Bocas del Mar ★★★★★

Twenty Cabañas Above the Gulf of Chiriquí

Boca Chica is the jumping-off point for the Gulf of Chiriquí, a wide bay of forested islands and mangrove channels on Panama's Pacific side, and almost everything built here is either a fishing lodge or a rental. Bocas del Mar is the exception: an oceanfront boutique hotel laid out as twenty bungalow-style cabañas on a slope above the water, looking across to Isla Boca Brava. The architecture is contemporary and low, the lawns run down to the shore, and a recent renovation reworked several of the rooms. It is the only address on this stretch built to hotel standards rather than lodge standards.

Why It Works

Staying on an island in this gulf means eating what the kitchen cooked and going where the boat goes. Staying here does not. You get the same water, the same islands and the same boats, plus pools overlooking the ocean, a restaurant and bar on the grass, a treatment studio in the garden, a tennis court and a road out. The cabaña format keeps everyone at ground level with their own terrace and their own view. For travellers who want the Gulf of Chiriquí without committing to a lodge, this is the answer, and the long run of high ratings suggests the service holds up.

Why This Location

The gulf is the draw. Directly opposite sits Isla Boca Brava, and beyond it a scatter of islands with empty beaches, reefs worth a mask and mangrove channels that the hotel's boats thread at low tide. Inland, the Kiki waterfall is a walk through forest, and David, with the regional airport, is a straightforward drive back up the road. Humpbacks pass through the gulf in whale season and the crossings are short enough that an afternoon out is normal rather than an expedition. Boca Chica itself is a village, not a resort strip, so nothing happens after dinner. That is the correct trade.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: oceanfront, low-slung, easy, family-friendly

• Rooms: twenty cabañas in bungalow style, each with its own terrace and ocean outlook; family rooms available

• Best For: couples, families, island-hoppers and fishermen using the gulf

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the lawn between the restaurant and the water, where the boats come in and lunch runs late

• Dining: oceanfront restaurant and bar set on the lawns, with room service

• Amenities: several pools above the ocean, garden treatment and massage studio, tennis court, children's playground, boat excursions, fishing, airport shuttle

• Attractions: Isla Boca Brava, the islands and beaches of the Gulf of Chiriquí, the mangrove channels, the Kiki waterfall, David

Cabañas, Not Rooms

The accommodation is spread rather than stacked. Each cabaña is generous, contemporary in line and glazed towards the water, with its own terrace, and the renovation added king beds in several of them. Because nothing is above anything else, there is no corridor, no lift and no view of a neighbour's balcony. Family rooms exist for those who need them. The finish is closer to a small design hotel than to the timber-and-thatch register that dominates this coast, which is part of why the place reads differently from everything around it.

The Lawn, the Pools and the Long Lunch

The centre of gravity here is the grass. Pools sit along the slope facing the water, and the restaurant and bar spill onto the lawn beside them, so the day tends to drift between the two. Boats come and go at the shoreline in front of you. The treatment studio is tucked into the garden, deliberately away from the noise. It is an unhurried layout, and it makes staying in on a hot afternoon an actual option rather than a fallback.

A Boat Every Morning

The hotel runs its own excursions, and they are the reason to come: beach-hopping between the gulf islands, boat trips into the mangroves, fishing, and hikes inland to the waterfall. In whale season the crossings turn into whale-watching. Charters are available for anyone who wants a full day under sail. Ask the night before, because the sea here is calmest early and the best of the day is over by lunchtime.