Just got back from a week in beautiful Bocas Del Toro, and stayed at Hotel Bocas Del Toro. The hotel is on the water, and right in the heart of Bocastown. We had a regular room without a balcony - small, but not as small as I expected. It comfortably fit two people with embarrassingly large suitcases. The bathroom was clean and not cramped. The hotel is built with beautiful natural wood interior, and has a small restaurant and bar.

The staff is very friendly and helpful, the owner was around some too - affable woman from Hawaii. They treat you like guests in their home. The restaurant was good, but probably not the best in the area - the coffee and food at Lily's three doors down was better. But, in the end, it was incredibly convenient, perfectly accomodating, reasonably priced and very comfortable.

Highly recommended.

Beware of this Hotel!!!!When we arrived at this place,we when on a water taxi trip.Apon completing ride arround the harbor,I needed help in getting back to dry land.This resulted in my pocket being picked,by crew to the tune of 1300.00 dollarsThe thief handed me back my passport,saying I had dropped it while on boat!In my right hand pocket was money,and brand new watch just purchased in Panama City less than 24 hour earlier,As he help me to stand up on dock he had stolen these itemsI notified the tour company of loss they had me report this at a place not connected with police station.I was told this report would be brought to me for signature latter.I was told i refused to sign it....Carla the owner of this Hotel told me that a letter of demando would take many hours to complete,discourging me to persue this action...The next day my girl friend noticed her Dolche Cabana cell phone/charger,expensive translator,document holder,and cash were missing...Over $2700.00 were pilfered by room staff robbers..Carla claimed she had talked with us,which never occored,we talk with a lady at reception who said the police would come,and search our room at 8am.they never showed...There seems to be a certin scheme of things here.There is a plan to shift the blame back to those who were robbed.If you are fool hardy,and go there don't bring anything of value,as it will be taken in a heart beat/beware!!!!

Place was nice. Their fruit smoothies were tasty. Service was good too. Centrally located in Bocas Town.

Stayed here with my husband recently on a vacation for a total of 4 nights. Overall, we were happy with our stay.
We had a basic room without a balcony, and we found the room a bit cramped. The bed was in good condition, with clean sheets and blankets. There was no desk and just 1 nightstand, which made it hard to organize our belongings unless everything was laid out on the bed.

The room came with 2 bath towels and 1 hand towel. The only toiletries provided were 2 small bars of soap. I found the room quite basic and spartan. There was an armoire for hanging clothing, and inside a small safe. There was a small flat-screen tv. There were remotes for the TV and A/C. The shower stall was the least pleasant part of the room, with a mildewy shower curtain and ugly floor tiles. Otherwise, the room was attractive enough. I would recommend getting a room with a porch if you can spring for it. The balcony-less room is a bit dark and depressing.

That said, I didn't get the impression that most of the hotels in Bocas Town were any fancier, and it seemed that Hotel Bocas Del Toro (HBDT) was one of the nicer ones. The hotel felt in keeping with the character of the town. There are some newer condo-suite hotels (i.e. Tropical Suites) that looked very out of place in this laid-back, modest resort town.

For meals, we only ate breakfast (a $10 voucher per day was included with our room). The food was ok (not great), and we found the service to be on the langorous side, especially since we usually had morning appointments (tours, etc.). We learned to get up a bit early to allow for the long-ish breakfasts. We tried the continental breakfast (good), omlette with bacon (one time good, one time watery eggs and way overcooked bacon), Panamanian breakfast (good), French toast (more like toast with cinnamon and sugar), and the hojaldres (one time very good, another time not so crispy).

The hotel offers $2 town maps. Skip the map and explore the town on foot. You'll get to know the town layout quickly.


PROS:
- Helpful and friendly staff at the front desk
- There's a daily happy hour from 5-7pm, which is a great deal (I think $.75 beers. Many hotels/bars have this deal). The banana batidas are delicious.
- The nice back patio where you can enjoy your happy hour drinks or meals. HBDT has the longest pier out of its neighbors, so you can sit at the farthest tip and not really see any of your neighbors.
- A helpful, big binder of menus
- The proprietor, Carla, was very friendly, giving a little of the B&B vibe to the hotel. She was more than willing to provide tips and info about activities. She made several excellent suggestions on places to eat. Although I didn't partake, the hotel offers its own tours and kayak rentals.
- The website says that Wireless internet access is available in the lobby, lounge and bar area. We were able to get it in our room, but that might have been b/c we were on a lower floor.
- housekeeping kept the room very clean and neat
- The hotel provides large beach towels, which is a nice bonus. You have to sign those out at the front desk.
- The hotel loaned me a hair dryer during my stay, which was helpful as I was trying to travel light (intra-country flights have a lower baggage weight allowance).
- convenient location - close to everything in town

Some cons:
- Cramped room
- Wood floors were noisy (whenever the upstairs neighbors walked around, we could hear every step)
- Extremely noisy. Revelers at the bar made a lot of noise, and in the morning starting as early as 7am or 8am, the restaurant(?) staff starts banging pots and pans.
- Stuffy room (rooms with a balcony don't have this problem, I assume)
- Can't make calls to cell phones from the rooms. You have to use the hotel cell phone.
- Not-so-nice shower
- Slow-ish breakfast service