boquete outdoor adventures

A few weeks ago we went on a short hike and bird-watching trip through this company. I was already skeptical of spending $35 for a short drive out of town and what seemed like a highly accessible trail, but we did it anyways. The guide we went with was definitely knowledgable about the flora and fauna (we did see quetzales!), but we couldn't get past his ego unfortunately. He didn't seem very open to us asking questions and often spun a question back at us without fully answering. He was bragging about himself the whole time and made several questionable and disparaging comments about the local indigenous community on the trek. He really rubbed our group the wrong way. We were pretty excited when the tour was done so we didn't have to listen to him talk about how he is the smartest guide, how the other guides always ask him questions and are dumb, what he did while partying one weekend, etc. :(Additionally, the ladies in the office didn't really know much about what the tour offered. We expected refreshments to be provided but didn't get anything (fortunately we brought our own snacks and water). We also expected that the trail would be much longer and less populated than it was, but we were a bit disappointed.Basically, I would advise just doing it yourself if you have a mild command of the Spanish language. A taxi to the close trailheads (where all of these tours go) should be $20 r/t, and there is a small entrance fee to the trail of $3-5 pp. If you are a group of at least 2 people, it is more affordable to do on your own, especially if you have your own binoculars as that was really the only added value of a guide. Looking back, however, all of the guides and ex-pats on the trail were friendly and sharing scopes and binoculars so really no need to even bring those.

We were guided by Felix for bird watching today from Boquete Mountain Safari and it was great! We went up the mountain pipe line trail with a group of eight at a cost of $39/pp - the price included pick up and drop off in a small bus from our hotel. Water and a couple of extra binoculars were also provided. The hike was stunning - we got a couple of Quetzal sightings, exotic birds of all types and Felix provided excellent information regarding the geography, ecology, flora and fauna. The trip was +/- four hours...most of it in the jungle...the bus ride was probably only 15-20 minutes each way. The is a great tour if you are enjoy a nature hike - everyone really enjoyed this AM tour. Departs around 8-8:30 back by around 12-12:30. This is a medium hike not overly demanding - hiking shoes and be prepared for a bit of rain forest mist.

My wife and I,along with a few others went with John,a knowledgable,friendly outdoor enthusiast and bird watcher.He did his utmost to educate us about the flora and fauna and especially to find and photo the elusive Quetzale.We also went horseback riding,and to a coffee plantation with this same company and had a wonderful time.I would highly recommend them.

The Cloud Forest tour with our guide John was just awesome. Beautiful surroundings coupled with John's knowledge and witty personality made this hike more than enjoyable. Worth the short shuttle ride; bonuses - tons of historical information about the area and details about the forest fauna from our amazing guide. He also got us closeup photos of the rare quetzal bird! John really had a passion for nature and my husband and I really appreciated that. The coffee tour was pretty great too. Our guide not only educated us on the process of how coffee is made, but also let us pick and take some oranges from the trees growing right there among the coffee plants! Gary (our guide) was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. He had a great personality and provided lots of bonus info about other plants on the farm. NOTE: If you do the coffee tour as part of the combo your package, you do not get to take freshly roasted beans home but you do get a bag of ground coffee. If you do the coffee tour on its own, you get to take home the beans that were freshly roasted during your tour!

We had asked fir a day of white water rafting thru our Adventures Panama trip arranger, and they signed the 2 of us up for a day with Boquete Outdoor Adventures. We had to meet in their office just of the main street in Boquete at 8 am. A bus then drove the party of 5 the 39 minutes to David, and then another hour nearly to. the Costa Rica border snd up into the mountains. There, because of a new hydro electric dam further up, the class 4 & 5 rapids were no longer accessible. They put us into the river at the site of another hydro dam construction and we rafted down from there. The lower ruver had only a few class 3 rapids and the rest class 2 or under. However, it did get exciting enough that the other 3 guys all went overboard into the river more than once. One time, all 3 were thrown into the water in the biggest rapids. Our young river guide, Freddy was a pro and skillfully recovered those in the river quickly. This is the premier rafting river in Panama, and sadly , the hydro dams will soon eliminate most of the best and biggest rapids. We continued down the river well past the Pan American highway bridge to near the ocean where we were pulled put. In the upper half, you have great views of the dense, lush jungle on both sides of the river. It made a fun, pleasant day, and until the second dam is finished, I recommend the rafting trip .

This seems like a pretty good outfit and it has gotten good reviews in the guidebooks. I signed up for a few different tours. First, the river rafting. I didn't know what to expect, but was somewhat disappointed to spend six hours in an uncomfortable van for three hours on a mild river. I think our max was maybe a class 2.5 rapid. There were others on the trip that claimed to have been lied to about which river we were running. The provided lunch was deli meat, bread, and unwashed vegetables all handled by the guide's unwashed hands. I would have preferred some sort of premade, individually wrapped food for both convenience and sanitary reasons.Next, I did a guided hike. This was a half day hike on an easy trail through parts of the cloud forest. It was beautiful, and the guide, John, was extremely knowledgable about the flora and fauna of the area.Finally, I paid for a guided hike up Volcan Baru. This was the most expensive tour I did with BOA and probably the least worth it. The hike itself was ok. It is a long, tough climb, but not too strenuous for experienced hikers. We hiked at night and it got cold, but not quite freezing. Gloves, hat, warm layers are a must. The point of hiking through the night is to get to the top at sunrise and enjoy the view. While that was ok, I would have rather started a little later and hiked the last half up in the morning light to enjoy the stunning views of the cloud forest. It was, however nice to enjoy that on the way down, and doing any hiking in the heat of the day would have been difficult. My main gripe is that the guide, Jonathan, only seemed to have a knowledge of the trail itself, which I could have easily navigated on my own. I was hoping for a richer experience with a guide who could point out the various flora and fauna and give accurate natural historical information about the volcano.I think this company would benefit more by explaining its tours more completely beforehand, which means that office staff would have to have had the experiences that they are selling.

My friend and I did the overnight hike up Volcan Baru, it was one of the best experiences of my life. Our guide Jonathan was amazing, hiking for 5 hours in the middle of the night may sound terrible but he made it enjoyable for us all. The view at the top was worth every penny. Bring warm clothes as we were definitely chilly at the top.

We hiked the pipeline trail in a group of 6. John was a great guide and his bilingual explanations were great too. He made sure we saw all the beautiful butterflies, birds and other things, including several of the elusive Quetzales. We were out for 5 hours. He really enriched our experience and it was a reasonable price, $35.

In January we went on the Island Trip to the Golfo de Chiriqui marine National Park. We were accompanied on our full day excursion by Jim, the affable and informative owner of Boquete Outdoors Adventures, and by a steady and experienced driver. Our destination beach at Isla Bolaños was stunning. Everything was provided including hammocks, snorkeling gear and an ample lunch. On our return boat trip we made an unscheduled stop by popular request at Isla Boca where we checked out a hotel view bar perched (89 steps I was told) above sea level. The Island Trip package delivered in all respects and added another dimension to our stay in Boquete.

had a great time rafting with BOA. Professionally organised with quality equipment, experienced captains and hearty lunch. Definite must-doin the Boquete area.

Together with our guide John we went hiking the Waterfall Trail. John is an excellent guide who informed us on all the plants and animals around us. The trail itself was easy to walk. The waterfalls themselves were less impressive but maybe that is because we were hiking during the "dry" season.

I recently took a guided hike on the Sendero Quetzales with B.O.A. and I LOVED it. The guide John was fantastic, very knowledgeable about the local history, geology and flora/fauna. His English is perfect and he entertained us the entire day with interesting facts, events and mini-tastings of the local fruits and edibles we found along the way. AND there were Quetzales, quite a few were seen all along the trail. I would definitely recommend this trip for reasonably fit hikers and I'll be doing it again myself as a Boquete resident.

We had friends visiting and wanted to do something special with them. After checking out all the tour companies, we decided Boquete Outdoors offered the best tour at the best price. Jim and Alejandro made sure we had the perfect day. We had a comfortable air conditioned ride to Boca Chica where we then boated over to Isla Bolanos. I loved the comfortable ride, and the covered panga was a bonus. Once on the island (which is absolutely gorgeous) Alejandro set up hammocks for us and then made sure we had a sumptious feast to snack on all day. Drinks were included and the day was perfect. The guys took off for a few hours of fishing while we gals swam and enjoyed the beach, and came back with a nice sized Yellow Jack, which the boat driver cleaned and filleted for us. I would recommend this trip for anyone. I think we'll do this one again.

We went rafting and also the island trip. The guides were excellent, lunch was very nice and both trips were a perfect day.

Went with my son on the rafting trip. Had a great time. The guides on the raft were extremely knowlegeable and were familiar with every part of the river. I would go again in the future. It is about a 90 minute ride from center of Boquete, and modern transportation. Lots of Fum!