Panama TR- a Hidden Family Gem (w/AWESOME restaurants)!

[rediplus]

thanks again for the great TR.
how was the davening at Shevet Achim ?
is there an eruv between the hotels and the shul ?
how did you prepare in the hotel for Shabbos ?
bring a crock pot ?
any hotels or airbnbs really close to a shul ?

[zow]

Denverite, thank  you for a wonderful trip report.  Panama looks amazing -- definitely high on our list.
Your TR was great, but for this, you are my hero(ine):

" I pulled up my Hotels.com app in front of her, found a teeny room for like $40 on there and told my husband that he'd have to go at night and sleep there after helping us unpack!  "

[shwarmabob]

Thanks for the TR. Added Panama to my bucket list, neighbouring Costa Rica was already there. DW will love those milchig places

[Denverite]

Sorry for the delayed responses guys!

thanks again for the great TR.
how was the davening at Shevet Achim ?
is there an eruv between the hotels and the shul ?
how did you prepare in the hotel for Shabbos ?
bring a crock pot ?
any hotels or airbnbs really close to a shul ?

Davening was a beautiful Sephardic service.   My husband went a few times during the week also and really liked it and said the guys were friendly to him.  I know there are eruvim but the truth is I didn't really check as we don't have small kids, taped our door and didn't plan to carry anything.  The Hilton, WA and LeMeridian are very close to Shevet Achim but if you want to be closer to the main "Jewish Area" in Paitilla or Punta Pacifica you can stay at the Hardrock, Trump Tower or a number of AirBnBs.  We didn't bring a crockpot and were personally fine to just have a bunch of salads and cold cuts during the day.  For Shabbos dinner we had bought extra from a restaurant that I reheated in the kitchen in our suite and it was still warm when my husband returned.

Denverite, thank  you for a wonderful trip report.  Panama looks amazing -- definitely high on our list.
Your TR was great, but for this, you are my hero(ine):

" I pulled up my Hotels.com app in front of her, found a teeny room for like $40 on there and told my husband that he'd have to go at night and sleep there after helping us unpack!  "

Why thank you, it feels good to be a heroine!! 
Seriously, I couldn't believe that she was truly going to try to force the second room on us, especially when we have SPG status and I had already booked the larger "Premium" 1BR with a full kitchen....I don't know where the idea for the hotels.com app came from but I am glad I thought of it and thought I'd share in case any other DDFers ever get in a similar pinch!! My hubby did give me the stink eye for a sec until he realized that I wasn't throwing him under the bus to a ghetto hotel but was actually saving him a ton of money. 

Thanks for the TR. Added Panama to my bucket list, neighbouring Costa Rica was already there. DW will love those milchig places

Great, glad you like the report! You might want to write down all the stuff you wanted to do in Costa Rica because it could be that you can do all those same things in Panama, but then your DW will be extra happy with you getting her awesome dairy food each night after your adventures or with your handy Kosher PTY app you can even have milchigs delivered for her and fleishigs for you! 

[Denverite]

Just booked my tickets for the family for three weeks next summer so hopefully this trip report will have more adventures and great kosher restaurants added then.  With free tickets and about $300 a week for hotel at the Sortis, we decided its cheaper than paying even for day camp for my kids and way more fun!!

[Yehoshua]

Just booked my tickets for the family for three weeks next summer so hopefully this trip report will have more adventures and great kosher restaurants added then.  With free tickets and about $300 a week for hotel at the Sortis, we decided its cheaper than paying even for day camp for my kids and way more fun!!

Have fun! I wish we could book for next summer now, but that won't happen unfortunately.

[saw50st8]

Just booked my tickets for the family for three weeks next summer so hopefully this trip report will have more adventures and great kosher restaurants added then.  With free tickets and about $300 a week for hotel at the Sortis, we decided its cheaper than paying even for day camp for my kids and way more fun!!

Enjoy! Are you going to go up north too or stay in Panama City?

[Denverite]

Have fun! I wish we could book for next summer now, but that won't happen unfortunately.

Aww, why not? Direct on Copa, 17.5 or 30k!

Enjoy! Are you going to go up north too or stay in Panama City?

Not sure yet, I haven't planned that far ahead yet. I'd definitely love to see Boquette and Colon though, maybe a coffee plantation.

[Suave]

Aww, why not? Direct on Copa, 17.5 or 30k!


Not sure yet, I haven't planned that far ahead yet. I'd definitely love to see Boquette and Colon though, maybe a coffee plantation.

I really liked boquete. Can recommend a coffee plantation etc.

[Denverite]

I really liked boquete. Can recommend a coffee plantation etc.

Thanks! Feel comfortable to post the info here?  I'd love to have it.

[Suave]

Thanks! Feel comfortable to post the info here?  I'd love to have it.

http://boquetebees.com
https://goo.gl/maps/85JDoFrtAi32

[Denverite]

http://boquetebees.com
https://goo.gl/maps/85JDoFrtAi32

The bee place looks really cool. Did you drive from Panama City to Boquete?

[Denverite]

I’ve already booked my flights and don’t want to pay United change fees (yes I know SQ has a way better fee situation but I really needed the expanded inventory from United because of my co-branded cc).  If others are planning trips and want to go to Boquete, I’d book my flight differently than what I did. I’d just book my ticket to DAV (about 45 minutes from Boquete) with PTY as the stopover, so that I could get both locations included.  It’s about a six hour drive or $150-$200 RT for the one hour flight on Copa.

[Suave]

The bee place looks really cool. Did you drive from Panama City to Boquete?

I took a shuttle (Ferry+Van) from Bocas. The way back I took an overnight bus from DAV to PTY.

Boquete has a tiny jewish/chabad community (mostly expats)

[Denverite]

I took a shuttle (Ferry+Van) from Bocas. The way back I took an overnight bus from DAV to PTY.

Boquete has a tiny jewish/chabad community (mostly expats)

Wow, you are hardcore and I’m assuming you weren’t lugging kids with you on the overnight bus (although that’s totally stupid of me to assume since my dad planned family trips like that my whole childhood...yup, I got to experience some awesome hostels...lol...which is I guess why my current adventures need to be comfortable)! 

Seriously, thanks for all the great info and suggestions!

[StevieZ]

@Denverite did you use Sorhay as the tour guide for Monkey Island as well? Was it worth the expense?

[Denverite]

@Denverite did you use Sorhay as the tour guide for Monkey Island as well? Was it worth the expense?

Yes and YES! For my family of 5 it was actually cheaper than paying per person on a big group tour and I love being able to extend parts my family is enjoying or move along when we are done with something. She got special fruit for us (and some special ones the monkeys like aside from bananas...I don’t want to ruin the surprise).  I can’t say enough good things about her and her company. We went on Friday and she even dropped us at a kosher restaurant (she knows where a lot of them are) to eat a late lunch when we were done.

[Denverite]

#DDFeffect!

Sorhay has gotten so much business from my trip report (and responding to so many PMs) that she decided to make a kosher tour page (gotta love her and capitalism).  I thought you all would enjoy and for those of you that have had questions about the most popular tours, she has listed them here with pricing for couples and for a larger group it isn't that much more (you can still always PM me and I'm happy to help).  I thought y'all would get a kick out of this and some of the pictures she has (spoiler alert, I'm not in any of them but some of my friends from Denver are and I'm wondering who all these other people are and what their DDF names are)!! 

https://www.therealpanamatours.com/kosher-tours-details.html

I also just used two Marriott certs to book at the Sortis Hotel this summer.  A friend from here just got back and told me about a few other restaurants super close to the hotel that weren't even on my radar so I'm super excited to go back and try them out!

[chuchem]

Just came back und used soray and was super happy. We had a amazing time and alot of the pictures (with 6 boys) are mine
There is a new restaurant aria right across the street of the sortis, probably our favourite in panama
we Did san blas for 2 days as well

[Something Fishy]

#DDFeffect!

Sorhay has gotten so much business from my trip report (and responding to so many PMs) that she decided to make a kosher tour page (gotta love her and capitalism).  I thought you all would enjoy and for those of you that have had questions about the most popular tours, she has listed them here with pricing for couples and for a larger group it isn't that much more (you can still always PM me and I'm happy to help).  I thought y'all would get a kick out of this and some of the pictures she has (spoiler alert, I'm not in any of them but some of my friends from Denver are and I'm wondering who all these other people are and what their DDF names are)!! 

https://www.therealpanamatours.com/kosher-tours-details.html

Wow, this is great.

But I'm not sure they really understand Jews. On the one hand, half of the conversation is about food, which is good. On the other hand, they say "When we have kosher visitors we only do group tours with other kosher visitors so you feel more comfortable." Do that not know that the last thing a Jew on vacation wants to see is another Jew ?