The best thing about El Oasis B&B (tel. 720-1586 and 720-1827, cell 6615-3769, www.oasisboquete.com, US$82 s/d) is its location. It’s in a residential area right on the east bank of the Río Caldera, set in a garden just south of the grounds of the Feria de las Flores y El Café. A recent extension adds a few apartments upstairs.

It’s a clean and tidy place with firm beds, a shared terrace strung with hammocks, and free wireless Internet. There’s also an Internet-connected computer in the common room that guests are welcome to use. Rooms are simple but newish.

Note: The cheaper rooms are dark and have no view. Try to get a room away from the common areas, which can get noisy.

Villa Marita (tel. 720-2165, www.villamarita.com, US$88 s/d for cabins) is about four kilometers northeast of downtown Boquete in an area called El Santuario. It offers six attractive, hardwood-paneled cabins set on a 1,200-meter-high plateau with a panoramic view of Barú and the surrounding hills and valleys. The cabins have sitting rooms and firm beds, and two of them have fireplaces. All have cable TV, fridges, and free wireless Internet access. The owners have added three more basic rooms in a single building (US$55 s/d) and a family cabin with two bedrooms and a full kitchen (US$143 s/d), but these are set back on the property and lack that great view.

To get to Villa Marita, head north up Avenida Central past the church, bearing left when the road forks. The road will fork again two kilometers past the church, and you’ll see a sign pointing left to Los Naranjos and right to Arco Iris. Take the right fork. Cross the bridge and head up the hill. After one kilometer there’s a sign pointing right off the main road toward Villa Marita. Take that right and follow the signs. The lodge is less than a kilometer uphill.

Boquete Garden Inn (tel. 720-2376, www.boquetegardeninn.com, US$97.90 s/d), consists of 10 units in five peach-colored, two-story hexagonal cabañas in a pleasant garden setting along the Río Palo Alto. There’s a rancho bar right by the river. The place is under new management and rooms have been thoroughly spruced up, with attractive furnishings, good mattresses, kitchenettes, cable TV, stylish bathrooms (with hot water in the shower, though not in the sink), free Wi-Fi, and the sound of the rushing river.

Stays include a continental breakfast and an evening drink in the rancho by the river. This place has a friendly vibe. The hotel is about 2.5 kilometers northwest of downtown. Cross over the bridge near the Panamonte Inn and Spa and make a left. Stay on this road, heading north toward Palo Alto, for 1.5 kilometers. The hotel is on the left past the Palo Alto Riverside Restaurant. They speak English and Spanish here.

Tinamou Cottage (tel. 720-3852, cell 6634-4698, www.coffeeadventures.net, starts at US$99 s/d) actually consists of three cottages on a coffee farm, Finca Habbus de Kwie. It’s southeast of Boquete in Jaramillo Abajo, a little more than five minutes by car or a hefty hike from downtown. It belongs to Hans van der Vooren and Terry van Niekerk, a charming and friendly Dutch couple who also are among the best tour guides in Boquete.

Of the 8.5 hectare finca (country house), a little under half of it still grows coffee. The rest has been allowed to revert to nature, and the couple has built 1.5–2 hours of trails through the secondary growth, through which run several creeks and little waterfalls. There’s some good birding here.

Little Tinamou is cozy and cheerful, offering two comfy single beds that can be pushed together, a sitting area, and a kitchenette with fridge, oven, and sink. The owners’ home is just next door, as are their three good-natured dogs. The other two cottages, Highland Tinamou (US$154 s/d) and Great Tinamou (US$159.50 s/d) are more secluded, situated deeper into the plantation and surrounded by forest. They each have two bedrooms, an open kitchen/living room, and a porch looking out on the view. These cottages can sleep 4–5 people. All cottages have cable TV. The rate for additional guests in any of the cottages is US$15 per person. They offer a discount to those who book directly through their web page.

An extensive, Dutch-style breakfast is available for US$7 per person. Hans and Terry will pick up arriving guests from downtown Boquete for free. If guests prefer, they can call for directions on how to hike to the farm. It takes about an hour from downtown. They can arrange hikes to any of the area’s attractions, some of which they lead themselves. They speak Dutch, English, Spanish, and some German.

Isla Verde (Calle 5a Sur, tel. 720-2533, fax 720-2751, http://islaverdepanama.com, starts at US$88 s/d), two blocks west of Avenida Central on the south end of town, is an unusual place. Its most notable features are the six hexagonal “roundhouses” set in a garden and connected by paths. Each roundhouse has a comfortable bed downstairs, another one up in a loft in the center of the cabin, and a kitchenette. Three of the roundhouses sleep a maximum of four people; the other three sleep six, have a more extensive kitchen area, and are wheelchair-accessible. The decor in all is bright and cheerful.

Two newer suites, in a rectangular two-story building, have kitchenettes and balconies. All accommodations have cable TV and free wireless Internet. Rates are US$88 s/d in the smaller cabañas and lower suites and US$110 s/d in the larger ones and upper suites. Additional people are US$10 each. Breakfasts to order (US$1.75–7) are served in an open-sided geodesic dome in the middle of the “village.” The owners speak English, Spanish, and German. If you’re heading into Boquete from the south, Isla Verde is a left turn off Avenida Central onto Calle 5a Sur just as you enter downtown. Look for it on the right after two blocks.

Panamonte Inn and Spa (tel. 720-1327 or 720-1324, fax 720-2055, www.panamonte.com, starts at US$93.50 s/d) is a Boquete institution—it dates from the early 20th century and has been owned by the Collins family since 1946—that has lots of Old World charm. In the past it’s had a bit of a musty, shabby-chic air, but it benefited from a renovation a few years back that spruced things up considerably.

Famous guests have included Charles Lindbergh and Admiral Richard Byrd, who wrote an article about his Arctic exploits for National Geographic while relaxing here. The hotel’s charming, semiformal restaurant makes it worth a visit even for those who don’t stay here. The spa is lovely, too.

The Panamonte’s 16 rooms are quaint and clean. The least expensive ones are on the small side, but there are also four spacious garden cabañas (US$152.80 s/d) and an especially appealing three-bedroom apartment (US$264, sleeps six), El Fresal, with a wraparound porch across the street from the main hotel. There’s a Honeymoon Suite (US$126.50 s/d) on the 2nd floor that once hosted Ingrid Bergman. All rooms have a safe, cable TV, telephone, air conditioner(!), and other amenities. The Panamonte Inn and Spa is about 0.7 kilometers north of the town center. Follow Avenida Central past the church and head right when you come to a fork. It’s the blue wooden building on the left.

Finca Lérida Ecolodge (tel./fax 720-2285, cell 6450-3848, www.fincalerida.com, US$90–99 s/d) is a nice addition to the Boquete lodging scene. The finca (country house) has long been famous for bird-watching and gourmet coffee, and even those not particularly interested in either will likely find there’s something magical about the place and its natural beauty. Now overnight guests have a chance to soak up the scenery.

There are actually two lodging options at the finca. The ecolodge itself consists of 11 rooms in a single building up on a hill with a view of the gardens, coffee plantation, and surrounding mountains. The rooms are attractive, with hardwood floors, firm beds, and plate-glass windows that look out on the view. All the rooms are on the ground floor and have a front patio with a bench. There’s a large common room with a fireplace.

The Collins family, the owners of the finca, have also turned the old board-and-batten family homestead into a B&B. There are a half dozen rooms here, all different. Only two rooms are in the house itself; the other four are in a neighboring building. Rooms are more rustic than those in the ecolodge, but they have a lot of old-country character. There’s less privacy in the rooms in the house, which the family still uses, except when a group rents the whole building.

The home was built in 1917 by Tollef B. Mönniche, a Norwegian engineer who was an important figure in the construction of the Panama Canal. It’s very cool to see the Norwegian-style stone fireplace he built in one of the common rooms, and to thumb through the books in his personal library. In the last couple of years, quetzals have been spotted in the backyard of the house mid-January–end of February, but there is of course no guarantee you’ll see one.

The Coffee House Restaurant (7 A.M.–8 P.M., US$6–8) is between the ecolodge and the B&B. It serves salads, sandwiches, and other simple fare. The spectacular view of the Boquete valley is the draw here.

All this is located in a single compound in the community of Alto Quiel, about a 10-minute drive above Boquete. To get there, drive north on Avenida Central and continue straight past Café Ruiz and the stadium. At the next intersection, follow the road leading to Callejon Seco. Follow the steep, winding road up into the mountains for about another five kilometers. Look for a “Finca Lérida” sign on the right.