Bocas del Toro With Kids: A Hotel Over the Water and Sloths in the Trees

Bocas del Toro is a scatter of islands on the Caribbean side of Panama, an hour’s flight from the city, where the hotels stand on stilts over the water, the water taxis are the roads, and sloths hang in the trees over the beach. It is the family beach in Panama and it is nothing like a resort.

Isla Colon is the main island with the town and the airport. Bastimentos across the channel is the quiet one with the overwater lodges and the jungle. Stay on Bastimentos for the water and the sloths, or on Colon for the restaurants and the ease. Four nights.

Starfish Beach is the beach the kids talk about. A calm bay on the far side of Colon with orange starfish in knee deep water, reached by bus or boat. Look, do not touch, and the starfish stay. A beach restaurant with grilled fish and a hammock.

The boat days

A boat tour goes to Dolphin Bay for the bottlenose dolphins, Coral Cay for the snorkeling, Red Frog beach on Bastimentos for the tiny red frogs in the leaf litter and the surf, and the Zapatilla cays, two islands of white sand and palms in a marine park that look like the screensaver. Six hours, a lunch stop, and everyone asleep on the way back.

Kayaks and paddleboards from the lodge dock. A chocolate farm on the mainland with a cacao tour. A night walk for frogs. The Bocas town waterfront for ice cream and a walk on the boardwalk.

Rain is normal here in any month, in short bursts, and the water is warm all year. Rash guards, reef shoes and bug spray for the evenings. Then the flight back over the canal to the city.

Planning Panama with kids? Start with the full Panama family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.