Search out a pristine Pacific island reserve at Parque Nacional Coiba

Attractions

Search out a pristine Pacific island reserve at Parque Nacional Coiba

Coiba Island is part of Panama, off the country’s Pacific Coast, in the Gulf of Chiriquí. Once a penal colony, it’s now part of Coiba National Park, which is known for its diverse marine life and jungle animals including white-faced monkeys. Dive sites on Bahia Damas Reef are home to manta rays, whales and hammerhead sharks. Offshore, Granito de Oro is a small island with a beach and coral reef.

PANAMA // Sometimes crime can pay, at least if you're a bird, fish or turtle. The Panamanian island of Coiba, 20km (12 miles) from the mainland, was once a notorious penal colony with little infrastructure and fewer visitors - a situation that left its rich waters almost completely untouched and its wildlife thriving. It's now a World Heritage-listed national park, and visitors can hike through primary rainforest and snorkel and dive on the surrounding reefs, which host huge schools of fish. Permits are required to visit and infrastructure is still poor, so you need to be self-supporting here, with the help of a local tour operator.

Is Coiba Island worth visiting?

Coiba island jungle tours
Coiba National Park is considered a World Heritage Site because of the interesting array of wildlife and plant species that inhabit it, making its ecosystem unique in the world.

How do you get to Coiba Island?

The island can be reached by boat from several places in Panama, but the fastest trip is an hour and fifteen minute boat ride from Santa Catalina in Varaguas.

Can you sleep on Coiba Island?

One night in Isla Coiba
The only overnight facility available in Coiba National Park is at the ANAM Ranger Station on Isla Coiba. The station offers several standard 2-room air-conditioned cabins. To contact ANAM, call (507) 998-0615, fax (507) 998-4387, or the National Park Office at (507) 998-4271.

What to do in Coiba National Park?

By MV Yemaya
Coiba, the largest uninhabited tropical island in the world, has stunning natural beauty. White sandy beaches, wild costs, pristine coral reefs, ancient untouched rainforests teeming with wildlife, rivers and surrounding islands – it opens up a wide range of possibilities for exploring, sightseeing or just to find peace away from civilization in the unmolested heart of the Motherland. Nature

whale watching

Whales can be seen at CNP all year round. However, the months of May to November offer the best opportunity to see some of the biggest migratory visitors, the sperm whales.

Snorkeling

A window to another world!

By diving on the vibrant coral reefs, you will be involved in an underwater world full of colorful reef fish, hard and soft corals, sea turtles and reef sharks.

Over 1,700 acres of living coral reefs await exploration.

beaches

Relax and unwind on one of the many deserted white sand beaches!

While there is plenty to do and see, the best vacations for some of our guests involve doing nothing at all!

Tucked away in sheltered bays or jagged inlets and lined with coconut palms, Coibas' spectacular beaches offer the perfect place to relax, sunbathe and forget about civilization.

The combination of blue and green warm clear waters will have an eternal effect.

If you wish, we will bring you to our private beach with a delicious packed lunch and a cooler for iced drinks.

You may stay there as long as you want!

Walking and watching nature

Walking the trails under the canopy of the wild and untouched rainforest, you will feel the call to hike and discover the hidden natural treasures of Coibas and share them with its inhabitants:

Monkeys, scarlet macaws, crocodiles, iguanas, agoutis and all the tropical birds.

The Miradores, which rise gently through the forest, offer wonderful panoramic views of the distant rugged islands and peninsulas and mountain ranges of the Panamanian highlands.

Bird watching
Sea and river kayaking
penal colony

Other attractions

• Exhibition and Information Center, Park Ranger Station.

• Viewing the platforms (Miradores) of El Gambute.

• Testing the interpretation of thermal springs and nature.

• Monkey Path.

• Nature Interpretation Trail to Santa Cruz Ancient Mangrove Forest.

• Trial to the waterfall in Juncal.

• Nature Interpretation Route to Rift Volcanic Valley.

• Volcanic fault.

Granito de Oro Island (gold grain)

• Penal Colony, Camp La Central.

• Jikaron and Jicarita Nature Interpretation Trails.

• Kayaking in the river. Rio San Juan and Punta Hermosa.

• Nature Interpretation Trail at Isla Rancheria.

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