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Sitting at the far southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, Los Cabos, Mexico is one of the country's top beach destinations. With top-notch boating, world-class sport fishing (especially for billfish), championship golf courses, excellent restaurants, and warm weather year-round to enjoy it all, it's no wonder it's so popular.
On my recent trip to David, Panama’s third largest city, I heard a common refrain from expats there. Whenever the topic of Boquete, a small mountain town about 30 minutes up the mountain, came up they’d say: “It’s too cold. Too small. And there are too many gringos.”
Sure, there are plenty of luxury and jet-set destinations in the Caribbean. Islands where bohemian chic, trust funds, and luxury shopping and dining combine to form the ultimate getaway for the ultra-wealthy. But there’s another side to the Caribbean as well—the more traditional side. Where life is lived much as it has been for decades, if not centuries, and with low prices to match.
If you need a manicured lawn, 18-hole golf course, large fancy supermarket, or luxury condo to be happy…you can find that in Costa Rica. But you’ll have to give the country’s southern Caribbean coast a miss.
In the U.S., something as beautiful as Lake Arenal would have a shoreline clogged with resorts and marinas and waters churned up by powerboats and jet skis. But in Costa Rica, this region retains its traditional agricultural heritage and staggering natural beauty...with nary a powerboat to disturb the lake.
Just a 25-minute boat ride off the northern tip of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is a sliver of an island called Holbox (pronounced ol-bosh). In the Mayan language it means “black hole.” For the increasing number of visitors (as well as a small number of pioneering—mostly part-time expats and full-time business owners) who make their way here it’s a tropical getaway that’s quite different than spots like Cancún and Playa del Carmen on the nearby Riviera Maya.
The central Pacific beach town of Jacó in Costa Rica was long known primarily as a destination for sport fisherman, surfers, and backpackers. And Ticos—as Costa Ricans call themselves—flocked there around Christmas and Easter because it's the closest major beach to San José, the capital.
A nickname like the Valley of Flowers and Eternal Spring is pretty hard to live up to. But the area around the small town of Boquete, high in the green mountains of the Chiriquí province in western Panama, certainly does. This bustling town of around 20,000 sits at an elevation of just below 4,000 feet.
Imagine waking up each morning to the sound of gentle waves lapping up the shore of a white-sand beach. The warm Caribbean waters are clear, in shades of turquoise and azure. Down the road is a community with shops, restaurants, and, most importantly, lively beach bars. This is what it is like to live on the tropical island of Roatán.
I'd never traveled with a celebrity before. When we arrived at the airport in Costa Rica, it was a madhouse. People kept coming up to take pictures with my companion. Customs officials rushed us through the line after a cursory check of our documents. Baggage handlers competed to grab our luggage.