Gamboa Rainforest Resort

We stayed for 3 nights and, unfortunately, the experience was very mixed. On arrival, we were given virtually no information at all — no directions to our room, no details about breakfast, restaurants, or any of the facilities. As we arrived late and were checked in by the night manager, we initially gave them the benefit of the doubt. However, when we returned to reception the following day to ask for basic information, we were told there was nothing else they could tell us. It was genuinely bizarre and not what you’d expect from a resort of this type. Dining was another frustrating experience. Staff seemed unsure how much to charge and prices felt inconsistent, almost as if they were being made up on the spot. We were also told our 12-year-old had to be charged as an adult. Drinks are heavily overpriced — $5 for a single can of beer, when you can walk to the nearby Gamboa shop and buy six for the same price. What made things worse was the constant feeling of being chased for payment. Staff would interrupt meals to request payment before we had even finished, which really detracted from the experience. At checkout, an additional $60 “tax” was added to our bill, despite our booking (via Booking.com) clearly stating that taxes were included. This left a particularly sour impression. To be fair, the resort itself is beautiful. The setting is fantastic, the rooms are clean and comfortable, and there is plenty to do in the surrounding rainforest. However, there was an ongoing sense that the focus was on extracting as much money as possible from guests, which made us reluctant to book any tours or spend more on-site. For example, the gondola tour is advertised at around $50 per person, yet you can walk to the top in about 15 minutes — very poor value. Tips: • Hire a car if possible • Eat off-site to avoid high prices and hassle • Be very clear on pricing and charges upfront Overall, a great location let down by poor service, confusing pricing, and an uncomfortable guest experience.

We had a very pleasant two-night stay at Gamboa Rainforest Resort at the start of our trip. It’s a great place to acclimatize, recover from jet lag, and enjoy the surrounding rainforest. The resort feels a bit touristy, but works well as a comfortable starting point. It’s about 45 minutes from the airport, though with traffic and roadworks it took us around an hour. Our room was spacious with two large beds, plenty of storage, and a terrace with a hammock. The shower, minibar, and Nespresso machine were all great. The AC and dehumidifier are quite noisy, so earplugs are recommended. The dehumidifier helps a lot with humidity but needs regular emptying. There is some light from devices (alarm clock, TV, etc.), which we covered ourselves; blackout curtains work well. The resort appears wheelchair-friendly (no thresholds, elevator, spacious bathroom with support handles). Staff were very friendly and helpful. We didn’t join the tours, but from what we saw they seemed quite commercial and relatively expensive. You can easily explore the grounds yourself with a 1.5–2 hour walk or a nice jog. Breakfast is good, with plenty of options for non-vegans. Vegan choices are limited but sufficient (fruit, vegetables, avocado), though no plant-based milk. Overall, a relaxing and convenient place to start your Panama trip.

We love the location for birdwatching and seeing the wildlife. Our room was clean with comfortable air conditioning and hot showers. The meal plan was a good value and variety was good and restaurant staff were very attentive. Some staff members were very friendly and accommodating, others not so much. While the online reservation system and emails to reservations were confusing and unresponsive, the young woman at the front desk was excellent at getting us our room and meal package.

This review limits us to the Rooms, Service, and Location, so my review is not as clear as it should be. Let me say, the campus is very old and run down. They main attention has been on the hotel - it is well re-painted and pretty (lipstick on a pig). We enjoyed our stay as the are is beautiful. Our disappointment is with the booking process, the management, and the unprofessional handling of issues that we faced during our Anniversary trip. Those issues overshadowed the beauty of the place and left a bad taste in our mouth. Booking starts with WhatsApp and then email and responses are very slow. Like most places, during the sale process it is better, but if you have questions or problems, those emails are delayed or ignored. When you finally contact management, the games begin. Without detailing the issues, let me provide this summary: The location is beautiful - but you may want to consider other venues. The facilities are beautiful (especially the pool) but the rooms and building show their age - old but well painted over. The customer service / management is definitely third world, not customer focused, and either untrained, aloof, or disinterested. Had the management responded appropriately, then our trip would have been 4 to 5 stars. But once the beauty of the trip faded the lasting impact of the management experience overshadowed those. If you don't have any issues, you will enjoy the stay. But ... We recommend another venue to enjoy the splendor of the Gamboa Rainforest.

We had a wonderful time here with our 4 year old for 4 nights. I was a bit nervous after seeing some of the other reviews but I needn’t have worried. Our room was very clean, the wi-fi was strong and the customer service was good. It is a resort in the rainforest so it was not the same level of maintenance or customer service of a sparkling, sanitized Mexican resort but it was still clean and comfortable. Pack your bug spray. As a family, we did three tours together- the aerial tramway, the sloth sanctuary and the boat tour in the Panama Canal. We also did the night safari which was included with our stay. My husband did the pipeline road birding tour solo and I did the night boat tour solo. I was able to book all the tours online ahead of time so we could enjoy more time in the sun while we were there. I generally recommend the tours we did but I want to spend some time describing the Panama Canal boat tour so people know what to expect. Most of the tour is spent in a diesel boat jockeying with other similar tour boats for a good position to see the monkeys with the guides playing monkey sounds on their phones and bringing fruit to bribe the monkeys onto their boat. Other tour guides were even helping their clients feed the monkeys directly from their hands. It was not exactly an eco-friendly natural experience. I don’t want to be too judgemental - I also enjoy seeing the cute monkeys but I just want to give folks reading this a heads up on what to expect. We ate one lunch at the Monkey Bar. It took a long time to get a mediocre meal. However, the rest of the time we ate at the buffet restaurant with our meal package. I was really impressed with this buffet - a big variety of hot food, cold food, dessert/pastries and coffee/tea. The food always included delicious Panamanian dishes and other food featuring Panamanian produce. They also always had food for the less adventurous (think rice, chicken fingers or nachos). There was also always soup and buns. The dessert bar was always good and featured some Panamanian desserts. We appreciated that our four year old was free - a move they probably regretted considering how much she ate. One last thing to talk about is the pool - it’s a nice size and a lovely temperature. It was surprisingly never very crowded. We were glad to have brought a floatie and a beach ball to keep our kid occupied - we spent hours there each day.