PANAMA CARIBBEAN SIDE : 3 DAYS ITINERARY

 3 DAYS ON THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF PANAMA

We advise you to have a car to go there, as public transport is not well-served. Colón is a city with a bad reputation, so not many tourists go to this side of Panama. But just next to it, you have the Costa Arriba with history, beautiful beaches, turquoise water, mangroves, and gorgeous islands. This zone is developing to receive more tourists, but right now, there aren't that many hotels and restaurants, so not that many tourists.

Day 1: Portobello - Playa Linda - Playa Puerto Francés

We left early morning from Panama City, and after a 2-hour drive, we arrived at Portobelo at 9 am. Just before the town, you can stop and walk around the ruins of Fuerte de Santiago. Then, we went to the main square, where we visited the little museum to discover the Afro-Caribbean culture. At 10 am, we went to the port of Portobelo and asked to go to Playa Blanca and Playa Puerto Francés. We paid around $30 per person. We arrived at Playa Blanca, enjoyed the beach, and had lunch there. It was quite empty in the morning, but later on, more people arrived. We asked our boat to pick us up around 1:30 pm to go to the next beach: Playa Puerto Francés. It was quiet, and we did a bit of snorkeling on the left side. We saw some fish – nothing crazy, but it was nice. We stayed for 2 hours and went back to the port of Portobelo. We drove north towards Puerto Lindo to have a beer and some food. The kitchen closes very early, so don’t arrive too late. Then, we drove to our hotel, Ber Mar, which had a super view of the bay. We relaxed and booked a tour for the next morning.

Day 2: Isla Mamey - Isla Grande

After breakfast, our boat picked us up at the hotel, and we went to the mangrove, where we stopped for a swim. Then, we went to Isla Mamey. You need to pay for the entrance. Usually, people bring a cooler, but we were planning to eat on another island. So, we stayed a bit and then went to Isla Grande. This island has a lot of restaurants and hotels. We walked around the town in the direction of the Faro (lighthouse), but it was too hot, so we didn’t walk all the way there. We had lunch and stayed for part of the afternoon at Candy Rose Restaurant. It had comfortable seats, nice food, and good music. You can also swim just in front. We walked back to the beach, had a last swim while waiting for the boat, and went back to our hotel. I think this tour cost us $30 per person because we shared it with another group from the hotel. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the sunset. They can also prepare dinner; we just needed to book it in the morning, so we decided to eat there and relax for our last night on the Caribbean side.

Day 3: Cacique

After breakfast, we took the car to Cacique. We parked in the town and headed towards Playa Larga. It was really quiet; we stayed a bit and enjoyed the peacefulness. Around there, you have really nice hotels. Some have kayaks that you can use. You can also book a tour with them in the national park if you want to see more jungle. We didn’t visit the park as we had to go back to the city.