The Best Things To Do in Boquete, Panama — ALONG DUSTY ROADS

The Flower Festival & The Mercado

One of Panama’s longest-running annual events (it was first established in 1950), the Feria de las Flores y del Café showcase takes place for around ten days in January.

It takes over the east side of the Rio Caldera, across the bridge from the Parque Central, with impressive large-scale flower displays, stalls, music, and performances. This is primarily a festival that pulls in those from the region and elsewhere in Panama, rather than something that’s a big draw for international visitors, but if your timings coincide, it would definitely provide an enjoyable different perspective on the town and its culture.

We unintentionally arrived on its final day, where the streets were jam-packed with buses from surrounding villages for that evening’s firework display – and our hostel receptionist said she couldn’t wait for it all to be over for another year!

If you’re here outwith those dates, then it’s still definitely worth moseying on over the bridge to the park where it all takes place (here on Google Maps). They keep the colourful flower displays from the festival, there’s the popular flamingo backdrop, whilst it’s a peaceful spot that offers good views of the river, the town, and hills. There’s also the small Centro Artesanal de Boquete market there which, as far as we know, is open year-round.

When | The Boquete Flower Festival dates vary each year, but usually starts around a day or two either side of the 9th January, and there’s a minimal entry fee of $1-2 charged to enter.

By the way, if you see a young guy in a wheelchair selling sweets and biscuits, then make sure to buy some.

Good To Know // Due to its lush, fertile environment, cooler weather, and volcanic soil supporting a diverse array of flower, plants, and crops, Boquete is often call ‘The Garden of Panama’. Indeed, long before coffee, the town’s foundation and growth was closely tied to its fertile, productive land and agricultural output.

We assume this is why, with its rusting copper red corrugated sheet rooftops, low-rise colourful buildings, iron-wrought balconies, and saloon-style colour schemes, downtown Boquete has the air of an trading post or American prospecting/mining town. Today, beyond the tourism, it’s still a place where communities come in from the countryside, fincas, and cloud forest homes on cramped colectivos to do their errands and business.