What It's Like to Stay in Bocas Del Toro Overwater Bungalows -

I recently returned from staying in Bocas Del Toro Overwater Bungalows and I’ve got to be honest, when you think of staying in an overwater bungalow, Panama is not the first place that comes to mind! Located off the northeast coast of Panama, the province of Bocas del Toro is home to nine islands and numerous overwater bungalow accommodations. After my recent trip to Bocas del Toro overwater bungalows and thought I would share the experience, as well as some pros and cons, of staying in an overwater bungalow in Panama.

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While there are overwater bungalow hotel options in Bocas del Toro like Urraca Private Island and Punta Caracol Aqua Lodge, we opted to stay at an Airbnb overwater bungalow.

Getting to Bocas Del Toro Overwater Bungalows

From Panama City, we took a one-hour flight to Bocas. Note that flights to Bocas del Toro (BOC) depart from Albrook International Airport (PAC), not Panama City’s International Airport, Tocumen International Airport (PTY).

Alternatively, you can take a 10-hour bus ride from Panama City plus a 30-minute water taxi to get to Bocas, but I’d say we chose the better option. Our flights cost around $70 USD one-way, which included a checked bag. Both Albrook and Bocas airports are small, meaning you can get there about an hour before your flight with no issues.

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Once we arrived in Bocas, we took a taxi to the dock (around $2/person) and caught a 20-minute water taxi ride to our overwater bungalow. Water taxis on the island appear to be independently run and not regulated, so throughout the week, the price of the water taxi from Bocas to our Airbnb varied from $10/per person to $25/per person. I got the sense that if we had been staying at one of the overwater bungalow hotels, the water taxi pricing would have been more consistent, but a lot of the taxis didn’t quite know where our bungalow was located, hence the varied pricing.

Day in the Life at Bocas Del Toro Overwater Bungalows

Our overwater bungalow days got off to a relaxed start. Each day we had breakfast and coffee while enjoying the views and figuring out plans for the afternoon. Afternoons found us going to Bocas Town or excursions like Starfish Beach. We typically made it back to the bungalow before sunset, which we enjoyed from the porch, cocktails in hand, before calling it an early night before our power got shut down for the evening.

The interior of our bungalow was clean and reasonably well-appointed, but we spent all our waking hours out on the porch, which means I have absolutely zero photos of the interior.

Cons

I’m not sure if this was specific to our Airbnb or common throughout overwater bungalows in Bocas, but our water was shut off during the day. This wasn’t disclosed in the listing and we only found out when we checked in, so it was a bit frustrating to not have known this in advance.
Similarly, our electricity was turned off during the night. We knew going into the trip that the property had solar panels, but we didn’t find out until check-in that we wouldn’t have power overnight.
I touched on this a bit above but overwater bungalows don’t have addresses, so many of the water taxi drivers didn’t exactly know where ours was located (we would just tell them “it’s the yellow house in this bay”) so pricing varied widely, making water taxis a higher expense for the trip than we had anticipated.
Our Airbnb was 100% self-provisioning, which we found out a few weeks prior to the trip (but well after booking). We had to bring 100% of our own groceries, including drinking water. While this isn’t the end of the world, it’s definitely a bit of a hassle when you’re having to take water taxis to Bocas Town and then walk or get a cab to go a decent distance to a grocery store. And it’s not like it’s easy to just pop out to a restaurant. We were lazy and ended up eating lots of peanut butter and jelly because we didn’t want to deal with the hassle. We’d have gladly paid our host a fee plus the cost of groceries to provision for us had that option been available. Airbnb hosts take note!

Pros

While the cons list makes the location out to be a con thanks to the water taxi issues, location is one of the biggest pros of staying in an overwater bungalow. With 360-degree water views and the ability to jump off the dock into a great snorkeling spot or hop on a kayak and cruise along the coast, overwater bungalows are a water lover’s dream, whether they’re in French Polynesia or Panama.
The peace and quiet of staying in an overwater bungalow cannot be matched. At least, in our Bocas del Toro overwater bungalow. I’ve definitely, um, heard honeymooners, while staying in overwater bungalows in French Polynesia. But this bungalow was pretty peaceful and I feel like it would be the perfect place to write your novel (or work on some project that doesn’t require a super fast internet connection as the service could be spotty).
You can do as much—or as little—as you’d like. We took trips into town to explore and eat at local restaurants, we passed some time at a nearby floating bar, and we spent the afternoon at Starfish Beach, about a 20-minute water taxi ride from our overwater bungalow. One day while most of our group went to Bocas Town to explore, I stayed back at the bungalow in an effort to ward off an impending migraine (spoiler alert: it worked!). The day passed pleasantly as I napped, read, and took dips in the Caribbean Sea to cool off. Highly recommended!
Panama’s overwater bungalows are a heck of a lot closer to home than those in French Polynesia and the Maldives. Flying from Orlando, I spent about half a day in transit versus 30 or so hours en route to the Maldives.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for easily accessible overwater bungalows from the U.S., check out Bocas del Toro. Just look for a bungalow that comes provisioned to make your vacation a bit more relaxing!