Tranquilo Bay Bocas del Toro

We built Tranquilo Bay inside the rainforest overlooking the Caribbean Sea and the beautiful Panamanian Jungle. Our central location within the archipelago of Bocas del Toro permits us to explore some of the most biologically diverse areas of Panama and Central America. Bocas del Toro, Panama includes an archipelago of some 68 tropical islands which are excellent for beach combing, birding and exploring. Around the many reefs and lagoons, you may fish, snorkel and surf. There are also beautiful spots perfect for laying back and letting the cool ocean breeze wash over you.

The province of Bocas del Toro hosts two national parks, one of which is a world heritage site and two protected cloud forests. The trans-boundary protected area consists of 1.4 million contiguous acres, extending from the continental divide to the Caribbean Sea, covering all five altitudinal zones know to the tropics. One park, Bastimentos National Marine Park, covers a large portion of the archipelago and is home to a variety of ecosystems which thrive at or around sea level. The other park, Palo Seco Nature Reserve, is on the mainland and reaches through the cloud forests up to and beyond the continental divide.

Tranquilo Bay, the best Bocas del Toro hotel, is your home base to explore the islands and highlands of Western Panama. Our guests unpack, settle in and experience our unique tropical location. Tranquilo Bay provides you with six deluxe air-conditioned cabanas, beautiful views, eco-adventure activities, personal attention and fine cuisine.

Please explore our site. Bocas del Toro, Panama and Tranquilo Bay have a lot to offer you. We look forward to having you and your group spend some time with us in paradise.

“Just sensational”

I chose Tranquilo Bay as our final desination in Panama partly because of the rave reviews on TripAdvisor. And every compliment paid to Jim, Jay, Renee and Stephanie on these pages is well deserved.

The whole place is exquisite. The cabanas are beautiful and incredibly comfortable. The location is stunning. The food is incredible. The hospitality is second to none.

We’ve stayed in a great many places throughout Africa and Latin America to satisfly our cravings for wildlife and this is one of the very few that I shall definitely return to. There is a terrible cliche that is often used in reviews of this sort that runs along the lines of “We arrived as guests, but parted as friends”. However, nothing could be truer of the wonderful people that built and run Tranquilo Bay.

There’s a huge range of activities on offer – and you can pick and choose as you please. I’ll give a brief account of what we got up to:

DAY 1: We were met at lunchtime in Bocas by Jay and were taken across the sea in the pouring rain to the resort. A sumptious lunch was followed by a little rest and then Jay took us sea kayaking through the mangroves. The rain stopped. Incredible silence – apart from the clicking of the barnacles and other molluscs, exposed on the roots of the plants. Then we snorkelled along a reef for an hour or so before paddling back to the dock.

DAY 2: Jim took us for a short boat trip and then we sea kayaked along a river through the jungle. Local Indians were paddling their wooden boats down the river as we went up it, admiring the caimans, crabs, birds, sloths and frogs. Stopping at a farm, we hiked to a cave full of bats and wonderful stalactites and stalagmites. We were able to walk about 300 metres into the cave, exploring the untouched splendour of the place with torches. After returning to the lodge, we had lunch and then hiked through the jungle looking out for birds and poison dart frogs, whilst learning about the huge variety of lush plant life that abounds in the area.

DAY 3: Jay took us in the boat to an Indian village on a neighbouring island. We hiked to the top of a hill with one of the locals and an American Peace Corps worker, learning all about banana growing and the uses of the many other plants we met along the way. We then toured the village, had sandwiches on the boat and then made stops at two islands for some incredible snorkeling.

DAY 4: Jay dropped us off at a beach on another island and we sea kayaked slowly back to Tranquilo Bay – watching all variety of birdlife (including an osprey with a fish), stopping for a beer at a little bar on one island, snorkelling at various points Jay had told us about, and getting onto a old fishing platform to eat our packed lunches. The late afternoon was spent birdwatching whilst sitting on the veranda of our cabana.

DAY 5: With Jim and Jay, we took the boat to the mainland and spent a wonderful day kayaking down a river, with incredible birdlife all around us (and a sloth that happened to be dangling on the end of a vine over the river at head height!). We arrived back in the late afternoon, just in time for some snorkeling with Stephanie who took us swimming to a reef near the Tranquilo Bay dock.

DAY 6: We visited a chocolate farm and a stunning garden on our way back to Bocas, for our early afternoon flight back to reality!

I could have easily have stayed longer here … pretty much forever.

“Had a great time”

We were looking for a nice place to stay in Bocas with our two young kids while on our way back to the US from Cartagena, Colombia. We initially contacted Casa Cayuco, which was closed and recommended Tranquilo Bay. We’re glad they did.

The resort was hand-built by the owners over a 5 year period and shows tremendous pride in workmanship and standards. They’ve created a really nice place here in truly the middle of nowhere. The 100 acre property is stunning jungle and some open fields, with flocks of wild tropical birds, monkeys and sloths. The waterfront is mangroves leading into coral reef, with a very nice swim and boat dock.

Tranquilo Bay is expensive by Bocas standards but if you’re looking for quality of service and comfort the money is well spent. There’s really nothing else like it in the area. Each of the 6 cabins has AC, great beds, good bathrooms and a nice deck with hammock.

Jay, Jim, Renee and Stephanie are really caring hosts and work extremely hard for their guests. They were also wonderful with our kids, who are the same age as their kids and had a great time all playing together.

The Panamanian staff, who also live on the premises, are very kind and hard working, too.

If you’re into nature and outdoor activities this is a great choice. While there’s no beach on the property, the Zapatilla Keys are a 10 minute boat ride away and have the nicest beach in the archipelago. You can swim right off the dock at Tranquilo Bay and there’s really nice reefs right out front. Also, the kayaking right from the resort is nice, too.

I did a nice scuba dive with Jim, one of the owners, but watch out for the quality of rental gear from the dive shops in Bocas Town. We rented our gear from what is supposedly the best shop in town but it was very poorly maintained/borderline dangerous. If Tranquilo Bay is serious about offering diving as a regular part of their activities they should consider securiting their own BCs and regulators and just depend on the town shops for air fills.

I’d gladly go back and left Tranquilo Bay feeling like the owners had become our friends, not just someone operating a business. My 5-year old had such a great time he cried when we had to leave.