Bocas del Toro
Bocas del Toro lies on Panama's Caribbean northwest coast near the Costa Rican border. The provincial capital and travel hub, Bocas Town, sits on Isla Colon, a Caribbean port town of wooden buildings on stilts over the water, with Calle 3 as the main strip holding the hotels, restaurants, dive shops and tour operators.
Movement: there are almost no roads between the islands. Isla Colon has paved roads into the interior, but Bastimentos, Carenero and the smaller islands are reached only by water, most commonly by panga water taxi, five to ten minutes and two to five dollars per person.
Currency, easily got wrong: Panama's legal tender is the balboa, but the balboa exists only as coins and no banknotes are printed, so what actually circulates is the US dollar. American cards work widely and ATMs dispense dollar bills directly.
Two attractions whose fame has outrun reality, which you should know in advance.
First, the starfish at Playa Estrella have declined sharply through uncontrolled mass tourism. Visitors ignore the written warnings and lift starfish out of the water onto the sand for photographs, and starfish breathe through their tube feet, so being out of water kills them. Recent reviews run both ways, from 'once plentiful, now countable on one hand' to still reporting good numbers, so lower your expectations.
Second, Playa Red Frog is named for the strawberry poison-dart frog, red-bodied and blue-legged, but recent reviews widely report the frogs are now hard to find, and 'we didn't spot any during our visit' is a common refrain. The beach kept its name while the frogs largely disappeared.
Never lift a starfish out of the water, and do not touch them in the water either.
What deserves priority instead is the Cayos Zapatillas, two uninhabited cays inside the Bastimentos Marine National Park and the best snorkelling in Bocas, at about 10 dollars entry for foreigners, with no bars or restaurants on the cays so you bring everything with you.
Season: annual rainfall is about 3,000 mm and locals call it nine months wet and three months dry. The relatively dry windows are February to April and September to October, and December to April brings the steadiest seas and best snorkelling at the highest prices and crowds, while the green season from May to November brings lusher jungle and better surf.
Cash: Bocas Town holds the archipelago's main ATMs and the smaller islands have none at all, so carry enough small bills.
Beach & Island
