Boquete - Panama's Mountain Paradise

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Fortune magazine's 2005 Retirement Guide selects Boquete as one of the 5 best places in the world to retire. Boquete used to be a "best kept secret." All that changed in 2001 when Modern Maturity magazine of the American Association for Retired Persons chose Boquete as one of the 4 top places in the world to retire, a rating based on safety,beauty, climate and cost-of-living. A scenic mountain town in highlands of West Panama, Boquete is also a world class tourist destination--a flower-filled valley village with gourmet coffee farms on its slopes, spectacular mountain views, nature-rich flor and fauna and springlike weather year round.

HOW TO GET THERE: By air, car or bus. You can fly Air Panama or Aeroperlas from Albrook Airport to the nearby city of David. Airfares are around $100 round trip. From David, you rent a car or take a 45 minute taxi ride to Boquete. It also is an easy 7 hour car trip from Panama City or you can take a bus ($15) from the Albrook Bus Terminal in Panama City.

WHERE TO STAY

There are two options- stay in the village or up on the mountainside. A stay in a village hotel offers walking distance proximity to riverside fair grounds full of flowers, Boquete town sights and good restaurants. See hotel listings below.
 

WHERE TO EAT
Boquete Bistro : Featuring continental foods flavored with the sauces and spices of a true chef. Prices are reasonable and the servings generous. Conveniently located in a historic building with a full wall mural by a famous Panamanian artist from 1952 on Boquete's main street. Owned and operated by Loretta from Aspen, Colorado
Panamonte Hotel: A renowned restaurant with a menu prepared by one of Panama's top chefs- Charly Collins.Especially recommended are the fresh trout, filet mignon and hearty seafood soup.For vegetarians, the wild mushroom polenta is great.

Palo Alto Restaurant: Just outside town on scenic site next to the Caldera River, a very popular place with excellent international dishes. Reservations are a must: 720.1076

WHAT TO DO

Golf: Valle Escondido has a challenging 9 hole golf course in a stunning valley setting-the course plays through Valle Escondido, crossing a beautiful river four times. This is one of the only courses in the world that plays through a working coffee plantation. Facilities include carts, a full-service shop and adjacent El Pueblo for restaurants, bar and coffee shop. Green fees only9 holes $20. 18 holes $30.

Boquete Tree Trek- An exhilarating, adrenaline rush ride- glide through 3 kilometers of the canopy of a century-old cloud forest high above pristine rivers, waterfalls and landscape bordering Amistad National Park and the Baru Volcano

Coffee Farm Tours

World's Best Coffee: Boquete is home to a number of "specialty" or gourmet coffee farms. The special micro-climates of Boquete grow the world's finest gourmet coffee. Hacienda La Esmeralda recently won first place at the two top international cupping competitions.

Coffee farm tours include a visit to the processing plants which prepare the coffee bean for consumption and the farm itself. Coffee farms are set on mountainsides with the coffee bushes on steep slopes. All tours end with a delicious cup of gourmet coffee or a "cupping" which is the coffee equivalent of a wine tasting.

Coffee Farm Tour Options: Café Ruiz: From their roadside coffee shop, Café Ruiz offers a tour of their farm and processing plant. Kotowa Coffee Estate Kotawa is an excellent tour of a stunning coffee farm and two processing plants- one antique and one modern. The tour ends with a "cupping".

Horseback Riding: Edward Cano-call 720.1750 Boquete is the perfect countryside for horseback riding, with picturesque views of the Chiriqui river and beautiful flora. Mr. Canos guides will take you up for breathtaking mountain views or you can explore by yourself.

Rock Climbing: Boquete Climbing offers three rock walls that are only seven minutes from the center of Boquete-Mermelada Acil for beginners, Camino Negro for intermediates, and Camino Matrix for advanced. They are 5.2, 5.3, and 5.5 degrees of difficulty respectively, according to the Yosemite measure. The cost is $40 and recommended age is 6 and up. Tel: 507.65.36.6390 Email: boqueteclimbing@yahoo.com

Boquete's Best Bargains:
Finca Lerida Coffee Farm Tour- only $17.50 for a tour of the farm and processing plant for one of the top 25 coffees in the world. Tel: 507.720.8065

Golf at Valle Escondido-for only $15.21 on a challenging 9 hole course in gorgeous surroundings. Tel: 720.2897

White Water Rafting for Everybody

Hector Sanchez's Chiriqui River Rafting. Mr. Sanchez and his certified rafting staff are highly recommended based on a perfect safety record after 20 years in the business. They offer everything from a safe and fun trip down the river that any family can enjoy to more challenging "first ascent" for adventures for experts. Many consider the Chiriqui Viejo River one of the 10 best rivers in the world.

Eight members of our family made the trip in one raft (steered by an on-board guide) along with two kayakers providing additional safety support. It was a thrilling all day trip including 4 hours of rafting broken by a break for a riverside picnic lunch. We sometimes sped and sometimes drifted down the scenic river-as exciting as any ride at Disney World and it lasted a lot longer.

Horseback Riding

Surrounded by mountain paths with gorgeous views -Boquete is a splendid place to ride horses. For horse rentals with or without a guide, call Eduardo Cano 720.1750 ( $5 an hour-have your hotel host call him if you don't speak Spanish) or Nolo Picota (644.2377,$7 an hour.)

Hiking and Nature Tours

Seeing a Quetzal for Sure
In Boquete there is a birding guide by the name of Chago who is one of the few people who know how to call a quetzal- the holy grail for American birders. Chago is famous for his quetzal viewing tours on the slope of Baru Volcano. Panama is the last place where it is relatively easy to see a quetzal, considered the most beautiful bird in the Americas. When we took his tour, Chago promised us we would see five quetzals. We spent an hour meandering through a grove of special trees high up on the volcano as Chago made his bird calls- and better than his word-we saw not five but seven quetzals. Chago told us of people who had made 20 trips in Costa Rica trying unsuccessly to see this rare, magical bird. In Boquete Chago guarantees you will see a quetzal anytime of the year, or he will refund you part of your tour fee. Jane from the Coffee Estate Inn reports that between December and May of 2003, all of their guests, without exception, saw between 4 and 12 quetzals on a single tour with Chago. Chago's cellular phone number is 6620-2187 and home phone number is 720-4548.

Hiking

The geography of the land surrounding Boquete is a hiker's dream. There are public trails throughout the area, which have been used by the farmers for generations.The forests are magnificent. As you gain elevation in one cloud forest nearby, you pass four distinct types of vegetation. Enjoy exuberant greenery and picturesque views, including waterfalls. You can go with a guide or you can hike the main roads yourself.

Strolling Around Town
The village lends itself to easy strolls. You can visit the riverside fair grounds with prize winning flowers displays, the small Huaca Museum, handicrafts shops, coffee shops and dine at one of Boquete's fine restaurants. A must-do is a visit to "My Garden is Your Garden" a beautiful private garden of local, wealthy family filled with whimsical figures made of flowers.

Resort Communities
More and more people from around the world are deciding to make Boquete their paradise on a more permanent basis. It is hard to imagine a more ideal place for a permanent home, or second home. In fact Modern Maturity the magazine of the AARP selected Boquete as one of the top four best places in the world to live outside the United States, a rating based on safety, beauty, climate, infrastructure, stability and cost.

Boquete has an ever growing number of residential projects. Prices are about half of anything comparable in the U.S. and also less than Costa Rica. Two of the best are Valle Escondido and Cielo Paraiso.

Valle Escondido is Boquete's original premiere resort community-the dream-come-true of an American developer who fell in love with Boquete and this hidden valley. Valle Escondido is a planned, architecturally attractive residential community with all the amenities you would expect from a world class development including a 9-hole golf course,a spa, a quaint shopping village, riverside cabins and villas offering overnight and longer stay accommodations.

Cielo Paraiso- On a plateau with spectacular 360 degree views of mountains and ocean, Cielo Paraiso is an exclusive resort community of estate residences with a golf course designed by Michael Poellot opening in 2007.