Backpacking Panama

Panama wow! What a beautiful country. Lush and jungly, with turquoise waters, white sands, diverse wildlife, and even mountains. Surprisingly effortless to travel through too...must be those Caribbean vibes.

*Panama is great you should definitely visit. Read below for my guide, but in summary I recommend everything except for San Blas which is far too touristy.

Let me first say that I travelled in September, which is considered the rainy season. I highly recommend traveling in the low season - there are far fewer tourists, and it is easy to be spontaneous and to book things last minute. Most days were sunny. Especially on the Caribbean side where I spent most of my time. There were enough people to hang out with everywhere I went, except Panama City, which was pretty empty. I travelled solo for 10 days.

PANAMA CITY

I started my trip in Panama City, a city that protrudes out from the jungle. There are lots of modern skyscrapers, loads of tropical plants, and a picturesque older part of town called Casco Viejo, with pretty architecture and cool cafes. I went to Mahalo, and had very tasty shrimp in a salad. There are lots of nice looking places to get coffee too.

I stayed in a hostel outside of Casco Viejo in a cute neighborhood next to the business district. In fact, I stayed in a couple of hostels there, because I kept coming back to the city between trips. They are all next to each other, in cool, clean villas. I stayed at El Machico hostel, Loco Coco Loco, and next door was Bodhi hostel, which looked cool too, and had more people than the ones I stayed at. It's very easy and felt safe to take Uber around the city, so that's how I got to Casco Viejo, and to transportation hubs from my hostel.

The next morning I went to the local airport (not the international one) - Gelabert, and took a flight to Bocas del Toro with Air Panama. In the low season you can buy tickets the day before, albeit at a higher price. You can get to the airport 1 hour before, but be sure not to get stuck in traffic. I was able to check in my big backpack for free, and I recommend taking a window seat so you can see the view of the country. The flight takes 1 hour, and the Bocas del Toro airport is a few minutes walk from the main town.

BOCAS DEL TORO

I liked this place a lot. The main town on Isla Colon is what you would picture a Caribbean town to be like. Laid back, with fun cafes that serve up fresh juices, and Caribbean bowls with rice, chicken, fish, and plantains. There are locals who live there, so there still is an authentic feel, and most of the tourist infrastructure is low key hostels or small scale resorts that don't overwhelm the landscape.

The first day I had a nice lunch with a friend I met on the plane. Then we took a jeep taxi to Playa Bluff which is a very pretty beach with golden sand that looks just like the beaches in Hawaii. The waves are too big for swimming, but it's nice to chill there and order a juice. We had the beach to ourselves. Since I didn't see any traffic, and the were roads bumpy and non-existent, we asked the taxi driver to stick around and wait for us and he agreed. He ended up being super cool, surprising us by keeping an eye out for wildlife on the drive. Thanks to him we saw a sloth, and howler monkeys.

In the afternoon I took the last boat before dark to Isla Bastimientos to stay at Selina Red Frog. The boat ride was crazy - jumping on the waves at full speed. I got an amazing jungle hut, with air-conditioning and hot water. I enjoyed staying at Selina - it was very cozy and I met nice people. The disadvantage is that several people are working remote, so you might not find buddies to go on adventures with. If you sign up for a trip you will, but the only trip available where enough people signed up was Isla Zapatilla. It was a beautiful day trip, but I wished there were other trips for the other days. You can walk through a jungly path to two other beaches - Red Frog beach, and Polo Beach.

EL VALLE DE ANTON

If you can fit this place into your trip, go. It's really beautiful, relaxing, and has a great atmosphere. I stayed one night. but I wish I stayed longer. I took a minibus from Albrook bus station in Panama City to Anton. The bus leaves about every 30 min. Because I wasn't decisive in the morning, I left on the 12 pm bus, and got stuck in serious traffic. Part of it was because the road was closed. So a journey of 2.5 hrs took 5. Don't drink too much water, because there are no bathroom breaks - although when we were in standstill traffic I did beg the driver to stop and let me off on the side of the road.

I stayed in a really pretty hostel - Bodhi, which I highly recommend because it is full of people, includes breakfast, and is very clean. There is a pretty backyard with hammocks to relax in and meet people. I met a few people to go on a hike with in the morning. We hiked La India Dormida - the mountain that looks like a sleeping Indian. It's really pretty - you start in the jungle, pass by waterfalls, and end in grassy fields at the peak. You can walk to the trail from the hostel, and they ask for $3 at the entry. We left the hostel after a quick breakfast at around 7:30 am which I recommend because you'll have the place to yourself. Also the trail is not well marked, so try to download the trail map in an app. If you generally keep left on the trail it will help not to get lost. There are many more hikes in El Valle, and I wish I had more time to explore. There is also a fruit market on the main street, as well as a crafts market. The fruit was delicious.

SAN BLAS

At the end of my trip, I booked an overnight to San Blas. I booked San Blas Dreams on recommendation. It was well organized and I met really great people - which was the best part of the trip. Also the snorkeling was great, and I loved being able to jump in the perfect water and snorkel many times without feeling like I needed to go somewhere else. At night there was a huge thunderstorm, which was exciting too. But overall I wouldn't recommend a trip to San Blas. It was really nice to sleep in a hut on the beach, and have the beach to ourselves in the afternoon and the morning, but San Blas feels a bit too commercialized for me. The Kuna Yala tribe set up huts for tourists on tiny sections of already tiny islands - and you are restricted to walking around only in these zones. Also the islands are too built up with all these straw and wood huts - very far away from the pristine remote islands I imagined.

HOW MUCH TIME IN PANAMA?

I spent 10 days, which was perfect. Though I would have liked an extra day in El Valle, which I could have snuck in if I left Bocas early in the morning, or a day earlier. Also I didn't have time to go to the Pacific side, which I heard is full wildlife.

USEFUL INFO:

Panama uses the US Dollar, which makes things easy.