perfect base for exploring the Bocas del Toro Archipelago.