Destination guide
Boquete
A coffee town at 1,200 metres in the Chiriquí highlands, an hour from the Costa Rican border. Cool, wet, green, and the base for the only hike in Panama that shows you two oceans at once.
Boquete sits in a river valley on the eastern flank of Volcán Barú, Panama's highest point and its only volcano of consequence. The altitude does the same thing here that it does in El Valle, only more so — it is genuinely cool, often wet, and the cloud forest starts more or less where the town ends.
It is Panama's coffee country and its best-known highland destination, which means two quite different crowds: people here to hike Barú and the waterfall trails, and a large, long-established community of foreign residents. The guides below are written for the first group, though the practical detail serves both.
- Getting there
- Fly to David (45 min from Panama City) then 45 min by road. Overland is 7 hrs by bus.
- When to go
- December to April is driest. The bajareque — fine wind-driven mist — can arrive any month.
- How long
- Three days covers the coffee, a waterfall hike and the hot springs. Barú needs a fourth.
- Getting around
- Town is walkable; trailheads and farms are not. Bikes, taxis or a rental car.
Start here
If you only read three
The three guides that answer most of what people ask before a first trip.
Things to Do in Boquete
The full survey — every hike, farm, spring and viewpoint, and which are worth the trip.
Read the guide
Boquete in Three Days
A tested itinerary that fits the coffee, a waterfall hike and Barú without rushing.
Read the guide
Climbing Volcán Barú
The overnight summit hike — the one place you can see the Pacific and Caribbean together.
Read the guide
Trails and the volcano
Boquete's hiking runs from an easy waterfall circuit to an overnight slog up a 3,475-metre volcano.
Coffee, cloud forest and birds
The two things Boquete is genuinely world-class at — specialty coffee and the resplendent quetzal — happen within a few kilometres of each other.
Hot water, rivers and tours
What to do on the days you are not climbing anything.
The full library
Every Boquete guide
- 01Things to Do in Boquete, PanamaOverview
- 02Boquete Travel Guide: 3-Day ItineraryPlanning
- 03Best Hikes in BoqueteHiking
- 04Volcán Barú Sunrise Summit HikeHiking
- 05Lost Waterfalls Hiking GuideHiking
- 06Caldera Hot Springs BoqueteHot springs
- 07Boquete Coffee Farm ToursCoffee
- 08Finca Lérida & Los Quetzales TrailBirding
- 09Tours in Boquete, PanamaTours