Hotels near Playa, Carenero

The hotel has a nice location to get to discover Bocas and go out for short or long tours to the islands and their attractions. The breakfasts are delicious but some options are small portions and not worth eating. For a Selina one would expect a higher standard of service, but their staff makes no effort to meet it, they do the minimum to barely get the job done, their guest service is basic and their hospitality needs to be developed a lot. The rooms need a lot of ”love” to be up to the standard of a Selina: maintenance, security and comfort are things they lack. The few windows do not close well, there is little space and comfort in the bathroom to have your clothes hung up or to change clothes, the doors of the rooms are rusty, the floors always look dirty and full of dust and dirt, the plants are dirty, dead or very dry, the decoration is not something that helps to give a cozy feel. It is difficult to detail who is a Selina collaborator because they show indifference and since they do not have a uniform or a badge it is impossible to know who to ask for help. The last night we had to suffer from a Jewish party and there was no one to tell us that there was going to be a lot of noise and much less was there anyone to help us asking for respect and silence for the other guests for that noisy group of Jews who thought they were the only ones in the hotel. If you are looking to spend days and nights partying, Selina Bocas del Toro is for you, if you are looking to just sleep and go every day to the tours in the other islands, Selina Bocas del Toro is for you, but if you need comfort, services, hospitality, attention and tranquility, Selina Bocas del Toro is not for you.

Are you a deep sleeper then you are ok. This is a great hotel except for one minor detail. It's 50 metres from a bar that blasts music from 10 until early hours of the morning. So much so the hotel provides ear plugs in your rooms. I've never had that before! If facing hotel try to get room on opposite side to right. Apart from this friendly helpful staff. Good service. Rooms not huge but good sized. Made up daily with fresh towels. Clean. Ac, fan and TV that work. Great bathroom, hot water. Restaurant with quick service. Ice cream out front good. Writing desk in room and hanging space. Small juliette balcony. Water views both sides. Worth staying if you can deal with music. It will depend on season how many nights and how loud.

Nice hotel in the middle of dirt. The room was clean, breakfast has a nice choice and very good. Staff was a little weird but nice. English was spoken by all but the maids. The loss of a star is because they let outsiders come in to use the pool. During the day there were families and it got crowded at times. I never used the pool because of this and I booked/paid to have one. I would have given it 2 less stars for the area and I wont be back but that's not the hotels fault. Town is dirty. Streets are sand and dust, open air restaurants were filthy, and somehow I got food poisoning. We were supposed to stay 11 nights but we left in 5 and lost all that money. It was a wreck.

During my trip I tried out 3 different Bambuda hostels (in dormitories each time). I waited until I'd done all 3 before writing this review. Here is my personal experience : Out of the 3 Bambuda I think they had the most amazing staff. Everyone was kind, smiling, friendly and very helpful. For some examples, they use WhatsApp to communicate and on the way to the hotel my water cab broke down. I told them just to let them know I'd be arriving later and they offered to call for assistance. Another example, I dropped my AirPods case (i m a mess) and lost one of them. Half the staff helped me look everywhere for it. For backpackers on a budget, you need to know that there's no kitchen and as there's nothing on Solarte Island you'll be totally dependent on the hostel restaurant. There is a filtered water fountain, but I haven't tried it myself. As far as the food is concerned, everything I ate was really very good, they have a wide choice of western and more local dishes, and concerning prices nothing shocked me compared with other restaurants across the islands. Good to know too - for dinner they have a ”family dinner” concept which means you have to order your meal before 5.45pm. After this time, you won't be able to order any food whatsoever. So if you're planning to arrive at the hostel after that time, be sure to have dinner beforehand! The place and the location itself are amazing but I was a little unlucky on the room. I was in a 6-bed dorm room with a bathroom, and it wasn't very clean (not bad considering there were already 4 other people in the room) but there was a terrible smell of urine throughout the room (not even in the bathroom itself). Also be aware that it’s kind of a party place so if you are in the dorms it will get noisy (unless you are partying too 😉) As the place is more or less off the grid, there's no hot water or aircon (but you can ask for as many fans as you like!). as you can imagine, since you're on an island where there's nothing, you'll have to pay for water cabs every time you want to go somewhere and then come back, which can get expensive! My advice, choose this hostel if you want to chill and relax in a beautiful place rather than to visit, there’s a time for everything!

The Palmar Beach Lodge is something very special. Wonderfully situated between the jungle and the beach. Wonderfully uncomplicated and with nice, friendly staff. Starting with the maintenance staff, who transport suitcases on request, and Alejandra at reception, who always has a smile for guests and takes care of all their needs. All the restaurant and bar staff contribute to the good mood and in particular Lucas, Jimmy and Eduardo, who were always friendly, helpful and willing to go the extra mile. The bungalow was very good, the AC was working and it was well equipped. The food was good and the beach was just great! Highly recommended.