boquete, pa
Boquete was one of my favorite places in Panama. It's unique to a lot of the rest of the country, specifically in climate. A clear respite from the heat that plagues much of the coastline and low-lying countryside of the country. Sitting at about 1,200 meters or 3,900 feet above sea level, it's high enough where the temperature all day is very fresh and comfortable and it even gets chilly enough to throw on a light jacket in the evening. Something, that at least for me, was amazing after months of sweating through the sheets. Other than simply having great weather, Boquete is stunningly beautiful. Located high up in lush mountains, surrounded by lots of waterfalls, forests, jungles, amazing hikes and coffee. Coffee. More on that. It's probably what Boquete is most known for. Its coffee. It is the heart of Panama's coffee-producing region, and also is where the world's most expensive coffee is produced. It's called 'Geisha', and in 2023 it sold for over $6,000 USD per pound. An almost unconscionable number. Boquete's coffee farms' unique location on the side of a volcano, at the specific altitude that they are, allows for this specific coffee to score higher than anything else in the world. My partner and I actually made a documentary about the entire process, the coffee, and most importantly the Indigenous group that is responsible for the picking. If you want to learn more about it, more information about the documentary can be found at lasmanosdeobra.com. The town of Boquete itself isn't very big, it's almost a perfect size to explore for a few days. There are great restaurants, a handful of breweries, coffee shops all over the place, a few bars, plenty of places to sleep up and down the quality and price spectrum, some hostels, and much more. It's a must-hit destination in the country if you ask me. — Also an amazing place to go up to and just relax. There's a very slow pace of life up here, and one of my favorite things to do here was just sit outside, look up at the mountains, and wind down. A really peaceful and relaxing place that also has so much to do from an exploring nature perspective. A few days at a minimum here should be on everyone's itinerary.
Getting to Boquete is pretty simple. Nothing crazy, and it's a frequently visited place so you shouldn't have any problem at all. The first thing to know is that Boquete is about an hour outside of the large Panamanian town David. So this is a good landmark. David is huge, has an international airport, and if you feel like flying from wherever you are to get closer to Boquete, you can. However, I wouldn't personally recommend it as the price of doing that is pretty cost-ridiculous compared to the buses and shuttle that will get you here from almost anywhere you are in the country.
One important thing to note is that there are two Boquetes, Alto Boquete and Boquete. You are going to want to go to normal Boquete.
Chances are that Boquete isn't your first stop in the country. So you will either be coming from Bocas Del Toro, or Panama City.
By SHUTTLE
- From Bocas Del Toro - Certainly the simplest way to get to Boquete from Bocas is to take the shuttle. It's a Caribe Shuttle, and you can book it here. It's $30, leaves every day, and takes about 4 hours. The $30 includes the boat taxi fee to get from Bocas to the mainland. The price isn't ridiculous, and you will save about 3 hours at least as compared to the public transportation. I would say this is the best way to get there over confusing public transportation if you are new to Panama.
- From Panama City - There's no shuttle service from Panama City.
By BUS
- From Bocas Del Toro - The cheaper (not by much) way to get Boquete. You will first need to get a speedboat over to Almirante ($6). From there you have to walk to the bus stop here and catch a little collectivo to David. There is no direct bus to Boquete. This will cost around $10 or so, and take about 4 or 5 hours. Once at the bus terminal in David, you will need to catch a collectivo up to Boquete. The bus from Almirante should drop you off at the terminal de Autobuses in David, but if not you need to get there. From there you can catch a collectivo or chicken bus up to Boquete. It will cost around $2, and take an hour. It will drop you here in Boquete. Boquete is small, so walking to wherever you are staying is easy. So all in, with public transport this is going to take you about 7 hours, and cost about $18. In my opinion, the shuttle is so much easier that the price is justified.
- From Panama City - There is no shuttle, so the only way to get here is by bus. You first need to get a bus from Panama City to David. You can pick it up here. It's going to cost around $18, and take 8 hours. The bus should drop you off at the terminal de Autobus in David, but if not you need to get there. From there you can catch a collectivo or chicken bus up to Boquete. It will cost around $2, and take an hour. It will drop you here in Boquete. Boquete is small, so walking to wherever you are staying is easy. So all in, with public transport from Panama City this is going to take you about 9 hours, and cost about $20.
DRIVING
- For all my overlanders out there, driving is the easiest way. Assuming you are coming from Bocas, it's going to be a long, windy, but beautiful road through the mountains of Panama. Take your time, look out the window, — it's gorgeous. From Almirante it should take you about 3-and-a-half hours. Don't go through David, take a turn here at Gualaca instead and go straight up to Boquete. The drive will take about 3-and-a-half hours. The ride up to Boquete will be steep, and the mountains steep and windy as well. So if you have brake problems, just be aware of that. You take the 10 all the way from Almirante before turning onto the 41, which is what goes up to Boquete from David.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
Lots of options to stay here in Boquete. You have hostels here that will appease all the backpackers and budget travelers, but Boquete also has a really cute little boutique hotel scene if you are looking for something a little fancier.... and maybe even slightly romantic. It is a romantic spot up here, so it wouldn't be the worst idea to come up here with a partner and go over your budget a bit for a few days.
But there are so, so, so many options for housing up here. It's endless. I will just add a few.
In addition to the hostels and boutique hotels, there are little kind of 'bed-and-breakfast-y' places all over the place where you can get cheap private rooms for a few nights. The weather is great, so you don't have the heat concern you might in a lot of these little hotels if you are closer to the beach.
This is where I stayed my entire time here in Boquete. It was a super-lovely, super-relaxed place, with a beautiful courtyard. There's sounds of birds in the courtyard all afternoon, and lovely views. It's not going to be a very social place, but if you are up here already traveling with people, it's a great option. They have an awesome kitchen and comfortable, basic and cheap rooms.
A hostel right in the middle of town. It's going to be about $18, and will be pretty basic. It won't be overly social, — nothing in Boquete is, but it's really well-located, and they have a nice common area to hang out in.
Another really basic and good option. I stayed here a few nights. It's really just a place to rest your head, but the rooms are nice and cheap, and the place is well located. — Also won't be very social.
There is a Selina here, but if you have read any of this you know what I think about those.
EATS
The food up in Boquete is really excellent. It comes from all over the world and it's probably some of the best food that I had in Panama. There's a lot of expats living here, and they have started a lot of restaurants where you can get really great international cuisine.
I would say though, I don't think that I really found all that much local or Panamanian food up here. But the international — I guess as they would call it 'gringo food', is delicious up here.
Restaurants
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Probably my favorite place to eat in Boquete. Went here all the time for breakfast or lunch. Great sandwiches, breakfasts, salads. I would recommend the breakfast burrito. The atmosphere is also great, with nice outdoor seating.
Nice place for lunch with good sandwiches. Really easy spot for lunch.
If you like Asian food or bao buns, this place is a pretty good option. It's served out of a food truck in a parking lot with a few other restaurants as well, but they have good options for seating and such.
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Next to both Torito Willys and Urban Fuxion. They have burgers and pizza.
Great Mexican food here. It's right next to Urban Fuxion. Good seating area, and also some nice margaritas and such.
If you like Italian food and want to go out for a nice dinner, this was one of my favorite places to do it. It's not going to be cheap, but the atmosphere is nice, and the farm-to-table food is delicious.
If you like Mediterranean food or shawarma (I personally love it and love how it's available everywhere in Latin America), then this is a great place to try. Serving up delicious stuff.
Great food truck serving excellent sandwiches, in downtown Boquete.
A little bar and restaurant on the river that has pretty much American food. If you want something like that, then this is a good place to go.
NIGHTLIFE
Tons more...
Boquete is a food town. There's restaurants all over the place. Go get lost and explore. These are just a few of the places that I tried and liked.
Boquete is not a place that you are going to go to in search of a big nightlife scene. The town is early to rise and early to bed. But, for a town that's sleepy in the mountains, there are a handful of places that you can go out to at night to grab some drinks for a little while that is fun.
Below are a few spots where I enjoyed to go out and grab a beer after a day of hiking or coffee tasting, or just generally doing nothing.
Bars and Clubs
This was my favorite place to go to here to grab some beers. It's always pretty lively, and they usually have live music. There's food from food trucks and they have great, locally-brewed beer. Probably the number one spot for drinks in Boquete.
— Going to be full of gringos, as it's owned by one. But it's a nice little bar and restaurant on the river. On the weekends they'll have bands sometimes, and it's a fine place to go get some drinks.
Big bar on the other side of the river. It's located right along the river bank, and it's a really big spot with a fire-pit, pool tables, and some bar food as well. — Good place to go and get drinks around sunset, or throughout the night.
SIGHTS
There is loads and loads to do up in Boquete. Much more than I scratched the surface of for sure. The place is rich with hikes, and waterfalls, and lots of outdoor naturally beautiful stuff to do. I had covid for a few days while I was here, so I didn't really get to do as much of the hiking stuff as I really wanted to but if you have some serious time here, you can do some serious hiking as well. The waterfalls are everywhere, and amazing on top of that.
This is also coffee country, so make sure while you are up here you go on a coffee tour and try lots of different types of coffee while also making sure you learn about the industry and importantly how you can be smarter about knowing where it comes from. The industry is one of the most inequality-ridden ones on earth.
Go and take a coffee tour. First and foremost. Go and visit a farm, and learn about the process behind coffee and what they do up here to make it. It's one of the best things you can do here, and it also helps support the farms. I recommend going to 'Finca Dos Jefes' because they are a small and sustainable farm that places a key importance on equality for their workers. They are linked here. But also 'Finca Lerida' is one of the bigger ones if you want to go check out a massive coffee operation.
There's tons of hikes around Boquete, and lots of waterfalls as well. This is a really cool one, and it's not all that difficult either being only about 6.1 km, or 3.8 miles in and out. You also get to see a few waterfalls. The Alltrails is linked.
Not far from Boquete is the famous Volcan Baru. It's a hell of a hike. You leave in the middle of the night to catch sunrise, and then come back down. But from Volcan Baru are some of the best views you can find in the entire country of Panama. Well worth it. The Alltrails is linked. It's the tallest mountain in Panama, reaching about 3,500 meters in elevation.
There is a little market where locals and Indigenous people are selling art and handcrafts. I went over there one afternoon, and had a really nice time exploring what they had to offer over there. A great way to spend an afternoon in town.
There are hikes all over the place in Boquete. You have at least 10 options, and some are better than others. I didn't do too many of them here, but I have linked the Alltrails Boquete here where you can find a better overview of the hiking options up here. There's also a huge amount of waterfalls to explore in the area. I didn't really do many of them, but this guy here seems to have done most of them. So check out his post about the waterfalls and hikes in Panama. Image courtesy of him as well.
JUST CHILL
Boquete is great for one, because of just how chill and slow it is. You're up in the mountains, the weather is great, it's beautiful. Take some time to just relax. Take a day off, take a few naps, and just lay around and read a book. It's a great place for it.
There's tons of outdoorsy stuff to do in Boquete. Rent bikes, go rafting, find more waterfalls, etc. If you are really adventurous from an outdoorsy perspective, you can find a lot more to do here. I linked Boquete Outdoor Adventures, which will have a more in-depth description of the options.
SURFING
Non-existent.