The Bocas del Toro Archipelago sits close to the border with Costa Rica, a scatter of islands and islets off Panama's Caribbean coast that have become one of the country's most visited destinations. The appeal is simple: luminous turquoise water, coral reefs thick with fish and turtles, and a laid-back Caribbean rhythm that is unlike anything in Panama City or the Pacific coast.
The base for most visitors is Bocas Town on Isla Colón, a colourful grid of wooden houses on stilts, restaurants, and dive shops connected to the world by a small airstrip and a water taxi dock. From here, water taxis spread out to the other islands. Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos is the archipelago's most celebrated beach — a long strand of dark sand backed by jungle where the Strawberry poison dart frog, vivid red with blue-black legs, lives in the undergrowth. The Parque Nacional Marino Isla Bastimentos, Panama's oldest marine park, covers southern Bastimentos and protects nesting beaches for all four Caribbean sea turtle species. Starfish Beach on the western side of Isla Colón offers calm, shallow water carpeted with enormous orange starfish.
Underwater, Hospital Point is the standout site — a coral reef off the southern tip of Isla Colón where eagle rays, nurse sharks, and large turtles are routine sightings. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Station on Isla Colón offers occasional public programmes and a pier excellent for night snorkelling. Inland, La Gruta Cave in the centre of the island is worth a wet walk-through to see the bat colonies overhead.
The Caribbean architecture, the local cuisine blending indigenous, Afro-Caribbean, and Panamanian influences, and the unpretentious bar scene of Bocas Town make the islands a place people tend to extend their stays in.