My girlfriend and I need a place to stay in the Bocas Del Toro area for a couple weeks. We would like to be very near the ocean and Internet access in the unit or nearby is important. Even just a phone line should work. I need to be able to walk to good, uncrowded surf.
Does anyone have a recommendation?
Hi, my boyfriend and i stayed in boccas over xmas 2006. We stayed in one place owned by an american guy called Casa Amarilla for$20/night. It was $25/night but got it cheaper because we stayed for almost 2 weeks. Its rooms have private bathroom, hot shower, cable tv, fridge, air cond and safe.About 5 - 10 min walk from the main street. The other place we stayed at which we liked more is a place called "hospedaje maritza" (named after the local lady that owned it). This place is a bit closer to the center of town. A couple of minutes to the main street. It is opposite to the Barco nightclub, which can get a bit noisy at night. It is almost like a hotel. There is a locked gate to get in, prob about 15 rooms. All have their own bathroom, air con, cable tv, fridge. We had a room with a kitchen for$300 for a month! $10 a day for 2 people is pretty good!!
All of boccas is pretty close to the ocean. There isnt really any beaches on the main island. You have to catch a water taxi to the other small islands to sit on a nice beach. It cost 50 cents to get to the closest island (about 1 minute by boat). As for the surf there is a couple of breaks tha will take maybe 1 hr to walk to on the main island usulally walking through mud (playa paunch and bluff) but other breaks you have to pay for a boat to take you and pick you up. This can become expensive.
There is internet available in many places.
Feel free to ask me any more questions. We were there for 6 weeks.
6 weeks? Nice!
No beaches on the main island? Did you make it to Bluff Beach on the main island? From what I've seen that looks like a big nice beach but I could be wrong.
If you can find a map you might be able to see that the main part of town is not very big. All the resteraunts/hotels are on/over the waters edge. They all have a deck that goes over the water. The closest beach that you could walk to is about 20-30 mins out of the town, have to walk along the bitumen road past the hospital and cemetery until you get to the beach. I think it is called Playa el istmito (also called Playa la cabana). But i didnt think it was a very nice beach, black sand and dirty water. You have to walk futher past this beach to get to the surf spots. You follow the bitumen road, then you hit a dirt road. keep following it until you reach the beaches. They are sign posted. The only thing is that if there has been heavy rain the dirt roads are real muddy. Sometimes you can pay someone to drive you there or hire a bike, but they cant get down there if the road is bad. I didnt walk all the way to bluff beach but my boyfriend saw it and said it was nice. If you wanna lay on a nice beach its probably easier to catch a water taxi to the next island (i think its name was Carenero). My boyfriend also found it easier to make some friends with other surfers and share the cost of a boat trip to the surf spots.
We're actually going to stay in a place on Bluff Beach so we should be right next to good surf and good beaches. We will be far from town, but we aren't interested in nightlife. There is a restaurant and bar at Paunch so that will come in handy. I'm sure we'll make it to town once in a while to go to the store, try other restaurants, and have a look around.
Was your trip good overall?
Yeah it was nice and relaxing. Not much to do after 6 weeks. But thats the whole point of having holidays! Some of the places we saw when walking towards the bluff looked really really nice, so im sure you will be ok. In my last msg i wrote how the bitumen road turns in to mud. Well the road actually runs around to the left and the mud road is the short cut to the beaches. We didnt actually go all the way along the bitumen road so maybe that takes you a back way to the bluff beach?? We were planning on getting bikes and having a look.
Ok i hope that all makes sence. Have a fun time in Boccas