Palmar Beach Lodge

Near perfect!! By far, it's one of the best resorts I've stayed! Friendly staff, quality comfortable beds, quiet, secluded getaway, great food, and beautiful beach! Solo travelers, any traveler, follow instructions and try arriving before nightfall. I got lost in the jungle -- fault of my own, not following directions. Thank God I saw "a light." It's a reason and extremely important to do as the check-in process suggests -- call and inform the resort of your ETA and they will meet you at the dock to escort you if necessary. If I make it sound complicated, it's NOT!! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this accommodation and will visit again AND follow the instructions. Thanks to Pablo the manager, and all other staff for calming me and making my stay a wonderful experience.

We are just wrapping up eight wonderful days at the lovely Palmar Resort celebrating our wedding anniversary. The grounds are lush and lovely, and very well kept. It is about a 10-15 minute walk from the Red Frog Beach shortcut boat dock to the resort. The pathway is primarily sand, which may not be the best for rolling luggage, but if you call ahead, you can have someone assist you by taking your luggage in a wheelbarrow. When you reach the resort itself, you will be greeted with a view of the absolutely magnificent, white sand beach. Check-in is a breeze; the staff at Palmar is exceedingly accommodating and friendly. We stayed in Capuchin, a second story villa. It is private and quiet. The room was well equipped for our week’s stay, with a comfortable bed and hot water with good pressure in the shower. Housekeeping services were provided daily with good quality linens and bath towels. While you can take a water taxi (US$8 one way) to Bocas town for dining, know that the resort restaurant is very good, with a varied menu accommodating carnivore, vegan, and vegetarian diets. The staff is very helpful setting up tours and excursions. We particularly liked the day trip to Isla Escudo de Veraguas, and the two hour night time bioluminescence tour. At the beach, there are plenty of lounge chairs and nightly activities. The bar area has board games. We would come back to Palmar in a heartbeat.

My family and I had a lovely 4 day stay at the Lodge. We stayed in one of the bungalows. The bungalow had two queen sized beds and a small bathroom with a shower. The shower had a large window looking out into the jungle and each evening a red frog and lizard appeared on the window! The room was large enough to accommodate us and very comfortable. We spent most of our time at red frog beach or on excursions. The room was cleaned daily and fresh towels were always provided. This was critical since no matter how much you tried to keep the sand out of the room it became a near impossible task. The various accommodations at the lodge are within the jungle environs surrounding the beach. It was lovely to go to sleep and wake to the sound of nature each morning. The restaurant at the lodge was consistent and produced excellent meals although the menu was small and remained consistent. If I had one suggestion it would be to add a daily special to the dinner menu in order to provide a bit of variety since there are not many options to obtain a meal elsewhere. The staff at the hotel were always friendly and accommodating. They assisted with water taxis into Bocas town and various tour options. I am so happy that we chose Palmar Lodge versus a stay in town. The seclusion and calm of the island really helped us detox from the day to day and truly get away. I would recommend Palmar Lodge to anyone seeking some time away.

Very good vibes. Best food we've had in Panama since we came here. The fact that our room had AC and a mini fridge was fantastic. Best beach ever !!!! I really recommend this place . It's worth it !! The only thing that was tricky is finding a boat if you want to go to bocas.

Had a very disappointing stay at Palmar Beach Lodge. Red Frog Beach was not as lovely as people seemed to say it was. The ocean here is not meant for swimming and was incredibly full of seaweed. Not the relaxing location I was hoping for. I booked Palmar Beach Lodge as a splurge for myself during a recent first time trip to Panama. It was by far the most expensive lodging (at least double to even four times the amount of other lodging I booked) of my entire trip and I was very excited to head there for some relaxation. I did my research and understood I’d have to walk in a ways from the water taxi drop off point. I figured this meant it would be even more peaceful and relaxing, which was right up my alley. After coming from Boquete on a shuttle, I paid for a water taxi to Palmar Beach Lodge. This cost a bit more than I was anticipating, as there was no one else headed to the location. I was still feeling excited. After the drop off at the dock on Isla Bastimentos, I began heading inland on the trail. At one point, the trail turned but was not well marked, so I had to backtrack and find where I was supposed to go. I was insanely hot carrying my heavy backpack and another smaller backpack, and more than ready to relax and cool off. As I walked along the path, I walked past an area of construction, where several tall building were in the process of being built. I thought to myself, well, that would suck to pay for a quiet vacation and end up next to that! I finally made it to the reception area and was greeted by lovely employees who then showed me to my room. I booked a room with A/C, as a I prefer to sleep in the coolness and dislike constantly sweating lol. It was very much a big splurge for me, as it cost so much more than anything else I booked on this trip. Imagine my shock and dismay when the employee led me down the sandy path to my room. It was literally right next to all the construction going on. I’m sweating buckets and now listening to all sorts of hammering and saws and whatnot. The room itself was nice. It seemed clean and organized, although the “spacious closet” that was advertised was not even a real closet, just a small section with a rod and a few shelves. Regardless, it had A/C and I attempted to cool off, both literally and figuratively. The lock on my only door, a patio door, was bizarre and took some finagling in order to get it to lock and unlock, which you had to do with a key from both sides. This made me feel slightly unsafe as a solo female traveler. It seemed like it wouldn’t take much to break the lock and enter the room. The construction noise continued, and I decided that the amount I paid for this room was not worth this complete lack of peace and quiet. I went back to reception and asked for a refund due to the construction. I was handed off to a male employee who was pleasant but told me they would not do a refund and the best he could offer me was possibly a free meal. This never happened. I headed down to

Visited for 6 days. Stayed in a more premium room. Spacious, with kitchen, AC, double bed, balcony and newly renovated bath. All clean. Friendly staff, always up for a joke. Every day some gathering options for alone travelers like bbq, DJane on Sunday, bonfire with marshmallows. Bar served food of high quality, highly recommend the thuna! Direct beach access - red frog beach, from where you can also walk over to the next small hidden beach and the well known polo beach (30min walk). Can also join organized tours to other islands and snorkeling. Thx again guys, really enjoyed staying with u.