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Bocas del Toro is an island archipelago in the Caribbean Sea on the east coast of Panama. With nine main islands and hundreds of cayes and islets, Bocas is a beach loverās paradise!
There is a beach for everyone in Bocas del Toro, from remote and untouched stretches of sand to fun shorelines with beach bars and restaurants.
Some beaches are calm and wave-free, others are fringed by dense jungles full of wildlife like sloths and frogs. Some beaches have a colourful underwater world with vibrant starfish, while others are pounded with waves and heavy swell, perfect for surfers.
There are countless beaches in Bocas del Toro and you would need months here to explore them all!
This post is just a very small sample of our 5 favourite beaches in Bocas del Toro, including information on how to get there and amenities at each of them.
About Bocas del Toro
Before you dive into this post on the best beaches in Bocas del Toro, I would encourage you to read my Bocas del Toro Travel Guide first. Itās designed to give you an overview of the archipelago, a brief rundown of each of the main islands and information on getting there and getting around.
1. Starfish Beach
šļø Best for: swimming, snorkelling, relaxing, wildlife spotting
Starfish Beach or Playa Estrella as it is known in Spanish is a gorgeous beach on the northwest corner of Isla ColĆ³n.
It was one of my favourite beaches in Bocas del Toro because it was so calm, and felt exactly like a tropical, postcard beach. The water was warm and shallow and so blue!
As you can probably guess from the name, there are dozens of orange starfish in the shallow waters around Starfish Beach. Sometimes theyāre so close to the shore that you can clearly see them above the surface! Bring or rent a snorkel so you can get a better look underwater.
The beach has become very popular because of the starfish, and sadly many of them have moved away from the area due to boat traffic and crowds. Stupid, selfish and inconsiderate humans pick up the starfish to take photos which is extremely dangerous and traumatic for the starfish.
There are handpainted signs all over the beach advising people in Spanish and English not to touch the starfish, so please follow the rules. And donāt hesitate to remind anyone who isn’t!
The beach can get very crowded with locals on weekends and holidays, and boat tours from Bocas Town usually arrive around lunchtime. Itās easy to avoid the crowds though if you arrive early and visit on a weekday.
We got to the beach around 10:00 am and it was still really quiet, but by 12:00 – 12:30 pm, it started getting busy and noisy. We walked to the very end of the beach past all the restaurants which was much quieter, and there were some nice shady places to lay down our towels under the palm trees.
Donāt forget to keep an eye out for sloths! Theyāre often hanging around in the trees behind the beach, and a lovely local man pointed out a mumma with her baby sleeping high up in a tree!
š½ļø AMENITIES AT STARFISH BEACH
There are a string of local restaurants along the shore where you can order drinks, snacks or a meal. Some have lounge chairs and umbrellas for rent too, as well as snorkel gear.
A few of the restaurants have bathrooms that you can use for a fee even if youāre not eating there.
There are also a few nice restaurants in Boca del Drago if you want to eat there instead.
āµļø HOW TO GET TO STARFISH BEACH
Boat tour
There are boat tours departing from Bocas Town that combine Starfish Beach with a few other attractions around that side of Isla ColĆ³n.
Personally I donāt think itās necessary to take a tour as it’s just as easy to get to the beach yourself via land, and it means you would be in a crowded tour group.
Via Boca del Drago
To get to Starfish Beach by land, you first have to get to the small village of Boca del Drago. Itās about 30 minutes drive from Bocas Town and there are a few ways you can get there:
- š Colectivo: this is the cheapest and easiest way to get to Starfish Beach. A colectivo van departs from Parque Simon Bolivar in Bocas Town and runs all the way to Boca del Drago. Itās $2.50 per person and they depart every hour or so. We didnāt see a fixed schedule, just go to the park and there will likely be a van hanging around.
- š Taxi: if you donāt want to use the colectivo, you can get a taxi. It would be pretty expensive, Iād say at least $20 each way, and youād need to organise the driver to wait for you as there arenāt usually any taxis hanging around Boca del Drago.
- š² E-bike: itās just under 18 km (11 mi) from Bocas Town to Boca del Drago, and itās quite hilly in parts, so an e-bike is a much more feasible option than a regular bike. You can rent them from Bocas Ebikes or Flying Pirates.
- šµ Motorbike or ATV: if an e-bike sounds too tough, you can rent scooters, motorbikes or ATVs too, which gives you complete flexibility to drive yourself to Boca del Drago. Flying Pirates is the best place for rentals.
From Boca del Drago, youāve still got a short journey to reach Starfish Beach. The road ends, so if youāve come via bike or vehicle, youāll need to park them here. From Boca del Drago, there are two options to get to the beach:
- š£ Walk: there is a short trail winding through the jungle along the coastline from Boca del Drago to Starfish Beach. The trail is obvious and there are signs, but you can load the map on AllTrails if you prefer. Itās mostly flat and it was a really lovely walk. It only took us about 15 minutes.
- š¤ Water taxi: you can also get a quick water taxi from Boca del Drago to Starfish Beach. I think this is totally unnecessary as the walk is short and really nice, and it just brings more boats to the beach which is harmful for the starfish. If you need them, you will see boats just offshore in Boca del Drago and I believe it is $5 per person each way.
2. Red Frog Beach
šļø Best for: surfing (in-season), swimming (outside surf season), relaxing, wildlife spotting
Red Frog Beach is located on the east coast of Isla Bastimentos. As you can guess from the name, itās famous for the strawberry poison dart frogs that live in the jungle around the beach.
But Red Frog Beach is gorgeous in its own right! Itās a vast stretch of sand, backed by dense green jungle with clear turquoise waters. During the surf season (December – February/March and July), Red Frogs is a popular surf break. Outside these times, the beach is usually calm enough for swimming.
The strawberry poison dart frogs that made this beach famous are not actually that easy to find anymore. Theyāre certainly not jumping all over the beach, and they are so tiny they can be hard to spot despite their bright colour. Theyāre usually on the ground amongst the leaf litter in the jungle behind the beach.
On weekends or holidays, you might see local kids bringing frogs out of the jungle to show to tourists for a tip. Please do not encourage or endorse this behaviour, itās very harmful to the frogs.
We enjoyed a few hours lazing on the soft white sand and floating in the calm waters. We were lucky enough to see dozens of red frogs, but thatās only because we hiked to the beach from Old Bank, the main town in Bastimentos (more on that below!).
š½ļø AMENITIES AT RED FROG BEACH
There are a few accommodations on the beach at Red Frog (Palmar Beach Lodge and Red Frog Beach Island Resort) that each have a restaurant and there are a couple of independent restaurants and beach shacks too. You can grab a bite to eat or drink here, and some of the hotels have lounges for rent as well.Ā
You can use the bathroom at any hotel or restaurant you patron.
āµļø HOW TO GET TO RED FROG BEACH
Water taxi + shortcut trail
The quickest way to get to Red Frog Beach is to take a water taxi to the Red Frog dock. Any water taxi captain will know what you mean, and you can come from Bocas Town ($8 – $10) or Old Bank on Isla Bastimentos ($5).
There are actually two docks. Both are located on west side of the island (the calmer, sheltered side) and you will need to talk along a trail to get to Red Frog Beach on the east side.
There is the ‘shortcut’ dock which connects to a private, paid trail. It’s a well-made path through the jungle that takes about 10 minutes to reach the beach. There is a $5 fee to use it because the trail passes through private property and the owner has created and maintained the trail.
Apparently it’s now possible to get dropped off at the Red Frog Marina and walk across to the beach on an alternative trail without a fee.
Hiking from Old Bank via Wizard Beach
The tougher, but much more fun way to get to Red Frog Beach is to hike! I couldnāt find an official trail on AllTrails, but we followed this trail on WikiLoc.
Old Bank is the main town on Isla Bastimentos, and there is a trail through the jungle to Wizard Beach, from where you keep hiking on to Red Frog Beach.
We were staying in Old Bank, but if youāre not, you can easily get a water taxi here from any neighbouring island ($5 from Bocas Town, less from Carenero or Solarte).
The first part of the trail out of town towards Wizard Beach is well-made and easy to follow. They had actually just finished work on it when we visited, as it used to be a slippery, muddy mess but they built some proper stairs to make it easier.
Wizard Beach is a gorgeous, vast beach and there was no one around when we visited. You can stop here for a swim if you like (outside of surf season).
From here, things got a little tricky for us! You need to walk as far as you can along Wizard Beach to the east, but youāll eventually reach a rocky point. If the tide is low, you may be able to get around on the beach, but when we visited the tide was in, so we had to divert into the jungle.
We couldnāt find a clear path and ended up bush bashing for quite a while until we had rounded the point and could get out onto the northern end of Red Frog Beach.
Despite being a little lost, this turned out to be the best part of the hike as it is where we saw SO many red frogs! As we were trying to navigate through the dense forest, all of a sudden we saw a flash of red, and as we kept looking, we saw dozens of frogs on the forest floor hiding in the leaf litter.
Iād highly recommend doing the hike at least one way. We used the shortcut trail on the way back and got a boat to Old Bank, which made for the perfect round trip!
For some reason they didn’t charge us (bonus), but I have read of people being charged $3 USD for the return trip on the trail if they didn’t initially use it to arrive. The Red Frog Marina option seems better now.
OUR ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR A BEACH DAY šļø
We are massive beach bums and one of our favourite things to do when travelling is explore as many beaches, islands and slices of coastline as we can. These are all our must-haves for a perfect day at the beach…
- š§š½āāļø Dock & Bay towels: none of these tiny microfiber travel towels that barely go around your waist with the ickiest feeling! These towels are light, big, sand-free and dry super fast.
- šØ Blow-up pillows: these babies were one of our best purchases. We bring them on all our trips to use on planes, buses, camping or if hotels have terrible pillows. But their best use is at the beach, ultimate comfort to lay on your towel and read a book.
- š Kindle: Brayden and I won’t leave home without our Kindles in our bags. An afternoon lying on the beach reading our books is our idea of heaven. Even if you think ‘you only like paper books’, trust me, a Kindle will change your life, especially for travelling. I’ve levelled up and gotten even boujier with this remote, so I can turn the page hands-free, what a world we live in haha!
- š¦ Insulated water bottle: to stay hydrated, avoid single-use plastic bottles and drink COLD water. We are big Yeti fans.
- šļø Sand-free beach mat: we only bring this if we’re on a specific tropical trip, but if you’re going to be beaching every day, having an extra mat to lie on instead of your towel is a treat! It’s sand-free, water repellent and comes with plastic pegs so it doesn’t blow away in the wind.
- š“ Hammock: another item we don’t always bring, but if we know we’re primarily going to be on beaches/islands, this lightweight travel hammock is amazing. The new rope system is so easy to string up anywhere with clips (instead of tying hundreds of knots).
- š Tote bag: when I’m travelling, I can’t pack all my usual beach stuff, like my big beach bag I have at home. Instead, I bring this canvas tote bag, but it’s bigger and sturdier than the standard ones, with tons of pockets to organise your stuff.
- š Dry bags: we also always use dry bags (aka dry sacks) to protect our electronics at the beach, and to keep our dry stuff dry, even when we’re chucking in wet towels and swimmers.
3. Cayos Zapatillas
šļø Best for: swimming, relaxing, snorkelling
I loved Bocas del Toro and everywhere we visited was beautiful and tropical, but nothing compared to Cayos Zapatillas!
This set of two cayes are literal paradise on earth, with powdery white sand, crystal clear waters made for floating, a grove of palm trees and no development.
The Zapatilla Cayes are protected as part of the Parque Nacional Marino Isla Bastimentos and have remained untouched and uninhabited. Day visits are allowed via an organised tour or private boat.
We spent a few hours here as part of a tour, and it was heaven! We floated in the shallow waters, reading books, oohing and aahing at the amazing water colour and white sand. Honestly, it was one of the most beautiful and tropical places we visited in Central America.
š“ Since 2025, there is an entrance fee charged to visit the cayes as they are part of the Bastimentos Marine Park. Your tour company may include this fee, otherwise you need to pay it online in advance via theĀ Panama Government website. It is $10 for foreigners. Check with your tour company beforehand.
š½ļø AMENITIES AT CAYOS ZAPATILLAS
There are virtually no amenities on the Zapatilla Cayes. From memory, there may have been a toilet at the ranger station, but that is it.
Anything you want (water, snacks, drinks, picnic lunch etc.), youāll need to bring with you and PLEASE take everything away too. Donāt leave any rubbish on this beautiful island.
āµļø HOW TO GET TO CAYOS ZAPATILLAS
Boat tour
Cayos Zapatillas are part of the most popular island hopping tour to do in Bocas del Toro.
Regular tours depart from Bocas Town and usually combine the island with a few other brief stops:
- š¬ Dolphin Bay: where youāll stop on the boat to look for a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins
- āļø Hollywood Island: a shallow, seagrass lagoon that is usually full of starfish, youāll observe from the boat
- š¦„ Sloth Island: yep, you guessed it, youāll stop to look for sloths from the boat
- š Crawl Cay: also known as Coral Cay, there is a restaurant here where youāll stop for lunch (not usually included) and snorkelling, although we were very disappointed with the condition of the reef here
The other parts of the tour were nothing to rave about, but the beach at Zapatilla was incredible and worth the side trips!
There are tour companies all over Bocas offering essentially the same thing. Most charge between $35 – $50 for the tour sometimes, including the national park fee but not lunch.Ā
Basically every tour company runs the same experience and to be honest, theyāre not the best. Itās definitely a ārinse and repeatā itinerary vs an informative, intentional tour. But itās not that pricey and the islands are absolutely worth it, think of it as a boat transport rather than a tour.Ā This is the tour we bookedĀ and we had a great day, going in with low expectations.
šļøĀ Book the Cayos Zapatillas tour we did
Private boat
If youāve got the budget or a bigger group, Iād highly recommend chartering a water taxi for the day to take you directly to and from Cayos Zapatillas so you can spend all day there enjoying the beach.
The other stops on the tour werenāt worth it in my opinion, and I would have preferred to have the entire time at the cayes. Just pack drinks and lunch.
Sorry I donāt have a recommendation for a boat captain, but your accommodation in Bocas del Toro will have someone they recommend.
4. Carenero Beach
šļø Best for: swimming, relaxing, beach walks
Isla Carenero is one of the smallest islands in Bocas del Toro, but we thought one of the prettiest! Itās very close to Bocas Town, just a few minutes via water taxi, but it feels completely different and so much more natural and relaxed.
Where Bocas Town has no beaches or places to swim, Carenero has a collection of sandy beaches and calm lagoons that are perfect to lay down a towel and swim and chill for an afternoon.
When I say Carenero Beach, Iām not referring to one beach as such, just a really lovely stretch of coast on the southeast side of the island.
The area on either side of Bibiās, a popular restaurant, has some nice shallow, natural pools that stay calm most of the year, even when the surf picks up.
There is a sandy shoreline with plenty of palm trees where you can lay down a towel, or better yet, grab a cocktail from Coquitos beach bar and swing in one of their hammocks!
A short walk north along the coastal path will take you to a wider stretch of sand that many people refer to as Carenero Beach.
Isla Carenero had all the tropical vibes and we had a very enjoyable and relaxing beach bum day here. We loved it so much that we wish we had chosen to stay on this island (read our guide on where to stay in Bocas del Toro).
š½ļø AMENITIES AT CARENERO BEACH
The southeast side of Carenero Island has a handful of great beachfront bars and restaurants that make a perfect base to set yourself up for the afternoon.
Bibiās is a very iconic overwater restaurant with great piƱa coladas and seafood, but we parked up at Coquitos, a super chilled-out beach bar with good cocktails, pizza, tacos and hammocks in front of the water.
Any venue you visit will have bathrooms you can use.
āµļø HOW TO GET TO CARENERO BEACH
This area of Isla Carenero is easily accessible via water taxi.
Ask to get dropped off at the marina or Bibiās. It should be $2 from Bocas Town, and you can walk anywhere along the coastline easily from here.
5. Bluff Beach
šļø Best for: surfing, beach walks, wildlife spotting
So far all the beaches on this list of the best beaches in Bocas del Toro have been calm, tropical, wave-free beaches (you can see my preference!). That changes with Bluff Beach!
Sitting on the wild east coast of Isla ColĆ³n, Bluff Beach is one of the best surf breaks in Bocas and the beach is consistently rough year-round with huge swell. Itās not safe for swimming and is only suitable for experienced surfers.
What Bluff Beach lacks in the swimming department, it makes up for in the jungle and scenery department. Itās a long stretch of dark, golden sand, different to anywhere else in the archipelago, lined by dense greenery.
Itās the perfect place for a long beach walk (youāve got more than 6 km / 3 mi to stroll along!), or an afternoon reading in the sand.
Part of the appeal of Bluff is its location on the east coast of ColĆ³n which has a treasure trove of natural sights. A day spent at Bluff should be more than just the beach!
Big Creek and Paunch Beach along the road to Bluff are new hotspots in Bocas with a handful of beach bars and restaurants. The official road ends at Bluff Beach, but if you rent an ATV from Flying Pirates, you can continue off-road on their trails through the jungle and north up the coast. There are some gorgeous and calm swimming spots, La Piscina and the Blue Lagoon, and a very good chance of spotting sloths and monkeys in the jungle.
š½ļø AMENITIES AT BLUFF BEACH
There are a few nice accommodations on the beach at Bluff that have restaurants where you can get a drink or meal. Otherwise, there are a lot more options for food and drink at Paunch Beach, which is on the way back to Bocas Town.
āµļø HOW TO GET TO BLUFF BEACH
Bluff Beach is on Isla ColĆ³n and is accessible by land with a number of different transport methods:
- š Colectivo: this is the cheapest and easiest way to get to Bluff Beach. A colectivo van departs from Parque Simon Bolivar in Bocas Town and runs all the way to the beach. Itās $3.50 per person and they depart every hour or so. We didnāt see a fixed schedule, just go to the park and there will likely be a van hanging around.Ā
- š Taxi: if you donāt want to use the colectivo, you can get a taxi. It would be at least $15 each way, and you might want to organise for the driver to wait around.
- š² Bike or e-bike: a really popular way to get to Bluff Beach, and an activity in itself, is to ride a bike from Bocas Town! itās just about 10 km (6.2 mi) from town, and a lot of people easily do it on regular bikes, but of course, an e-bike is easier! You can rent normal bikes from Bicicletas Ixa or e-bikes from Bocas Ebikes.
- šµ Motorbike or ATV: a super fun way to explore Bluff Beach and the trails beyond is via ATV or motorbike. ATV is the best option as the vehicles are sturdy and off-road if you want to go north past the beach, but a regular motorbike or scooter is fine for the main road. Flying Pirates is the best place for rentals.
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Beaches in Bocas del Toro: Final thoughts
Bocas del Toro is a stunning island paradise and we absolutely loved it!
The beaches in Bocas del Toro were so beautiful and each one was so diverse and different. Iām a wave-free, floating in bath-warm waters under a palm tree kinda gal, but if youāre chasing big waves or looking for surf, thatās on offer too.
Although Bocas has some beautiful beaches, you don’t even need a stretch of sand to enjoy the beautiful Caribbean waters! Overwater accommodations and restaurants with rickety wooden docks jutting out into the sea are just as fun to enjoy swimming and relaxing too.
Donāt forget to check out our Bocas del Toro Travel Guide for more tips to plan your perfect visit to these amazing islands.
MORE BOCAS DEL TORO POSTS
- Bocas del Toro Travel Guide: Panamaās Paradise Islands
- Where to Stay in Bocas del Toro: Pros & Cons of Each Island
The Comments
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