Author: Maria Alfano
This is a retiree’s full and honest Bijao Beach Resort, Panama review. Fasten your seatbelt because you are in for a surprising ride.
The day started like any other Friday, the 13th as we prepared to head out to the Bijao Beach Resort in Panama. As you can imagine, the day did not start off on the best note. Our Uber canceled 20 minutes after it was supposed to arrive at our door. Thankfully, we requested the ride an hour earlier than we needed it. There was plenty of time to get to the airport and drop off luggage…or so we thought.
At the airport, we had to complete an online form required by the Panamanian government to grant us access to the country. It’s not a long or complicated form – IF you speak and read Spanish. What should have taken only a couple of minutes to complete took almost half an hour with the help of Google Translate. Each passenger needs to complete this form. It doesn’t end there. Once completed, you were to receive a QR to be scanned by both the local airport authority and the airport authority in Panama. Well…we never got the emails so we had to repeat the application process to get to this QR code. The adventure so far was quite frustrating.
Bijao Beach Resort In Panama – a Full & Honest Review
Arrived in Panama, finally!
Rio Hato Airport
After an uneventful 5-hour and 20-minute flight, we landed in the tiniest of airports where we needed to go down the metal steps onto the runway and were greeted by 4 security personnel, and one baggage claim. I have to say they were quite efficient in getting us on our way. I splurged and got us a private car to take us to the hotel. The driver was there waiting for us and whisked us on our way to the hotel.
Bijao Beach Resort, Panama Review
Getting to the resort from the airport was a short ride (less than 10 minutes). We had to pass through a local neighborhood and golf club. At the very end of the long and bumpy road is the hotel. On the outside, it looks like most tropical hotels. Well manicured landscape, nice lobby, and friendly people. Unlike Costa Rica, Mexico, or other Latin destinations, very little English is spoken at this hotel. Google Translate will be your best friend if traveling here.
Check-in was fast and painless. Finding our room was another story. You would think that room 4107 is on the 4th floor, instead, it’s on the first floor!
In this initial process, I give a 4 out of 5 stars to the resort.
The Room
The room was massive, it held a king and a queen bed. Overall, it reminded me of a really outdated Motel 6 room. There was evidence on the walls that at one time pictures adorned the barren walls. At this time, the only thing on the wall was a small mirror.
The view made up for the lack of decor. Who needs to look at pictures on the wall when you can wake up to the roar of the ocean and a view like this! The lounge chairs on the walkout balcony allowed us to enjoy the view from the comfort of our room. We could head out to the beach for a swim and saunter back in through our private entrance. Getting out onto the balcony was challenging though as the sliding doors were very hard to glide open. This is due to the salt air. The hotel could have done something to make it easy for guests to open the doors.
With the way this hotel was built, almost every room has some sort of ocean view.
Ceiling fans and air conditioning were both available. One of the fans was temperamental and worked only when it wanted to. Sadly, it was the one right over our bed so humid nights were at times unbearable. The A/C was not super strong but it did the trick to keep the room cooler than the outside temperature.
There is a tiny little bar fridge in the room that was useful for keeping our drinks cold. The hotel provides bottled water in the room daily so by the time, the evening came it would be refreshing to drink.
The room itself gets 2 stars but the view gets 4.5 stars out of 5
The Beach Review
During the day when the tide is out, the shoreline is quite long and quite steep. There is access to the beach from different areas of the resort. However, for one with accessibility issues, this beach is not easy to navigate. One ramp that gets you to the shoreline needs super strong muscles to hold you steady or you will be propelled at high speeds right to the water.
This is a black sand beach. Literally black. But, it sparkles when the sun’s rays hit it. It looks like diamonds shimmering in the light.
As we strolled the beach we noticed a few things:
- There were very few people on the beach
- The sand is littered with tiny holes which indicate there may be sand mites – wear your insect repellent and sunscreen when on the beach
- There were no vendors on the beach selling their wares
The Pacific Ocean can be very rough and not swimmable. Many days during our stay the red warning flag was up telling patrons to stay out of the water.
Because of the roughness and the difficulty of getting to the water, I give the beach a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The Pool Area
To give an honest review of the Bijao Beach Resort in Panama, one needs to talk about the pool area. There are two main pools, one with a swim-up bar, a kiddie pool, and a jacuzzi hot tub. I would be remiss not to mention the cool waterslide that takes you from the top of the hill into the lowest pool or the gazebo landing floating above one of the pools which makes a great place for pictures.
The pools were kept very clean and the deck was squeegeed every 10 minutes or so to avoid guests slipping as they made their way along the side of the pool.
Free pool towels were made available to guests the whole time the pool was open. As the sun begins to set (around 6:30 pm) the pools close and the lifeguards go home for the day.
In all fairness, I have to give the pool a 4 out of 5 stars.
All-Inclusive Food and Drinks – Bijao Beach Resort Panama Review
Sometimes, we learned the hard way, all-inclusive means only partly inclusive. The snack bar by the pool is open from noon to 5:30 pm daily and is included. The buffet, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is included. The Japanese-inspired and Italian-inspired a la carte restaurants are included for some guests but not for all. Reservations must be made to dine at either a la carte restaurants. The Italian dinner was decent. They served a 4-course meal of your choice including soup, pasta, meat main dish, and dessert, along with any beverage of your choice.
The lobby bar which serves the same drinks as the pool bar and each of the 3 restaurants is not included. You order a drink, you pay before the beverage ends up in your hand. If you ask me that’s a little silly.
The food – what can I say. For me, it was hit and miss. Depending on the day or where we ate, it could be flavorful or quite bland. One thing is certain…Panamanians love their pork and beef. If you don’t eat either of these meats, you could be in trouble. The other thing served at most meals is fish, pasta, or rice. As a vegetarian, you might find a few dishes that you could eat. But, a vegan would be hard-pressed to find a meal at this resort. There are always plenty of desserts. This resort does not cater to diabetics either as all their sodas and desserts were filled with sugar – nothing diet or sugar-free was available.
Overall I give the food a 3 out of 5 stars.
Other Things – Reviewed For the Bijao Beach resort Panama
The grounds were well-kept and very neat. They had some garbage and recycling bins spread around the resort but there could have been a few more.
The staff was very friendly and helpful but communication was a challenge because hardly anyone spoke English
I get the sense this particular resort caters mainly to locals as the majority of the guests were Panamanians who were taking a weekend break with their families.
The internet was pretty good. Although the resort claims the internet is only available in the hotel lobby, we had no issues with getting internet in our room, in any of the restaurants, or in the pool area.
Entertainment is lacking. Because the resort caters to locals any games or activities during the day are all in Spanish. There is a nightclub that opens at 11 pm but between dinner and 11 pm, there is nothing to do. Unlike other resorts we have been to that had teams of people doing performances (animation) for their guests, this resort had none. On Sunday nights they have a live band that performs for an hour during dinner time. If you want to keep yourself occupied in the evenings, you would be best served to travel with your laptop or Android TV box.
Excursions are hard to come by and quite expensive when available. A trip to Panama City and the Panama Canal starts at $150 USD per person.
For this, I give the resort a 1 star out of 5.
In Summary
Overall, the Bijao Beach Resort is a pleasant place to visit and I give it a score of 3.1 stars out of 5. If all you are looking for is a week of relaxation and to wind down, then this resort is for you! The current experience could be a direct result of the hotel’s gradual re-opening after the pandemic lockdown. Everyone is very careful wearing masks in restaurants, lobbies, and elevators. The staff is quite vigilant about the masks. I can only assume that as restrictions ease, the resort will bring back some of the usual, now missing, activities.
We would love to hear from you. What has your experience been like at the Bijao Beach Resort, Panama?