BOQUETE

Boquete sits in a narrow river valley in western Panama's Chiriquí Province, about 40 minutes north of the city of David. At roughly 3,900 feet elevation, daytime highs hover in the mid-to-high 70s°F year-round and nights cool to the low 60s — no air conditioning, no heating. The town proper (Bajo Boquete) is small enough that errands happen on foot: there's a Tuesday market for produce, 50-plus restaurants, English-speaking doctors, three banks, and a cluster of expat-owned coffee shops. International Living has been recommending Boquete since the early 2000s, and roughly 20% of the ~25,000 residents are now foreign-born, mostly Americans and Canadians on Pensionado visas.

The upside of that critical mass is infrastructure that caters to English speakers — menus in English, doctors who trained in the US, multiple expat Facebook groups that answer practical questions within hours. The downside is that Boquete has priced itself out of 'hidden gem' territory. Rents have climbed since the post-pandemic surge in 2022–2023, and landlords now know exactly what the market will bear. Some longtime residents note that rentals hit the market and disappear within days, and that the town has lost some local character — you can walk through the main plaza without hearing a word of Spanish. Infrastructure frustrations are real: power outages happen weekly during the heavy wet season (May–November), municipal water pressure can drop without warning (most homes run a rooftop tank and pump to compensate), and rural roads to hillside neighborhoods like Jaramillo flood in hard rain. Emergency care requires a 45-minute drive to Hospital Chiriquí in David — Boquete has only a clinic.