The Best Things To Do On Isla Colón - Bocas del Toro, Panama
by Rebecca Hollman
updated Feb 26, 2019
Bocas del Toro is an island chain located off the northern coast of Panama in the Caribbean. The area is known for its biodiversity, bright blue water, snorkeling and diving opportunities and for it’s laid back Caribbean vibes. Colón is the main island of Bocas, with most of the hotels and restaurants located on this island. Bocas Town, the “capital” of Bocas is on Colón and this is also where the airport is located. Therefore, you will likely be staying on Colón for at least part of your time in Bocas del Toro. Check out all the things to do and places to explore on Isla Colón below.
1. STARFISH BEACH / PLAYA DE LAS ESTRELLAS
ABOUT: Starfish Beach is on the other side of the island from most of the things to do on Colón, but it is worth the trip to the other side. Colón only has one major road that splits just outside of Bocas Town - one leading up to Paunch and Bluff and the other split leading to Starfish and Boca del Drago. Most everyone stays to the Bluff side of Colón, but the crystal blue waters of Starfish draw people to the other side of this relatively large island.
GETTING THERE: To get to Starfish, you can take a colectivo from the park at the center of town. There are small 20 person white vans labeled Playa Boca del Drago across the windshield that will take you to Starfish Beach for $2.50 each way. If you have a group of people, you could also take a taxi from town but it will be more expensive. The colectivos leave pretty much every 30 minutes and also come back from Starfish every 30 minutes (up until the last colectivo at 6 PM). The colectivo will drop you off at a restaurant called Yarisnori which is on Playa Boca del Drago. You could sit on the beach chairs here at Boca del Drago and enjoy some time, but if you want to reach Starfish you are going to have to walk 15 minutes along a trail from Boca del Drago.
The trail goes from the restaurant along the beach past a few private homes (and across someones dock that says private property but just keep going over the dock and past it along the trail). Soon, the trail will go out of people’s yards and into the trees, where you will follow it 15 minutes to Starfish. All along the path are areas to stop and get in the water which are arguably better than Starfish itself. The beach along this area is just as nice, has more starfish and WAY less people. Starfish Beach is nice but it is generally very crowded. Once you follow the path to the end, you will reach a handful of restaurants along the beach and lots of sitting areas.
OTHER INFO TO KNOW: Although it is called Starfish Beach and there are some starfish there in the water, don’t expect there to be thousands of starfish around. However, the water is insanely blue here and also perfectly calm (versus the aggressive waves of Bluff and Paunch on the other side of the island). Because of that, this is the nicest swimming beach on Colón. Going to Starfish Beach, Playa Boca del Drago and the Bat Caves (La Gruta) would make a great day on Bocas. You can also additionally take a boat tour from Bocas Town that will bring you to Starfish Beach and also Isla Pájaros.
Learn more about Starfish Beach here.
1b. PLAYA BOCA DEL DRAGO
ABOUT: As mentioned above, Playa Boca del Drago and Playa de las Estrellas (Starfish Beach) are right next to each other. You could go spend the day at just Boca del Drago, but if you’re going over there you might as well visit Starfish Beach at the same time.
GETTING THERE: You get to Boca del Drago the same way you would get to Starfish. To get to Boca del Drago, you can take a colectivo from the park at the center of town. There are small 20 person white vans labeled Playa Boca del Drago across the windshield that will take you there for $2.50 each way. If you have a group of people, you could also take a taxi from town but it will be more expensive. The colectivos leave pretty much every 30 minutes and also come back from Starfish every 30 minutes (up until the last colectivo at 6 PM). The colectivo will drop you off at a restaurant called Yarisnori which is on Playa Boca del Drago.
2. ISLA PÁJAROS
ABOUT: This small island off the north end of Colón is a migratory bird sanctuary for many species of tropical birds. Most people never venture out to this point but it is quite a beautiful, lush island with inlets into the side of the rock face of the island. To get here you either need to take an organized tour boat that goes to Starfish Beach and the island or you can hire your own water taxi to take you there (but this will be much more expensive).
GETTING THERE: The tours are around $30 for the day and would last around 4-5 hours. You can book a tour at any of the tour agencies in town, but you should book your tour the day before. Tour boats leave between 8:30-10 depending on the company and tour. Hiring your own water boat to take you to the island and wait with you would be around $50-100 depending on how long you are out. If you have a big group of people, this option could actually be more economic.
3. BAT CAVES / LA GRUTA
ABOUT: About half way from Bocas Town to Starfish Beach there are bat caves called La Gruta that you can walk through and listen to the bats making noise. It is about a 10 minute walk to go through the caves and there are literally thousands of bats hanging in there during the day. There is an old lady outside that will charge you $1 USD to enter the caves.
GETTING THERE: To get there, get on a colectivo going to Boca del Drago in town. Tell the driver (or his assistant) that you want to stop at La Gruta. The first colectivo will drop you off at the bat caves and keep going. After you go through the caves, come back out on the road and wave down the next colectivo you see. The only colectivos on this road will all be going to Boca del Drago. You could also do it in reverse, and have a colectivo drop you off at the cave on your way back to town from the beach. Make sure you give yourself enough time and that you don’t miss the last colectivo coming back (leaves Boca del Drago at 6 PM). You could also always get a taxi to take you to the caves but it would be more expensive. You would also probably want your taxi to wait for you to take you back because there are not that many taxis driving on this road.
4. MIMBITIMBI - BLUE LAGOON AND LA PISCINA
ABOUT: At the very north end of Colón, past Bluff, is the area known as Mimbitimbi. There are no restaurants, homes or hotels up at this end of the island and because of this, it is a little bit more difficult to reach. However, the flora of the island changes up this way and becomes more tall grass/open pasture versus the lowland tropical forest that comprises the rest of the island. Mimbitimbi is famous for two spots - the Blue Lagoon and La Piscina. La Piscina is a small bay where the ocean comes in and is sheltered from the relentless waves. This is a nice area for swimming since the water is calm. A little farther along is the Blue Lagoon. From the surface it doesn’t look that impressive, but from the water it is an incredibly beautiful experience. The water is clear all the way down to 15 feet and there are caves, slot canyons and other features of the reef that you can swim through and by. There are tons of small fishes and other sea life living in the sea grass along the side of the reef walls. Having a snorkeling mask here is a must! I would highly recommend going to the Blue Lagoon, as it is one of the most beautiful areas on all of Colón. If you have time, there are more attractions farther past the Blue Lagoon. There are bat caves and more beautiful unnamed beaches, but to reach this far you will need to walk A LOT and start your day very early.
GETTING THERE:
Option 1 - Walk: You can either walk all the way from town (which would take about 4 hours each way) or you can take a colectivo from town to Playa Bluff and walk the remainder (about 2 hours each way). This would be a full day adventure. There are a few restaurants along Bluff, but after that there are no facilities or places to get food or water, so make sure to bring everything you need.
Option 2 - Bicycle: You can bike there from town in about 2 hours. The road can be a bit bumpy, but is overall in good condition. After passing the gate, follow the trail called “Jungle Highway” along the coast. It is marked with signs occasionally and will always be the bigger and more maintained trail if the trail splits. You will eventually reach a sign that says La Piscina, and if you keep going straight on the Jungle Highway will reach a dead end, which is the Blue Lagoon.
Option 3 - Quad/ATV: You can rent a quad from Flying Pirates for $90 for an entire day (plus an additional $25 entrance fee to the area). They will also rent quads for half days, but to go all the way up here takes a full day. You would drive the quad along the same Bluff Beach road and then past the gate, and along the same Jungle Highway trail. However, if you wanted to take the quad on trails (see below) then you could go inland along the trails and get to Blue Lagoon/La Piscina other ways. The Jungle Highway is just the best maintained trail and the most direct (aka the fastest way to get there).
OTHER INFO TO KNOW: Technically all of this area is leased by Flying Pirates, but is free to enter if you are walking or bicycling. You can go in if you have your own quad but it is $25 to access the area. The area is blocked by a gate after the end of Playa Bluff so only people and bicycles can go by unless you have the code from Flying Pirates. Besides Blue Lagoon and La Piscina, the end of Playa Bluff is equally as beautiful to explore. There are also ruins of one of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine processing buildings along the trail to Mimbitimbi. If you rent a quad from Flying Pirates to reach Mimbitimbi, you can also spend time riding on the designated quad trails through the jungle (read below).
5. QUAD/ATV TRAILS
ABOUT: If you want to rent a quad from Flying Pirates for the day, then you can go to the Blue Lagoon, La Piscina and take the quads over the designated quad trails in the jungle. Flying Pirates rents most of the land on this end of the island and has created a network of trails specifically for you to take your quad on. The trails are pretty rugged and so it’s not just cruising around on a quad - you will be going up and down over roots, through mud, through rivers, etc. The trails are bumpy so I would not suggest going with two people on one quad. Standing while driving will greatly decrease the impacts of the bumps and help you distribute your weight better and you can’t really stand with two people. If you like adventure and getting dirty, then these trails are for you.
GETTING THERE: You would follow the road past Bluff and into the locked gate. From there, the Jungle Highway continues straight all the way along the coast but there are many trails that you can take to the left that go more inland. There is a map of the trails on the stuff box of each quad so you can always check this. No matter what, you will eventually end up back on the Jungle Highway so it’s hard to get lost. Signs with trail names are posted to trees pretty frequently. You can rent a quad from Flying Pirates for $90 for an entire day (plus an additional $25 entrance fee to the area). They will also rent quads for half days, but to go all the way up here takes a full day. Expect to spend about 4-6 hours on the trails and visiting Blue Lagoon/La Piscina depending on how long you stay in each place.
6. PLAYA BLUFF
ABOUT: Playa Bluff is the biggest beach on Colón and probably the most accessible. The beach itself is over 5 miles in length and it feels like you could keep walking on it forever. Bluff has easily the best sand because of its big beach area to lay on and because of the vibrant orange color of the sand. The contrast of the green palm trees right along the edge, the orange of the sand, and the bright blue of the water really is something to see. However, Playa Bluff is NOT a swimming beach. The waves crash in only 3 feet of water - so extremely close to the shore. These waves are heavy and powerful and the buffer zone is generally right where people get in to just wade around or play in the water. The rip tides and currents here are also very aggressive and so it is easy to get swept out to sea. A handful of tourists drown here each year. If you want to go to a beach to swim, either go to Starfish Beach or Sand Dollar Beach. Playa Bluff and Paunch are not swimming beaches. However, Bluff is a great beach to lay out on and spend the day in the sun or walking up and down the long stretch of coast.
Bluff can also be a surf spot depending on the swell. If you are a good surfer and the swell is smaller, then you could go for a surf at Bluff. However, Bluff is known as a board breaker since the waves are crashing pretty much directly onto the sand of the sea floor. I would only surf at Bluff is you are at least an intermediate level surfer.
GETTING THERE: To get to Bluff, you can take a colectivo from the park at the center of town. There are small 20 person white vans labeled Playa Bluff across the windshield that will take you to Bluff for $1.50 each way. You can also bike to Bluff if you have a rental bike. It would probably take 45 minutes to an hour to bike from town. Taking a taxi is another option but it would probably be $6-8 one way per person.
Learn more about Playa Bluff here.
7. PLAYA PAUNCH
ABOUT: Playa Paunch is not quite your typical beach - with no sand to lay on and reef all along the ocean floor that makes it impossible to walk or swim. However, it redeems itself with it’s surf. This is arguably the best spot, and most popular spot, to surf in Bocas. On small swells, it’s an easy wave to surf but getting in and out of the water is hard because you need to find a way through the reef. On big swells, only good surfers should attempt to surf there. When it’s a small day, anywhere between 2 to 5 feet, this is a good place for beginners - just wear booties or expect for your feet to get shredded. There are also strong rip tides here and certain current channels that will take you out and in of the surf break. Only confident and knowledgeable swimmers should try to surf here, regardless of swell size.
GETTING THERE: You can get there easily from town on a bike or with a taxi (around $3 per person). You could also take a colectivo headed to Bluff and have them drop you off earlier at Paunch but you would have to pay the whole colectivo trip amount ($1.50). You could also potentially walk but it would take about an hour. Paunch is not really marked but it is right after a blue house Airbnb called Casa Azul on the right.
8. PAKI POINT / TIGER’S TAIL
ABOUT: Paki Point is a restaurant located along the road from town to Playa Bluff. It’s a super cute restaurant right on the beach with Buddhist decor and tons of beach chairs and bags to lay on in the sun. It’s one of the better areas for laying in the sun all day or for coming to get sunset drinks. The restaurant is open from 11 AM to 7 PM but is mostly a lunch place with smoothies, coffee and drinks. Tiger’s Tail is a surf spot just in front of Paki Point and is a good option to surf if the swell is very small. Again, with most of this section of Colón, the seafloor is all reef here so it’s not really a swimming beach. Besides being a good option for food, this is just a good place to chill out all day in the sun.
GETTING THERE: Paki Point is about half way from town to Bluff. You can easily take a bike or a taxi there from town ($3 per person). It’s also possible to walk there from town but it would take you about 45 minutes.
9. SKULLY’S
ABOUT: Skully’s is a pirate bar, restaurant and hostel located on the beach on the way from town to Paunch. It is a great place to hang out during the day because it has its own strip of beach, games, a pool and comfy beach chairs. They serve food and alcohol the whole day and you could spend a whole day chilling in the sun and in the pool. They also have a pool table, a ping pong table, a tetherball, a slack line, and a fire pit so there are an amplitude of activities to do here. This is also a nice place to spend sunset for drinks and you could also hang here at night around the bar and fire pit.
GETTING THERE: Skully’s is located right on the main road from town to Bluff - about 10 minutes by car and 40 minutes by foot. It is across the street from Ciao Pizza. It is also the same place as Flying Pirates - which is where you can rent bicycles and quads.
10. SAND DOLLAR BEACH
ABOUT: Before reaching Paunch, there are a handful of beaches protected by bays that have sand bottoms (not reef!) and have small to no waves. These beaches are the best in this area for swimming since they don’t have reef and strong currents. The water here is a little bit murky but if you want to get in for a swim, this is your beach. Sand Dollar Beach is probably the best of these beaches and has a nice strip of sand to lay on and also some private docks. The beach is not marked on Google Maps by name, but it is the beach directly in front of the Sand Dollar Hotel. During certain times of the year there are algae blooms on these beaches and therefore they are not suitable for swimming.
GETTING THERE: Sand Dollar Beach is right before Playa Tortuga as you head on the road north from town. It is the small beach directly across from the Sand Dollar Hotel. It would be about a 5 minute drive from town, and a 20-30 minute walk.
11. FINCA LOS MONOS BOTANICAL GARDEN
ABOUT: This is an extensive piece of land owned by one lady who has been running and caring for it for years. She occasionally does tours of the garden where you can see tons of native flora and fauna of Bocas. Tours last an hour and are free to the public. You have a very good chance of seeing howler monkeys, capuchins, sloths, poison dart frogs, and occasionally an anteater or agouti. Tours only run at 8:30 AM on Friday and 1 PM on Monday.
GETTING THERE: Finca Los Monos is not on Google Maps but is pretty obviously marked on the road. Going north from town towards Bluff, you will see a large brown wood sign that says Finca Los Monos Botanical Garden on the left. It is about a 10 minute drive or 30-40 minute walk from town.
12. SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR TROPICAL RESEARCH
ABOUT: The Smithsonian Center for Tropical Research is a research station located on Bocas. Bocas has an incredible amount of biodiversity and is a perfect place for biodiversity and conservation research. Because of this, there are three research stations located on Bocas - all on Colon. The Smithsonian Center is the only one that is open to visitors. They do free one hour tours of the facility, the research labs and give an overview of the research they are working on. This is a fun way to spend an hour of your day if you are in any way a science nerd. The tours are free and go at 3 and 4 PM on Thursdays and Fridays.
GETTING THERE: The research center is on the way out of town, right after the one small, red gas station on the left. It is marked with a wooden sign and has a chain link fence around the property. The door in the chain link fence will be open during visitor hour times and you will walk in towards a small brown building where you will sign in.
13. DIVING CERTIFICATION FROM PANAMA DIVE SCHOOL
ABOUT: One of the main reasons people come to Bocas is to snorkel and scuba dive. If you are already PADI certified, then you can spend a day (or two) going to different dive spots with Panama Dive School or La Buga. If you need to get certified, Bocas is a great place to get your PADI certification. Although all the snorkeling and diving spots are on other islands, Panama Dive School and La Buga are located in town and this will be where you will leave from.
GETTING THERE: Any place that you can get PADI certified will be in Bocas Town. Panama Dive School is located at the far end of town, past the fire station on the right. It is clearly marked on Google Maps. La Buga is located in the heart of town next to El Pirata and a few boat tour agencies.
14. NIGHT SNORKELING/BIOLUMINESCENCE TOUR WITH DIVING PIRATES
ABOUT: Diving Pirates is a dive shop known for their open water PADI certification courses. Besides wreck diving, reef diving, and night diving, Flying Pirates also offers a night time snorkeling tour of the bioluminescent water of Bocas. The tour is $25 per person and includes a boat ride to a few different stops with bioluminescence. At the last stop, people are encouraged to get in the water and snorkel. The movement in the water will create more light since the phytoplankton respond to touch. The water is generally still warm even at night time, but bring a sweater or towel for the boat ride back to town.
GETTING THERE: Diving Pirates is the only place in town that offers the bioluminescence tour. Diving Pirates is located farther back in town where the road leads towards Paunch and Bluff, next to Bookstore Bar and Sweet Love Bocas. The tour leaves from the Diving Pirates store.
IMPORTANT INFO TO KNOW: This tour only goes at certain times of the month because the full moon will give to much light and won't allow you to see the bioluminescence. If you go to Diving Pirates they will tell you what days that month they have tours going out.
15. THE FLOATING BAR
ABOUT: The name says it all. It’s a bar, and it’s floating. This cute little bar is located just outside the Bocas Marina on it’s own platform. They serve up delicious tacos and drinks all day and into night time. They have an upper deck, chairs to chill on, noodles to swim with, a platform for jumping off of, and plenty of sun. Bring a snorkel mask and you can swim to the nearby mangroves and shipwreck of The Southern Wind. You will probably see more starfish here than at Starfish Beach. This is a great place to hang out with friends and get some sun during the day, and then watch the sunset over some beer and tacos.
GETTING THERE: To get there, you need to take a water taxi from Bocas Town. Get a boat from any of the water taxi spots and tell them you want to go to the Floating Bar. Most taxi drivers should know where it is. If not, tell them the bar past Bocas Marina.
IMPORTANT INFO TO KNOW: An important thing to note is that The Floating Bar is only open during Bocas high season - which is from January to April or May. The rest of the year the bar is not there. The chitra bugs are really bad here around sunset time, so bring plenty of insect repellant! These guys are smaller than mosquitos but their bites are exponentially more itchy.
Learn more about the Floating Bar here.
16. BOCAS TOWN
ABOUT: Bocas Town is the “capital” of Bocas and the main hub for all activity in Bocas del Toro. There are tons of restaurants, stores, hotels and bars all across town. To learn more about all the different places to eat, stay and explore in Bocas Town read our Bocas Town article HERE.
GETTING THERE: Bocas Town is on the southernmost end of Colon. If you are flying into Bocas, you will land at the airport on Colon and need to take a taxi into town. If you are taking the boat in from Almirante, the boat will drop you at a water taxi port right in the heart of town.