Playa El Arenal Tours

This property is out of Panama City a ways but I wanted to be closer to the birding areas in the area. The hotel was likely a jewel in its day but the years are showing. The AC seems to be uncontrolled as other reviewers have noted. In my room, although I could set the temperature it just got colder & colder without regard to the thermostat setting so I had to turn it on and off manually. I got upgraded to a balcony room & there was rust all over the railings, worse one almost needed to be Hercules to open & close the "sliding" door. The 3 pools looked fine but I didn't use them. Breakfast was full buffet style with lots of choices and the restaurant had good offerings as well. Being a golf facility too I had hoped to find a lot of birds around, but alas, that was definitely not the case. There were some but nothing like what I had expected being surrounded by rainforest.

Lovely hotel in a perfect location to experience all of Casco Viejo. Staff was so helpful. Loved the live music in the evenings. Hotel is clean and comfortable.

The staff, especially the Kitchen staff but specifically Goergina who made our omelette every morning, very pleasant… as many guests she tends to, she remembered the type of omelette and how we like it made, very impressive. Would have loved to have activities onsite.