Gamboa Rainforest Reserve

Beautiful location and views. Very large room, large bathroom, very comfortable bed, pillows and Blackout curtains made for a good sleep except the air con is very noisy. We learned after a sleepless night to use low mode. Mimi fridge was useful, although you are only provided with 2 small water bottles per day. Coffee machine was useful too, although only provided with a small amount of coffee pods, 2 paper cups and coffee mate per day. They may have provided more but we didn’t ask. The balcony and hammock were incredible. The pool area is nice with comfortable loungers. The lobby was very pleasant and there was a free water cooler top up your bottles. Breakfast was nice but felt over priced for a limited buffet; the fresh fruit was very nice. We ate in the monkey bar as the view was amazing. The music was a little loud and unnecessary with the view and the birdsong. The menu is fairly limited after 4 days. The empanadas were good if you don’t want a full meal. There are trails in the grounds but limited information about these is available from the hotel. They do not provide maps but suggest google maps, which would be very helpful. We booked the combination of tours. The sloth sanctuary was good (the frogs, orchids and butterflies are part of the attraction) but it did feel quite rushed and you don’t get time to wander on your own. The arial tram was sedate and okay. The lake Gatun tour was incredible. We saw a sloth, howler monkeys, white faced capuchins, tamarins, an iguana and a crocodile. I would highly recommend this trip and would happily have done this every day in place of the others. The guide, Ernesto, was informative and knowledgeable. The free night safari was okay, we saw a sloth. Overall, the location is the best thing. If you want to experience the orchestra of the rainforest, lie in a hammock watching hummingbirds feed, and want to stay in comfort this is a great place.

Great property and splendid location - absolutely stunning building and pool deck with magnificent views on Gamboa and the river - great rooms and huge beds. Nice hall, free on-site safari, and good on-site tours.

Our room was very spacious and well laid out, with a lovely view (and deck) looking out to the river. We really appreciated the daily cleaning, and the fact that the AC was kept on constantly. The hotel is set right inamongst numerous activities - the Sloth Sanctuary (you can only buy tickets from the hotel for the tour), the zipline tours, a free night tour, and a bike rental shop. There are additional trails nearby to walk/bike on, and it's also a relatively short walk into 'town'. Staff were very accommodating, and the breakfast was quite superb (heaps of fresh fruit as well as baked goods and hot dishes). We only got to use the large pool once, but it was a nice place to hang out for a while! We would definitely recommend this accommodation option to anyone wanting to enjoy everything that Gamboa has to offer.

This hotel is located inside the natural reserve park and the views from the rooms are absolutely unbeaten. OMG you can just spend your entire stay at the terrace in the hammock and be feeling blessed. The hotel offers a short 30 mins night safari included in your stay and we went out every night - only saw some caymans, coati and several bird species but it was fun! We did all the activities they offer including visits to the sloth sanctuary which is basically part of the hotel but they charge you extra for that. There are five sloths in total - you only get to see two. We loved the areal team activity and the boat ride to the monkey island also was a nice thing to do. A good thing is they let us do all those activities with the same ticket in two days not in one as it is supposed to be normally - it is too much for one day!

Overall I thought this hotel was good value for money (we paid about EUR 130 per night). My kids loved the pool, the view of the river is amazing (ask for a higher floor), and the room was spacious and comfortable. Staff was generally friendly and fairly effective. We did the free night safari tour, which is only 30 mins, but my kids really enjoyed seeing crocodiles and turtles. There are also a lot of easy trails walking distance for the hotel which was a nice way to explore the jungle.