Photo 1 of 3. Click to view slideshow.
The two bridges crossing the Sixaola river from Costa Rica to Panama. The old railway bridge was very scenic but a little rickety to cross and the crossing is now on the new bridge. Photo by Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes

Options for getting to Bocas

Bocas del Toro is a series of islands, reachable only by boat or plane. Generally most transport will get you to the main island Isla Colon or Bocas Town. There are a number of options for travel between Puerto Viejo and Bocas del Toro:

•  Shuttle trips by van and boat are the easiest way as you will be guided through the transfers and border formalities.

•  Booking a complete package with transport, hotel and tours is an excellent option, especially for a quick trip.

•  If you want to travel independently, there are detailed instructions below for going by bus shared taxi and boat.

•  There are flights from San Jose or from Panama City.

•  If you have a car you could drive to the border or even possibly to Bocas on the car ferry.

Please also make sure you review the information about crossing the border.

For transport from Bocas onward further into Panamá we have some info below.

If you're looking for accommodations in Bocas you can see our recommendations below or search all options here:

This is the easy way to get to Bocas without the hassles! Several companies offer shuttle service where they pick you up in your Puerto Viejo hotel and drive you to the border. There they'll assist you with luggage as needed and walk you across the Rio Sixaola bridge and help you deal with Costa Rica exit and Panamanian entry customs.

On the Panama side another van is waiting to take you to Almirante where you have a reserved seat on the boat to Isla Colon (aka Bocastown). Price is about $35 per person for all transport. You are responsible for any customs and immigration fees that are applicable for citizens of your country, see the border crossing section below for details.

Both the major operators shuttle schedules are as follows:

¹ Prices slightly higher for pickups and dropoffs in Cahuita, Punta Uva or Manzanillo
² All times local time; Panama time is one hour later than Costa Rica time.

You can book these shuttles directly with either our travel agency partner Gecko Trail Costa Rica (either shuttle company) or directly with Caribe Shuttle using the buttons below:

If you have a rental car, we recommend you leave it in Puerto Viejo while you're in Bocas and just take the shuttle. Ask your hotel if they will securely store your car while you're there or Banana Azul offers this service for $10/day.

If you're going to Bocas directly from San Jose or returning directly to San Jose there are both shuttle and flight options (see full details on flying below).

The shuttle option between Bocas and San Jose stops in Puerto Viejo and includes lunch. The schedules are as follows:

Operates San José Bocas del Toro¹ Price   daily 5:30 16:30 $80 Book Su/Th² 12:30 PM 2:35 PM varies

Operates Bocas del Toro¹ San José Price   daily 8:00 18:00 $80 Book Su/Th² 3:05 PM 3:10 PM varies

¹ All times local time; Panama time is one hour later than Costa Rica time.
² Flights begin on November 16, 2023 with the initial schedule shown. It is not clear yet if these flights will continue operating in low season.

Booking a one or two night package is the perfect way to get a taste of Bocas with all the details taken care of. The packages include round-trip transport, hotel, breakfasts and tours. Click for more info:

If you really want to experience Bocas but don't have time to add to your trip, you can also visit it as a day trip from Puerto Viejo. This includes transport, tours and lunch. Click for more info:

There are hourly buses (on the half hour) from Puerto Viejo to Sixaola, the town on the Costa Rica side of the border, and there are also hourly buses from Limon to Sixaola (stopping in Cahuita and Hone Creek). The return buses from Sixaola leave on the hour. To see the full schedule for the Limon - Sixaola route, see the local transportation page here.

From Puerto Viejo, the bus takes about 1 1/2 hours to Sixaola. Make sure you catch an earlier enough bus as the border is only open until 5pm daily and Sixaola is not someplace you would want to be stuck for the night. Note if you are staying South of Puerto Viejo you could possibly also get a taxi to take you directly over the mountain (a 4x4 taxi would be needed) to the highway then to Sixaola but expect to pay about $50 USD for this.

At Sixaola you will walk a few minutes towards the Sixaola River which is the border where you will find a Costa Rican customs station on the Costa Rica side of the bridge. Please read the crossing the border section below.

After crossing the river and clearing Costa Rican and Panamamian customs formalities you will be in the town of Guabito. Add 1 hour to your watch as you will now be in a new time zone. If you arrived here on the bus from Costa Rica there will almost certainly be shared van shuttles waiting right at the border to bring you to the boat dock in Almirante. This should cost about $10 per person (you may be able to negotiate a lower rate) and take about 1 hour.

Note that the van drivers can be a bit pushy and if you're thinking of taking the bus or getting there in some other way they are not above bullshitting you saying the road is closed or you'll miss the last boat if you don't go with them. To continue by bus you need to find the stop for the public bus to Changuinola (about 30 minutes) and then take a bus from there to Almirante (another 30 minutes).

At Almirante there are frequent water taxi boats ("lanchas") run by Bocas Marine Tours or Taxi 25 which run every half hour and cost $6 per person. This will take you to Bocastown on the main island, Isla Colon. Most hotels are located here within walking distance of the dock or you can take a taxi to further hotels on Isla Colon or a water taxi if you're going to a resort of hotel on a smaller island.

Crossing the border from Sixaola in Costa Rica to Guabito in Panama is quite straightforward but there are a couple very important things to keep in mind. First you might be offered assistance by some children offering to help guide you, especially if you're getting off the bus in Sixaola. There really isn't any way to get lost, it's a small town and the border is the river. They're pretty harmless but obviously don't let them carry your stuff.

Make sure to stop to register your exit. You must also pay an exit tax of $8 per person either online in advance or $9-$10 at a booth setup at the border. It doesn't seem like anyone is making you do this step (and locals cross to the neighboring town all the time without doing so) but if your passport is not registered as exiting the country, you will have problems later.

You can pay the $8 exit tax before you get to the border at branches of the Banco de Costa Rica or online at this link to Banco de Costa Rica. But it is also easy to pay at the border (there is an additional $1 fee to pay in cash or $2 to pay by credit card so the total is $9 or $10. Look for the exit tax payment booth (see photo 2 in slideshow).

Then you walk across the new bridge (the rickety old railway bridge parallel used to be a fun way to mark your crossing) which crosses the Rio Sixaola which marks the international border to the Panamanian town of Guabito. On the Panamanian side you will need to stop at the Panama customs office for your entry stamp to Panama. There is no longer any fee charged to enter Panama as long as you are entering from the countries with visa free entry. Panama has several entry requirements that you need to keep in mind, be ready to show proof of:

  1. A ticket back to your country of origin or onward within the next 90 days. This is ideally an airline ticket leaving from Central America back to your home country but an onward ticket may be allowed. In the past, a return bus/shuttle ticket back to Costa Rica was accepted but this is no longer generally accepted.
  2. A passport with a least 6 months of validity left on it.
  3. Proof of financial solvency. This can be $500 USD in cash or proof that you have credit cards etc that can cover this.
  4. The address of your hotel/accommodation in Panama.

Not all these requirements are are uniformly enforced. As you can surmise they are there to make sure you aren't going to become a problem of the Panamanian state by overstaying your entry or running out of funds so the application of the rules is up to the customs officer.

These rules pertain to tourists from most Western countries (the USA, EU citizens, Brits, Canadians, etc) but if you're traveling on another passport you need to check beforehand if you need a visa for Panama. Please note if you are traveling with children under 18 you will need additional documentation.

Note that there is nothing to impel you to enter these offices (no gates, etc) but you WILL have problems later if you do not have the right paperwork. There is a checkpoint about 8km after the border on the way to Changuinola where they will verify you have all the correct paperwork.

In the other direction, when you're traveling to Costa Rica from Panama, there are similar rules but they are less often enforced. You must also stop at both offices for exit and entry stamps. No fees are payable in this direction either exiting Panama or entering Costa Rica.

The border stations are not open 24 hours. The Costa Rica offices are open from 7 am to 5 pm Costa Rica time. Panamá customs says they are open 24 hours but that won't really help if you can't get the Costa Rica exit (or vice versa). So make sure you arrive at the border in time or you'll be spending the night in Sixaola or Changuinola (there is no place to stay in Guabito, there are one or two basic hotels in Sixaola).

I don't know anyone who has driven all the way from Puerto Viejo to Bocastown / Isla Colon, but it is theoretically possible to do so. However if you are driving a rental car, your rental contract will almost certainly prohibit taking your car out of Costa Rica. For a private vehicle you would need a permit for your vehicle to temporarily enter Panama and this should be obtained in advance. The car ferry from Almirante to Bocas leaves daily except Monday at 7:00 AM from Almirante and 3:00 PM from Isla Colon, so it isn't possible to catch the same day coming from Puerto Viejo as the border doesn't open until 8:00 AM Panama time. However, the water taxi companies offer a service where they will transport you by water taxi and arrange for your car to be delivered the next day.

A much easier option is to leave your car behind in Puerto Viejo and take a shuttle to Bocas. Hotel Banana Azul offers the option of secure parking at the hotel for $10/day and you can easily catch one of the shuttles from there. Or, you could drive to Sixaola and leave your car there while you are in Panama. There is a parking lot in Sixaola offering parking either for day trips or for several days. The local police have advised that the owners are serious and there have been no reported incidents of thefts. Rates reported by a traveler in March 2015 were 4,500 colones (about $8) per day. Their phone number is 2754 2106 (likely Spanish only) for more information.

Costa Rica Green Airways flew the route between San José and Bocas del Toro in the 2022/2023 high season but they have not announced yet if they will also be operating on this route in winter 2023/2024.

Aerobell also indicates they fly this route but the only options we have found are charter flights where you book the whole plane but you may wish to inquire with them if they have a flight going that day or maybe your group or budget is big enough for a charter to make sense.

Nature Air formerly flew this route but their operations were suspended in early 2018 (you may still see them listed as an option on sites which are not up to date).

The Sansa flights are from the main Juan Santamaria airport so it would be possible to connect from an international flight.

The flight time is just 50 minutes. So if you're starting in San Jose and want to visit both Puerto Viejo and Bocas, a circle trip where you take a bus or shuttle to Puerto Viejo, spend some days in Puerto Viejo then go on to Bocas by land and sea. Then from Bocas town you can fly directly back to San Jose in about an hour. The flight schedule is:

¹ All times local time; Panama time is one hour later than Costa Rica time.
² Flights begin on November 16, 2023 with the initial schedule shown. It is not clear yet if these flights will continue operating in low season.
³ This is a charter flight and the price is per plane with the lowest rates starting for a 4 passenger plane.

If you're coming from Panama City, there are flights from Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" Airport (not the main International Airport) to both Bocas del Toro and Changuinola. To continue on to Puerto Viejo from Bocas take one of the shuttle services mentioned above. From Changuinola it's a quick taxi or bus to the border and then onto Puerto Viejo.

Bocas is not far from Puerto Viejo but it's a world away in terms of feel and accommodation options. The first thing you'll notice when you arrive is that many of the hotels are directly on the water on piers jutting out into the ocean. While Costa Rica tries to protect their beachfront, there's a more anything goes attitude in Bocas but it certainly does make for some unique accommodation options!

Most of the hotels, restaurants and activities are on the main island (Isla Colón) in Bocastown. That's also where you'll arrive no matter how you get here. So if you want the most options for eating, drinking and activities that's the place to stay and you won't need a car if you're right in town as it's quite compact. But there are also quieter options on some of the other islands which you can reach by regular water taxi shuttles from the dock in Bocastown. There are even some private resorts on their own islands, for those they'll arrange transport as part of your stay.

Since this isn't a website about Bocas del Toro we won't make any attempt at an exhaustive list but will just offer you some of our favorites in various categories or you can search all the options here.

Hostel: Selina

Selina has hostels in many places in Latin America including Puerto Viejo and they're consistently nice, if not the cheapest option. They have a well designed stylish vibe and cool social areas to hang out in. In Bocas they have two locations. One waterfront in Bocastown close to all the action with a dock to hang out on or swim off of and a happening bar. Another is in Isla Bastimentos at Red Frog Beach. Dorms from $25 US and private rooms from $65 US.

See more info / reserve Bocastown
See more info / reserve Red Frog

Mid-range: Divers Paradise

Not just for divers, this centrally located waterfront hotel comfortable rooms right on the water. As you'd expect from the name there's a diving shop and school on site as well as a restaurant and bar. Double rooms with private bath from about $105 US.

See more info / reserve

Mid-range: Tropical Suites

Another option right in Bocas Town and right on the water. Splurge on a suite with an oceanfront balcony as there is no shared waterfront patio to hang out on. Double rooms with private bath from about $179 US.

See more info / reserve

Romantic: Dolphin Bay Hideaway

Located on Isla San Cristobal, 20 minutes by boat from Bocastown, this hotel is a special place where you'll find quiet and nature. Double rooms with private bath about $200USD with breakfast.

See more info / reserve

Retreat: La Loma Jungle Lodge and Chocolate Farm

Located on car free Isla Bastimentos this property is dedicted to sustainability. Each room has a private bathroom with a hot water shower, comfortable beds with canopy mosquito nets, overhead fans and furniture crafted on-site from local materials. Double rooms from about $500 US include all your meals.

See more info / reserve

If you travelling from Puerto Viejo to Bocas and then further into Panama there are several transport options. Air Panamá flies from Bocas del Toro airport to Panama City's Albrook Airport, you can book that here.

You can also book a shuttle with MyPinkBus to Playa Venao and from there they also have shuttles to Panamá City and to Boquette.

Bocas to Playa Venao   Playa Venao to Bocas
Playa Venao to Panamá City   Panamá City to Playa Venao
Playa Venao to Boquette   Boquette to Playa Venao