Hostels in Bocas del Toro, Panama

During my trip I tried out 3 different Bambuda hostels (in dormitories each time). I waited until I'd done all 3 before writing this review. Here is my personal experience : Out of the 3 Bambuda I think they had the most amazing staff. Everyone was kind, smiling, friendly and very helpful. For some examples, they use WhatsApp to communicate and on the way to the hotel my water cab broke down. I told them just to let them know I'd be arriving later and they offered to call for assistance. Another example, I dropped my AirPods case (i m a mess) and lost one of them. Half the staff helped me look everywhere for it. For backpackers on a budget, you need to know that there's no kitchen and as there's nothing on Solarte Island you'll be totally dependent on the hostel restaurant. There is a filtered water fountain, but I haven't tried it myself. As far as the food is concerned, everything I ate was really very good, they have a wide choice of western and more local dishes, and concerning prices nothing shocked me compared with other restaurants across the islands. Good to know too - for dinner they have a ”family dinner” concept which means you have to order your meal before 5.45pm. After this time, you won't be able to order any food whatsoever. So if you're planning to arrive at the hostel after that time, be sure to have dinner beforehand! The place and the location itself are amazing but I was a little unlucky on the room. I was in a 6-bed dorm room with a bathroom, and it wasn't very clean (not bad considering there were already 4 other people in the room) but there was a terrible smell of urine throughout the room (not even in the bathroom itself). Also be aware that it’s kind of a party place so if you are in the dorms it will get noisy (unless you are partying too 😉) As the place is more or less off the grid, there's no hot water or aircon (but you can ask for as many fans as you like!). as you can imagine, since you're on an island where there's nothing, you'll have to pay for water cabs every time you want to go somewhere and then come back, which can get expensive! My advice, choose this hostel if you want to chill and relax in a beautiful place rather than to visit, there’s a time for everything!

The best hostel I stayed at in Panama. Super modern and clean with excellent air con in the rooms and a lovely waterfront patio and bar area. The food I ordered wasn't very good (still frozen) and food and drinks highly expensive like everywhere in the area. Bocas itself is a dump and I thoroughly regret going. The only good thing I have to say about Bocas is the boat trips you can take to places that are beautiful and there is a pizza restaurant on the main drag that does the best pizza and also best chocolate cake I ever ate. Careful buying food in shops though, they don't gave air con, power often goes down for hours and there is an aroma of rotten food in shops and aroma of sewage throughout Bocas. Sewage goes in the seawater often directly so don't swim around Bocas.

During my trip I tried out 3 different Bambuda hostels (in dormitories each time). I waited until I'd done all 3 before writing this review. Here is my personal experience : Out of the 3 Bambuda I think they had the most amazing staff. Everyone was kind, smiling, friendly and very helpful. For some examples, they use WhatsApp to communicate and on the way to the hotel my water cab broke down. I told them just to let them know I'd be arriving later and they offered to call for assistance. Another example, I dropped my AirPods case (i m a mess) and lost one of them. Half the staff helped me look everywhere for it. For backpackers on a budget, you need to know that there's no kitchen and as there's nothing on Solarte Island you'll be totally dependent on the hostel restaurant. There is a filtered water fountain, but I haven't tried it myself. As far as the food is concerned, everything I ate was really very good, they have a wide choice of western and more local dishes, and concerning prices nothing shocked me compared with other restaurants across the islands. Good to know too - for dinner they have a ”family dinner” concept which means you have to order your meal before 5.45pm. After this time, you won't be able to order any food whatsoever. So if you're planning to arrive at the hostel after that time, be sure to have dinner beforehand! The place and the location itself are amazing but I was a little unlucky on the room. I was in a 6-bed dorm room with a bathroom, and it wasn't very clean (not bad considering there were already 4 other people in the room) but there was a terrible smell of urine throughout the room (not even in the bathroom itself). Also be aware that it’s kind of a party place so if you are in the dorms it will get noisy (unless you are partying too 😉) As the place is more or less off the grid, there's no hot water or aircon (but you can ask for as many fans as you like!). as you can imagine, since you're on an island where there's nothing, you'll have to pay for water cabs every time you want to go somewhere and then come back, which can get expensive! My advice, choose this hostel if you want to chill and relax in a beautiful place rather than to visit, there’s a time for everything!

The best hostel I stayed at in Panama. Super modern and clean with excellent air con in the rooms and a lovely waterfront patio and bar area. The food I ordered wasn't very good (still frozen) and food and drinks highly expensive like everywhere in the area. Bocas itself is a dump and I thoroughly regret going. The only good thing I have to say about Bocas is the boat trips you can take to places that are beautiful and there is a pizza restaurant on the main drag that does the best pizza and also best chocolate cake I ever ate. Careful buying food in shops though, they don't gave air con, power often goes down for hours and there is an aroma of rotten food in shops and aroma of sewage throughout Bocas. Sewage goes in the seawater often directly so don't swim around Bocas.