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Heard the buzz about Bocas del Toro and wondering if it’s worth visiting? With its palm-lined beaches and Caribbean charm, it looks like a tropical paradise—but our recent experience told a different story.

We spent over a week exploring the town, hoping for vibrant snorkeling and tropical adventure, but instead found a rather gritty, underwhelming destination that didn’t quite deliver. After one very murky and disappointing snorkel attempt, we canceled all the rest of our bookings — that’s how fast we knew.

As seasoned travelers, we know that not every postcard-perfect place lives up to the hype. In this post, I’m sharing an honest look at what we found during our time in Bocas—both the beauty and the letdowns—so YOU can decide if it’s the right stop for you.

Map image showing the town of Bocas Town - a few streets, surrounded by water. The red pin shows where Bill and I stayed during our time there.

We stayed in the largest town on Isle Colon, called Bocas Town. Our 1BR rental condo (shown on the red pin above) was pretty nice. But the surrounding town can best be described as “gritty”.

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The Contrast in Photos

Throughout the week, we were struck by a strong disparity between the amazing beauty of the surrounding islands and wildlife, and the pretty rough and tumble town with it’s dusty sunbaked streets, rusting metal roofs and piles of garbage. This side-by-side photo gallery shows you that contrast:

A palm tree hangs diagonally over the water on the shoreline of an island.
Silver corrugated metal roof is half rusted and has a broken bookcase and other pieces of furniture thrown haphazardly on top of the roof.
orange-Brown starfish shimmers amongst the green seaweed on the ocean floor.
A building structure has holes between the wallboards - it appears on the verge of collapse.
Kari is in the ocean water with her colorful swimsuit - hands are clenched because the water was really cold at first!
A gray building has boards missing in it's walls, and lots of debris in the yard.
The ocean is visible in the distance between the palm trees
Silver and red metal roofs on buildings as far as the eye can see, with tons of electrical wires hanging from poles.
Bill waves at us while swimming in the Caribbean sea in the sunshine.
A road with houses in rough shape on both sides, and some trash in the yards.
Kari and Bill stand on the beautiful beach, surrounded by palm trees and sand.
An overgrown yard has a gravel pathway leading up to the building which is draped in an excessive amount of clothing items, hanging out to dry.
Bill in his red shirt and tan Tilly hat, points to the palm drink he just purchased on the beach for $1 to taste.
Another building is nearing collapse as the roof is missing and the walls have just enough boards to hold it together.
Waves gently lap the sand along the tree-lined coastline.
The wide, dusty streets of Bocas del Toro are full of construction vehicles, temporary fencing, and concrete blocks.
A two-toed sloth hangs in the trees, surrounded by branches and leaves
Click to watch the sloth climbing video

Bocas del Toro’s Reputation

Bocas Town has a reputation as kind of a hippie town, known for it’s for partying and snorkeling opportunities. Bill and I LOVE to snorkel, and had hoped to do lots of it here, but the first time we tried, the currents were super strong and the coral was drab and dying. Disappointing not to see hardly any fish at all. So we canceled all of our remaining bookings.

On the partying front, they have an excursion called “Filthy Friday”. You pay a fee and are transported by boat from island bar to island bar for 8 hours. It kinda reminds me of Spring Break on Miami Beach or Fort Myers, FL.

Other than that, we found the “Partying” reputation to be pretty null and void. We wandered around the streets on several Friday and Saturday nights, and we found them pretty quiet and tame. Some of the restaurants were busy with people, many restaurants were almost empty, but there were very few people on the streets themselves. Or maybe we old folks just turned in too early? 😉

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What else is there to see in Bocas?

Not ALL of Bocas del Toro is gritty. Here’s a sampling of other, more colorful images I captured during our weeks of wandering the town there.

A green food truck in Bocas del Toro Panama has several stools in front of the window.
Street art along the wall in Bocas del Toro Panama features green plants, a couple of colorful Toucan birds and a blue Kingfisher bird.
Patrons sit outside a restaurant in Bocas del Toro Panama that is bathed in green lights.
The wooden Hotel Bocas Del Toro is lit up in the evening with patrons gathered at the bar and a bicycle parked along the curb.
A brightly lit restaurant in Bocas del Toro Panama is waiting for their first customers to arrive.
A bright-red boat bobs in the blue water, waiting for passengers who want to go island hopping around Bocas del Toro Panama.
Street art in Bocas del Toro of a windy scene of a man with white hair and two dark haired beauties standing chest deep in the purple water.
A blue food truck with pink and red flowers says "Welcome to JJ's in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
Boats wait along the docks for passengers to want to go for a ride.
Inside of JJ's restaurant in Bocas del Toro features open air seating and wooden picnic tables.

What Might Have Made Our Experience Better?

Two sets of friends from our traveling group also stayed in Bocas recently and they LOVED it! They both had accommodations right on the edge of the water with great views (instead of the dusty center of town). If Frugal wasn’t my middle name, maybe we should have looked for something like that?

We were told that a car was not necessary in Bocas del Toro so I assumed that if we stayed right in town, we’d have access to restaurants and grocery stores. If we had a car, we could have explored further up Isle Colon and probably found some more nature- based activities that we love up there.

One set of friends also hired a private boat to take them snorkeling and they had a fantastic experience. Clear water, colorful coral reef, tons of fish. Exactly what we’d been looking for.

Is Bocas del Toro Worth Visiting?

Lots of expats have chosen to settle in Bocas del Toro. We met several travelers who were visiting for a month to check it out for future living opportunities. But even after a few days, we knew it wasn’t the right place for us to potentially settle down long term.

Without the great snorkeling we had hoped for, there just wasn’t much else for us to do there. I tried to hire some guides to take us bird-watching, but they were all booked up.

So we checked the box to say we’d been there, and we eagerly waited to leave.

More Info on Panama

Here are some more posts about Panama (there were plenty of areas we loved more than Bocas!), including some that I’m still working on. If you’d like to receive emails when I’ve posted new content to the site, please complete the form above.

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