We just got back from a cool road trip to Cocle and Panama Oeste provinces to visit El Valle de Antón and Sorá, Panama.
El Valle is located within the caldera (a large crater) of what is said to be the second largest inhabited dormant volcano in the world. The crater itself is at about 600 meters above sea level and has a cooler spring-like climate. This has been on our bucket list for the past few years. The drive from Boquete to El Valle is about 5 hours with good traffic. The exit off of the Interamerican Highway up the volcanic mountain and down to the town itself takes about 45 minutes along a scenic zig-zagging road that will put your brakes to the test.
The town itself is bucolic living. El Valle is surrounded by 7 different mountains, ranging from 800-1000 meters. There are trails on each one that have vistas of the crater floor.
Because of its close proximity to Panama City (120 km), many upper-class Panamanians have made El Valle their weekend and holiday home. We visited during the week, however, and it was very quiet and relaxing. We stayed at El Valle Suites, a Panamanian style motel that was down the road from the Artisan and Produce Market. The suites are very basic with a living room, kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom that had a split AC. All in all, it was clean and the staff went out of their way to accommodate. The best part of the place was the thermal pool surrounded by a grand tree that shaded almost the entire outdoor area. There are people who live at the Suites full time and met some interesting people sitting outside in the evening.
What I like about El Valle is very walkable and bike-friendly. I took out a bike one afternoon and had a leisurely stroll. The Artisan market is really cool. Local art and handicrafts are sold, and Kuna Indians offered their colorful molas and jewelry. We purchased some hand painted tree trunk slabs with beautifully colored birds on them. Attached to the Artisan market is the fruit and vegetable vendors selling their fresh produce.
A visit to Nispero Zoo
A short drive from the center of town is El Níspero Zoological and Botanical Garden. It began as a privately owned nursery. The owner gradually started collecting animals and birds. Other people also donated animals. Many of the animals there had suffered an accident. It gradually turned into a public zoo with animals from all over the world.
The place itself is really laid back and priced at only $3 for admission. My favorite attraction was the spider monkey. One can see up close the resemblance to its name! Another favorite was the jaguar and the plethora of beautiful birds including toucans and parrots.
It was an nice attraction that the kiddos would really enjoy (and the grown up kiddos as well).
A visit to Arboles Cuadrados Nature Trail
I had heard about the “Square Trees”’in El Valle and drove a bit out of town to Hotel Campestre where they are officially accessed by paying $4 each. I really like weird and obscure things so this was something I had to see. The hike itself was very pleasant. Once we reached the handful of square trees that were specially marked, I still had a hard time seeing much of a difference to a normal round tree. In fact there are signs pointing to the square trees so you could find them. Although it is hard to distinguish the square features, they apparently have square rings.
Comparing El Valle to Boquete
As far as mountain towns go, El Valle is warmer than Boquete, but I found it to be quite lovely and personally did not find it oppressive. The evenings were cool in El Valle, but not cold like it can get in Boquete. Average temperatures in El Valle can range from 68-83 deg. as compared to 55-75 deg.
Being that we were there during the week and not on the weekend, I do not have a clear picture on how busy El Valle can get, but have heard that it this sleepy little town fills up. While there, I noticed a small amount of tourists and mostly Panamanians going about their day to day lives. There was a nice amount of places to eat but some only were open from Thursday to Sunday. Boquete has much more going for it as far as restaurants, bars and live music.
The mountains of Sorá, Panama / Altos del Maria
We spent a few days on the other side of the mountain from El Valle in a pretty little town called Sorá. This is roughly a 6 hour drive from Boquete. Our Airbnb was in Altos Del Maria which is a gated community that is like being in a national park. It boasts a first-class infrastructure including miles of paved roads, vast common areas, waterfalls, rivers, hiking trails, observation decks, parks, lookout points, flowers and trees everywhere. It was a great place to relax, however a drawback was the distance to daily necessities such as shopping, restaurants and medical care . The majority of people with homes here use it as a second home or vacation getaway.
Since we were guests of an owner in the development, we’l were able to access the secret road just for residents that connects Altos Del Maria to El Valle which took just over 1/2 hour. Without this alternate route, it would have taken an extra hour!
It was really nice to see another part of this beautiful country checked off the bucket list.
Thanks for sharing places I’ve wanted to get to but haven’t been able to.
It is really lovely. I highly recommend