Playa Bluff Lodge

Booked and paid for an ocean view room with a balcony but only garden view rooms were available so instead of the waves crashing I heard the property next door doing Los construction all day long …. Other than that the place was great

Over rated over priced This was the most expensive place that we stayed at in Panama and was the worst by a landslide. The patio door was just a screen that anyone could have broken into. We were woken up by loud people 3 of the 6 nights we stayed there and management pretty much said it was out of their control! Not impressed!!!! Our room was only “cleaned” twice, check in did not include instructions on where to get drinkable water, nor was there a glass in the room. The electrical outlets would not hold a plug for my charger. The sheets are too small for the bed and their are no mattress covers, yuck!!!! The curtains did not fully cover the windows. The patio door locks are broken, so a small padlock with a key is used. There are no lights on the patio, so sitting out and reading at night is not possible and there are wires hanging where lights should be. There was no hot water in the showers even after they were “fixed”. If you are there for surfing this is a great place to be, if that is not your intent then do not stay here, it is a long way from town and the shuttle only comes every 2 hours and a taxi will cost you $15-$20 one way. The breakfast is the same every day, eggs, pancake and toast with a few pieces of fruit. When we raised concerns it fell on deaf ears, the owner/manager thought that our concerns were trivial. She certainly does not belong in the hospitality business. This place has the potential to be quite lovely, but falls very short of its potential.

An adventure If you go to Playa Bluff hotel, think about an adventure. No air conditioning anywhere. The restaurant has new chef from Italy. We only had breakfast there, (was ok) never ate dinner. We had dinner every night at Hummingbird hotel, amazing food, great ambience. Walking distance. The pool did not opened until the day we left. They had lost electricity and it was disgusting, so took time to clean. The staff is extremely friendly and helpful, the room is nice, doesn't have a fitted sheet, so is a little uncomfortable to sleep with a sheet that moves all around. No Mattress cover, the room could be cleaned better, need to move furniture and clean behind and under, since its a tropical place, spiders are everywhere. There is a big community kitchen that is fully equipped and you can buy food and make whatever you want. Unfortunately there are no markets close by, you have to take the shuttle that comes every hour in front of hotel for $3 or a taxi $20 into town ( around 30 minute ride one way) to buy food. Unfortunately the ocean was extremely rough, so we were not able to swim in the ocean, but if you walk the trail for about an hour or bike (they have bikes for rent) you reach beautiful natural pools. Take a book and plan to relax, eat and enjoy the weather, and go into town and take tours to the islands. You can arrange all tours with the hotel. The hotel is building a new spa, and tour thru their jungle and waterfalls.

Great location-only a few steps from BomBom Beach, bar and restaurant-our favorite place to hang out in Bocas. Rooms are newly renovated and lovely. Very nice complimentary breakfast (nice bar, reception and dining area). Private beach with sunrise yoga avaiable. Awesome management under Manuel and his wife. Highly recommend and looking forward to returning.