When to Visit

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When to Visit Panama

Panama, being only around 9 degrees from the equator, is an excellent destination with warm weather year-round. Many travelers seeking to escape their cold snowy winters travel to Panama to experience the perfect shorts and flip-flops climate.

Panama has a rainy and dry season. The dry season lasts from mid-December to mid-April, and the rainy season lasts from mid-April to mid-December. The dry season is the equivalent of summer in Panama, and as such is the high season for tourism. This is the best time to lounge on beaches or go hiking in the mountains. Hotel prices and airfares, however, are generally higher than the rest of the year.

During the rainy season, storms tend to come and go relatively quickly. Most days start with sun, see rain during the afternoon, and clear up at night. The earlier months of the rainy season tend to be less wet than the later months, when storms can last longer and make it difficult to go on hikes or drive along country roads.

Boquete and the western highlands have refreshingly cool temperatures year-round and a relatively short rainy season. Boquete has what is affectionately called “Bajareque” which is a light afternoon mist that cools the area down.

Boca Chica, on the Pacific Ocean side, is a small fishing village, and is the entry into the Gulf of Chiriqui National Marine Park, an untouched paradise that has excellent sunny weather year-round. Visiting these pristine white sand beaches of uninhabited islands offers an excellent alternative to often rainy Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean side.

Some parts of the country see scatterings of rain throughout the year. These include the western highlands, the islands of Bocas del Toro, and much of the Caribbean coast. The best time to visit Bocas is in February-March and September-October. The islands of Guna Yala, which are spread along the eastern Caribbean coast, are considered best in late February-March.

Boquete’s hotel rooms are full during the Coffee and Flower Festival, which is over 10 days in the middle of January. The small town sees thousands of tourists which congests the roads with traffic and fills overloads the hotel rooms.

One other thing to bear in mind is Carnival, Panama’s largest holiday. This annual festival takes place on the four days leading up to Ash Wednesday and is biggest on the Azuero Peninsula and in Panama City. Aside from Carnival, there are a number of national holidays and festivals throughout November around November 4, 5, 10, and 28, which include Independence days, Flag Day, and Celebratory Parades.

Reference:  Useful information provided by our partner Anywhere Panama.