Panama Travel Guide

The trip was very good. We loved Panama City and the excursions we took there. Our disappointment concerns Bocas del Toro and what we were led to believe there. The beach conditions on all of Isla Bastimentos were not favorable for swimming or snorkeling. The seas were too rough, although that was not communicated to us.

This is probably more of a review and a reflection on Panama as a destination rather than the travel agent. We had high expectations for this trip to Panama based on what transpired with our Peru trip which was booked through Zicasso. However, there seemed to be a big difference with Panama where the country does not seem to be set up for luxury travel. The hotels where we stayed in Panama City, Boquete and Bocas Del Toro were all rated highly in TripAdvisor but they were quite disappointing in terms of amenities and service. Especially, Bocas Del Toro which seemed to be a haven for backpackers and as a result it was hard to find a decent place to eat dinner. 

My disappointment with the hotels was quite real. Especially in Boquete where Palma Royale was clearly the best place in town and yet it felt like a 3-star place. I wish you had guided me away from Boquete given that good hotels are not there. 

Zicasso's travel partner planned a wonderful two-week trip to Costa Rica and Panama for my wife and me. All the hotels, food, transportation, and activities were first-rate. We loved the rain and cloud forests in Costa Rica, the Old Town in Panama City, and the amazing resort off the Caribbean coast of Panama.

Costa Rica is a nature lover’s paradise, where we saw beautiful waterfalls, the Arenal volcano, and a wide variety of wildlife, from crocodiles and sloths to monkeys and toucans. At the resort, we kayaked, snorkeled, paddle boarded, and swam to burn off calories from all the delicious food and drink you can order any time of the day or night.

Our travel agent also did a great job of rescheduling one of our flights after it was canceled due to an aircraft accident over Oregon. He was always reachable by phone or text during our trip to answer any questions we had.

Zicasso’s travel agent was very competent and patient with us about our needs and wants, and was very accommodating regarding changes to the trip. Panama is a beautiful country, with great people and amazing animal diversity. We saw lots of birds and monkeys. And the beaches we visited were the most inviting ever!!

The tour planner planned a terrific trip for our family to Panama with a lot of variety and just the right amount of travel (so we weren't always packing our bags to get to the next place.) . Our family had a wonderful time. 

We did however run into three snafus in-country, which the tour planner handled well, but they definitely impacted our trip and added unnecessary stress to our travel which I expect not to have to deal with directly when working with a high quality travel agent such as the tour planner.  The first one occurred on Christmas Eve when our hired driver took us from our hotel to the wrong airport in Panama City, causing us to miss our flight to our next destination to Bocas del Toro.  To our tour planner's credit, her staff and she directly was quickly available to us on that morning to fix the issue -- a mistake that the driver, not the tour planner's planning, made -- and she did fix it in the most professional way possible and as quickly as possible.  However, it did require us to fly to a different city, take a four hour car ride (with a great driver) and then get in a small boat in some pretty choppy water for an hour and a half to reach our Caribbean destination half a day later than planned.  Again, she worked miracles to pull this solution together for us on Christmas Eve and we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner at our resort as a result but the mistake did happen and did have an impact.

The other two issues were head scratchers.   I don't know if they were caused by booking issues or bumps in the road that are natural to expect in a developing country.  Our canopy tour reservation could not be found in the system, nor our two night stay in our final lodging.  We had prepaid for all of it and had vouchers for it, which the tour operator and the hotel honored after some phone calls, but it did cause some stress for us and in the case of the hotel, caused us to work with the hotel management for about two hours to sort out.  Kids were hanging out in the lobby after a long days travel instead of swimming in the pool or going to see the wildlife that afternoon and it killed the rest of the day.  

But in the end, I have to say it was a wonderful trip.  In particular, the high quality drivers we had (other than our unfortunate trip to the wrong airport) and the pacing of the trip.  We loved the Panama City hotel , and the Caribbean resort (though we should have brought earplugs because the loud waves on the rocks made it hard to sleep ...no joke... ) especially.  We didn't care for the Boquete resort (but I think I had asked her to book that place on recommendation of a friend) -- it was cold and not high quality enough for us -- though we loved their zip lining and canopy tours booked there.  And our tour planner did a great job standing behind her services in-country, despite the issues described above.