Bocas del Toro Nightlife

La Iguana is a surf shop themed bar across from the very popular sushi resturant, The Blowfish. La Iguana typically opens around 7:00pm and stays open to around 12. Great cocktails and an awesome place to meet fellow travelers and locals. A popular pregamming spot before heading over to Barco Hundito.

Dress Code: Island casual...flip flops welcome!

Toro Loco bar just behind the park on Avenue Central is a great place to go for delicious bar food and cold beer. They play great music and have 5 tv's so you can catch sports all day long. They've got free wifi, darts, and happy hour is everyday from 3-6pm. Live music usually once a week. Definitely a place to go while in Bocas del Toro.

Dress Code: casual

The wreck deck is one of two places in Panama I went to that charged a cover (the other being one of the biggest salsa clubs in Panama City). The first time I went was a Thursday night, so maybe that had some effect. I was there around 10 or 10:30. The place was pretty quite, a few small groups on the deck around the sunken boat and a few near the dance floor. The view of the boat is lacking at best. Sure, you see a few fish by the underwater flood lights, and you see some of the boat, but that isn't enough to keep your interest for long. After a little while a man asked a woman to dance, and they were the only ones on the whole floor. After dancing a few numbers four police men came in, nightsticks in hand, and began to patrol the whole bar. The couple continued to dance until two of the police men decided to arrest him for whatever reason. Both his partner and his friend were quite surprised, considering this was a close to retiring age white man, with his similar friend, dancing with a middle aged local mom. The place cleared out soon after.
Long story short, not worth the two dollars. Go down the street towards the police station and listen for the loud music behind the trees, much better, more authentic, better dancing.

Dress Code: Normal

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Party nights at Aqua Lounge have a slightly different feel to other party locations on the mainland. This may be because of the waterside location and the fact that this is only one of two bars in the area that you can take a leap into the water mid party to cool off, or that it is the only one with a water trampoline.

It may also be because on Wednesday Nights the Bar hosts it's renowned "Ladies Night" at which local spirit and mixers are free for ladies all night, excellent for the ladies!! and not always a bad turn out for the guys either.

Saturdays on the Island have a totally different feel as Aqua presents "Reggae Night" A night in which anyone seeking a Carribbean influenced club night will not be disappointed. With excellent reggae DJ's and a party that doesn't stop till 3am this argueably one of the best nights that Bocas has to offer. Once again offering free drinks for the ladies this time in the form of "Wicked Juice" a potent but delicious tropical tasting cocktail.

Dress Code: As always in Bocas anything goes - Beach Casual

Barco Hundito is by the most popular nightspot in Bocas Town. Opens around 8:00pm and closes around 12:00 Sunday through Wednesday and 3:00am Thursday through Saturday with $2 cover for guys. Music ranges from hip hop to reggae with a mix of tourists and locals. On busy nights, multiple dance floors open. Highly recommended.

Dress Code: Island Casual.

$1 entrance fee for women are weekends, $2 for guys. Decent sized dance floor and a little dock on the water where you can dip your feet in (to cool off from all that hot dancing!) and watch the fishies. Lots of areas just to sit down and chat away from the loud music but can still tear up the dance floor with the salsa, reggae, merengue and reggaeton beats. Good mix of locals and foreigners.

Casual dress. This is the place to be if you want to go out dancing.

This is the hostel's bar which is cozy and has an interior bar and then a small outside patio where the young hip travelers of Bocas convene for happy hour and early drinks before hitting up the dance clubs.

Happy hour is 7-8 with 50 cent beers and all drink specials are $1 off from 8-9. Dress is casual. Try the Naturalito, Mondo's version of the mojito but with a lemon grass twist. Great place to meet some people before heading out.

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What a great place. Yes, really, the bar is on top of a shipwreck. There is a dock built around it, and at night time they illuminate it with lights. It seems like a pretty place to snorkel, that is until you spot the tube running from the toilet that shoots right out into the water.

Anyway, this is a fantastic place to dance to salsa, reggaeton, merengue, top 40s hits with locals and backpackers alike. Shake it, shake it, all night long. On the other hand, you can sit on top of the dock and relax if you are not much into dancing. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was not overrun with tourists. As there is a lack of options when it comes to night life in Bocas, you'll most likely end up here. I truly enjoyed this place, not solely because of the limited options.

Dress Code: it's the caribe, man.

The Barco Hondido earned it´s name honestly, as there is an actual shipwreck in the middle of the bar, that has a not-well-made walkway around it. Pretty cool. It is kind of known as a gringo bar, but it is also just about the only option for nightlife.

The nights get pretty fun, lots of music, drinking, etc. Be careful walking around, as the whole place is over the water and the floors are a bit dodgy.

Dress Code: Whatever.

Barco Undido (Wreck Bar) is a kewl bar. It literally has a wreck off its port in the ocean. It’s illuminated at night so you can see barracudas and crabs...nice! I met fellow travelers there and had a nice talk. Overall the clientele wasn't backpacker oriented.