Panama
Bocas del Toro
Over-water bungalows on a Caribbean archipelago where sloths drift through mangrove canopies.
The water taxi cuts its engine and you drift into the dock at Bocas Town, reggaeton bleeding from a waterfront bar, a three-toed sloth hanging motionless in the mangrove directly above. Bocas del Toro is a Caribbean archipelago where the sea is the street — over-water bungalows sit above turquoise shallows, and the gaps between floorboards frame fish swimming beneath your feet.
Bocas del Toro archipelago comprises nine main islands and hundreds of smaller cays scattered above one of the Caribbean's most extensive coral reef systems. The town of Bocas, on Isla Colón, operates on a grid of unpaved streets where you can eat lionfish ceviche and be back at your pier in three minutes. Island-hopping by water taxi reveals Starfish Beach, Red Frog Beach, and dozens of unnamed coves accessible only by boat. Organic cacao farms on the islands produce single-origin chocolate, and the surrounding mangroves shelter resident populations of sloths, dolphins, and nesting sea turtles.
Couple
Over-water bungalows on Isla Carenero with the Caribbean visible through the floor, followed by sunset kayaking through mangrove tunnels — Bocas delivers the private-island feeling without the private-island price.
Friends
Island-hopping, snorkelling, waterfront bars that spill onto docks, and a Caribbean backpacker energy that keeps the nights going — Bocas is built for group adventures on the water.
Solo
The compact, walkable town, easy water-taxi connections, and communal atmosphere of hostels and dive shops make Bocas one of Panama's most natural solo-traveller hubs.
Family
Calm shallows for young swimmers, sloth-spotting boat tours through the mangroves, and chocolate farm visits where children can make their own bars from raw cacao.
- Three-toed sloths cling to red mangroves along the water-taxi routes between islands — spottable from the boat without leaving your seat.
- The archipelago sits above one of the Caribbean's most extensive coral systems, with reef accessible by snorkel directly from the dock.
- Over-water bungalows on Isla Carenero rest directly above turquoise shallows — the sea visible through gaps in the floorboards.
- The town of Bocas sits on a grid of unpaved streets where you can eat lionfish ceviche and be back at your pier in three minutes.
Caribbean lobster grilled whole over coconut husks on a pier above turquoise water.
Chocolate made from Bocas cacao at organic island farms, bitter and intense.
Patacones stuffed with octopus at waterside restaurants where the floor is the sea.
Rock Islands Southern Lagoon
Palau
Hundreds of mushroom-shaped limestone islands floating on water so clear the shadows have shadows.
Attabad Lake
Pakistan
Turquoise water filling a valley that was dry land until a 2010 landslide rewrote geography overnight.
Marlborough Sounds
New Zealand
Fifteen hundred kilometres of drowned coastline folded into bays reachable only by water.
Saif ul Muluk
Pakistan
At 3,200 metres, a glacial lake so turquoise it birthed Pakistan's most beloved Sufi love poem.
Gamboa
Panama
A rainforest town straddling the Panama Canal where toucans perch on the balconies.
El Valle de Antón
Panama
An entire town nestled inside the crater of an extinct volcano.
Casco Viejo
Panama
Crumbling baroque balconies where jazz drifts over a skyline of glass towers.
Punta Patiño
Panama
A Darién nature reserve where harpy eagles — the world's most powerful raptor — nest.