A little run down but our room was clean! Food was pretty good! Had to pay extra for some drinks. Beach bar and Japanese a la carte. Lacks shade! Had a hard time finding it...was definitely needed on days over 35! Had a difficult time finding someone that spoke English. Some communication problems! Friendly staff! Lagoon was nice but no close bathrooms! Definitely not a 4 star!
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Date of stay: March 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This was our first time in Panama. Once landing at the airport be prepared for a tarmac deboarding process, it was organized and quite fast due to using both doors of the plane. After passing customs and getting your photo taken, you board an air-conditioned bus that takes you a seven-minute drive to the resort! Once at the resort, the staff guides you to the conference room where they give you a drink and an official welcome to Panama from the Playa Blanca Animation team, dressed in traditional Panamanian attire. It’s a very nice show.
PROS: - The staff go out of the way to help you - Our room was clean - The food options are amazing and the quality is on point - The evening entertainment is fun and engaging - Nice path to go on a walk within the resort with an area to see local birds - Feels very safe - Staff is not “pushy” and it's like they don't even expect it when you tip them - A/C in the room worked well and your drink fridge is restocked daily CONS: - Can get very busy - Food lines can get quite long but move fairly quickly- - The beach chairs are not cleaned frequently enough -To get to the LAGON beach and restaurant (which is on the far side of the resort) is quite a long walk and does not offer shuttle service - Massage is quite expensive (but very nice) - Elevators are not in every building so expect to climb some stairs - The gym is hidden away and needs some serious revamping -No face cloths or “rags” TIPS: - To get warm water for a shower, do not turn the handle to the far left. Warm water is on as soon as you turn on the tap. Hot water is not on the traditional side as it is in Canada or The United States, for our room it was on the opposite side -Do not engage with people on horses on the public beach -English is not most people’s first language on the resort (it's Spanish) - There are a lot of locals and South Americans, so expect a local feel - Only takes American currency including the game room - Wi-Fi is a hit and miss but works 90% of the time in the resort -Upon leaving the resort it is a small airport. There are no restaurants or shops. The Wi-Fi is very limited in the airport so pack up food with you or eat well before leaving!
In closing, we had a wonderful vacation and would definitely pay a visit again. I want to pay a special thank you to the Playa Blanca Animation and M.C Nemo team for making my girlfriends birthday very special that night by singing Happy Birthday and getting her to lead the dance. You all are amazing and the shows were very entertaining! We looked forward to them every night and in the future! Special thanks to Chef Elvis at the Teppanyaki restaurant and the waitress that night for making the evening incredibly special. Your skills and hospitality were wonderful. Special thank you also to O'nelia from our Panama City tour & Ramone our taxi driver who are both very knowledgeable and humble. Maria who made our reservation for the restaurants and Esteban who helped show us around. Everyone we came into contact with was fantastic, from our bartenders to gardeners or cleaning staff.
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Date of stay: December 2019
Rooms
Location
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My lady and I have just spent the week of the 23rd to the 30th of November at the resort. The resort needs a fair bit of tender care to bring it up to scratch. There is not a lot of money being invested back into the place, so it is started to run down a bit, but the staff do try to keep the place going. The beach is nice, and the rooms are always kept clean, although it is hard to get towels in time to actually use them. The food is very good, and plentiful. The staff in the dining hall are very friendly, and cannot do enough for you. It took me three days to get a safe that worked, even after repeated attempts by the front desk manager Cesar Fajaroo to have this rectified. In the end, he installed one himself, which is not his job, but excellent customer service, and even offered us a free room upgrade for our troubles. I cannot say enough about the kind of service that this man went out of his way to give. He tries very hard to make things run smoothly, even when it was not his responsibility to do so. He even facilitated me hiring a car locally, when the other rental company let me down. He is probably not recognized for his efforts, in the way that he should be, but as a manager of 85 men, I can tell you that he is a great asset to the resort, and it defiantly would not run as efficiently without his 110% efforts.
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Date of stay: November 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Save you rmoney, STAY AWAY!!!! This place has gone from OK to TERRIBLE. The rooms are filthy, unkept and run down. Toilet did not flush. The pillows DISGUSTING! Only two towels (bath towels no hand towels). At the beach area you have to wait until 9:15am for beach towels IF you are lucky to get one as they are not enough of them. I felt so sorry for the foreigners that came into this "resort" thinking they were going to be pampered. The only thing that I can say was positive the kindness of the staff, certainly they were very courteous.
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Date of stay: February 2019
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This resort is very dirty and unkept They do not speak English They discriminate against Canadians who are not white Their fruits and veg are rotten Their food is reused and no flavour There partying at all hours Lighting is bad at night so you Can’t see where you are walking Long wait for a la Carte dinner Long lineup for buffet Dinner is at 7 pm and good luck getting food from the bar it is flooded with locals who get mad if you don’t speak Spanish
Security in resort is not good and hotel doors don’t lock or are crooked Be aware of hotel trying to set you up with their hotel excursions because they will rip you off
They do not stock your room
STAY AWAY from this RESORT!!!
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Date of stay: November 2018Trip type: Travelled with family
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I would like to start off by saying our trip to Panama was horrible. These were the reason why.
1) Salt water Lagoon was closed. The sungeing website did not state that all. Falsifying advertisement. 2) Food is garbage, no flavor and not much selection on the buffet. Half the time the al a cart restaurants were closed so you couldn't even make reservations. 3) There were kids everywhere! Even in the adult zone. We were there to celebrate our anniversary and could not enjoy it because there were kids running around everywhere. 4) The people working at the resort DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH AT ALL! 5) The resort is not an all inclusive as the bars close at 2am and they are not 24hrs. 6) Resort is not a 4 star, more like a 2.5 star. 7) Night Entertainment was the same every night plus they do not speak in English. Everything was done in Spanish. 8) Layout of the resort is horrible. We stayed at the town centre and had to walk 10 minutes to get to the main lobby. 9) Alcohol is watered down. 10) Prepare to be hanging out with a Bunch of locals!!
I would rate this resort a 2.5 star.
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Date of stay: October 2018Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We just came from Panama, stayed Playa Blanca Resort ! what a joke , please don’t waist your money! Resort is terrible below average service and OLD (please look at the pictures.) When asked “we would like to move” they offered us the Town Centre (no pool, no restaurants etc…. we decided to stay) Rooms are terrible: Showers are…………..not cleaned properly. We had to always asked for towels, asked to fix the shower head, Too many locals people pool are packed until after 8 pm, so many kids noises, You have to walk to the beach long distance, when is rains road become MUDDY, Food is average, buffet is average seafood and Italian Res….is average. Sushi restaurant is a joke…. Front desk; they think that there are doing us a favors! Fabian (one of the manager) has a BIG chip on his shoulder!!!! Carlos and Jhenifer only people tried to help us. Room keys do not work, we went to front desk at least 10 times to fix the card!!! Airport (Rio Hato) Arrival and departure is slow moving line ups, Please see the pictures.
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Date of stay: September 2018
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It was a first vacation after long time, and we were looking forward to it. Well, a bit of history about our travels in to south, we have been in Cuba (9 times), Dominican Republic, Mexico and now Panama. We always change hotels only one time we stayed in the same hotel. Let’s start with the fact that we were flighting with Sunwing which was a big mistake, they don’t care about people just the income they get from you. We had some problems at the beginning of the trip, accidently as two families we purchase 2 different hotels. As I was told everything is called Playa Blanca (example Carmen Play Blanka, Riu Play Blanka…etc.) so advice check name of the hotel twice. We were booking through RBC points, and some were in whole purchasing things went wrong. Do you think Sunwing cares…hell no, Toronto 24hr hotline in Toronto told my husband to F..k off and to leave him alone. Is that the customer service you want from airlines that you spend thousands of dollars, and you are in different country. Playa Blanka Beach hotel: Rooms are outdated and rundown. Mattresses are ok but pillows sucks, looks like someone wash the pillow too many times and combine few pillows in to one. Washrooms are not too bad, we had to ask for towels because there was 4 of us. They give us only two after asking they give us more. In the bathroom during our stay, we got extra pet (a cockroach living in the bathroom). Patio door never locked it was just broken. Wi-fi was not too bad. Did not work every were but in most places. Pools were not the cleanest and very milky colour but ok to use. Slides are nice and kids had blast. If you expect lobby life, then its not the hotel for you. Lobby is death zone. The bar does not have alcohol and is never open. No selection of drinks or coffee (no coffee at any of the bars). Bars are limited for any thing, no tonic no orange juice (tastes like the powder one). Many times, they close the bar because they had no items. Ok so this was our first vacation / hotel that has no ice cream for kids or in matter of fact there was nothing for kids…no activities. Kids club was always closed. Food is good but very limited: Coffee only at the breakfast, lunch, and dinner if the restaurant is closed you can’t get coffee (lobby bars don’t have any thing). Fruits are only on breakfast some times on lunch. Even in Cuba we had better selection then this. Hotel is dirty…stairs, hallways elevator are just dirty. No one washes them at all. Through the whole week the stairs were never washed, and elevator had piece of garbage in corner and whole week no one even swept the elevator. Beach is amazing worth to see that’s the only thing that was there amazing. Clean and black sand was something to see. Excursions/ trips: There are two Panama City and Anthon's Valley. We only did the Valley it was nice and for the money it was ok. Rio Hato airport has tarmac so no sleave and you need to do stairs to get of the plain. Airport is 4 walls with bathroom. So, make sure you have for kids some snacks and drinks because if you need to wait there for 3 hrs or more. There is a bathroom and drinking fountain only. You can take the plastic bottle of water from hotel and no issue to have that with you. I will definitely never go back to that hotel and Panama not any time soon.
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Date of stay: December 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:On way out from hotel take some water with you because on the airport there is nothing.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This was our second visit to this resort in a 14 month timeframe. First time was Nov/Dec of 2018; second visit January 2020. While there have been some super improvements on the resort, (water slides at the main resort and free wifi throughout the resort), the negatives we experienced previously still exist, namely, the main resort pool is disgusting and the shuttle to the Laguna Pool no longer operates despite being advertised by Sunwing as included!
Yes, the resort guests and staff are Spanish speaking. Yes, the entertainment is 99.9% Spanish. Yes, 95% of the guests are from Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, etc, but seriously, relax! You are on vacation in a foreign country. Enjoy the culture. Learn some new words in a foreign language. There is plenty of English being spoken by guests and staff and good communication can and does happen. The animation staff (hello Nemo!) speak decent English as do most of the restaurant and bar staff. Janina at the front desk was a huge help during our stay and spoke excellent English.
Comments about the resort I hope you find helpful and the hotel finds constructive:
Laguna Pool: Hand's down the main reason we travel to this resort and the reason we would return to this resort. Best pool, best restaurant, best food, great bar service, amazing staff (Maricel, Marlenys, Irving, Keitlin - seriously, management needs to reward these workers. They are amazing. Always friendly, smiling and helpful), clean washroom facilities and peace and quiet! It's worth the 10 minute walk to enjoy this oasis. NEGATIVE: Last year the use of plastic cups from the bar was prohibited and policed daily. This year we spent the whole two weeks picking cups and other debris out of the pool. This needs to be addressed. It's gross and unsanitary and completely unnecessary. Also, the resort no longer offers a shuttle to this pool. What a disappointment! Anyone with mobility issues or health issues is denied this beautiful oasis. Management - bring back the shuttle service. Fix the train and give Francisco back his job driving the shuttle.
Food: This resort has good food. While the steam table in the buffet is repetitive, there is always a delicious grilled protein option and a fresh salad bar for dinner. Most of our lunches were at the Laguna restaurant and I repeat, the food and service is excellent there. Breakfast always had an omelet or fresh egg station and plenty of fruit and breads.
A la carte restaurants: The resort no longer has the seafood restaurant which is disappointing. The sushi restaurant is decent as is the Teppanyaki. The teppanyaki chef, Elvis, is great. He is friendly and puts on a good show. The Teppanyaki has decreased the cost of the service which is nice but no longer offers your choice of protein as in the past. The menu is set. This is disappointing because not all guests enjoy seafood. The Italian has also changed its menu and format and we found it very disappointing. The Italian now offers an "appetizer/salad bar". If I wanted to get my own food, I would go to the buffet. Bring back the "deconstructed" ceasar salad that was on the old menu and also, bring back the lasagna. Seriously, what "Italian" restaurant doesn't offer lasagna?
Bars/drinks: Drinks were good and well made, especially at the Laguna Pool and in the lobby bar. Bartenders were friendly and helpful and while some guests do not know how to que (mostly at the main pool snack bar), the staff were great at serving everyone in a timely and orderly fashion.
Rooms: It's a room. It was acceptable. I only spend time in my room to sleep, shower and change clothes. It doesn't need to be fancy, justs functional. The bed was comfortable and the air conditioning worked. Fresh towels daily, plenty of t.p., mini-bar and water restocked daily. NEGATIVE: None of our rooms (there was three couples in our group) had hangers in our rooms. We had to request hangers from housekeeping which were provided. Also, every rooms' wall safe was closed so you had to call security to attend at your room to open them. This was pretty inconvenient for us because we didn't have a phone in our room! We had to use our neighbour's phone.
Pools: The former "passive" pool is now home to four new water slides. The slides are great fun and we really enjoyed them. The lifeguards are great at keeping everyone moving and out of harms' way. Lots of kids, noise and splashing at this pool. WARNING: the pool is not deep. Several of us hit our heads, elbows and backs using the slides. The main resort pool is DISGUSTING!!! Food, cups and napkins litter this pool constantly. It's cloudy and overcrowded. We don't use this pool during our stay.
Entertainment: The evening entertainment is 99% spanish. There is some english spoken at times but only if the animation staff are aware of english only people in the crowd. The first half of the evening show is geared for the children singing songs and playing games. You may not understand what is being said but it can be fun to watch the kids. This is a family resort and children are included in the evening entertainment until 9 or 10:00. After the children's portion, there is some adult entertainment of singing or dancing or skits. Again, it's in spanish but you get the gist of what is going on for the skits/audience participation and dancing is a universal language. I always enjoy the trivia nights (I kill at Trivia even when they try to trip me up with a five part question). Nemo is part of the animation staff and he is great and speaks decent english.
Daytime Activities: I have no real comment on daytime activities because we spend our time relaxing at the Laguna Pool. However, those times we have been at the main pool, we have been encouraged to participate in activities like volleyball, and we even played bingo one day. The staff were very accommodating in repeating the numbers in english for us and we actually got pretty good at picking up the spanish words.
Sports Bar: I cannot comment because it was closed more than it was open during our stay. There is one pool table in the sports bar but finding it unoccupied was a rarity.
Public spaces: The public washrooms at the main pool, by the Sports Bar and by the Italian restaurant were pretty nasty. The lobby washroom was always kept clean and the buffet restaurant washroom was also reasonable. The Laguna Pool washrooms were well maintained.
Lobby and Front Desk: Again, shout out to Janina at the front desk who was very helpful in facilitating shuttles to the Laguna Pool. The lobby was great in the evening for after-dinner drinks but the lobby bar closed at 10:00 and after that it was the snack bar area which was crowded and noisy. There was no area to play cards in the evening but we did improvise using the reservation desk in the lobby.
Sunwing Rep: Sunwing dropped the ball on this vacation. We had no rep on our bus to take us to the resort and help us with check in. Our check in was smooth but only because we had been to the resort before and knew the lay of the land. Our first rep was Jorge. It was only his third week on the job and I think he might have been a little overwhelmed trying to resolve the room and shuttle issues. Jackson took over by the end of the first week and was somewhat able to resolve our shuttle issues and then by the end of the second week, Christian, was the new rep. Our main issue was that Sunwing advertised a shuttle which would run to the Laguna Pool. The hotel cancelled the shuttle and did not offer an alternative. Neither Sunwing or the hotel could broker any kind of consistent arrangement. Shuttles were arranged on an as needed basis that was not reliable. It was very frustrating and really put a damper on our vacation as we had a travel companian who needed shuttle service due to health issues.
Tours: We did the canal partial transit tour through Sunwing and the Penanome shopping tour with Nexus. We enjoyed both immensely and would highly recommend them.
Final thoughts: We do enjoy this resort. The weather in Panama is hot and the Laguna Pool is the oasis we seek on our vacation as our party days are few and far between! The food is good and the people are friendly. Will we go back? Maybe, but the resort really needs to clean up the pools and the beach. Too much plastic and trash flying around.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Odd numbered buildings are the quietest. Avoid buildings 4 and 6. Building 7 has the best views...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Great resort with loads of activities especially for the kids however the logging has been a complete disaster, everything top to bottom including the dishes very dirty no hot water, no tea towel, no washing cleaning and noone who speaks english. After 4 hours and with the help of Google translate we managed to an house keeper for a quick (5 minutes) clean but still no hot water.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Avoir that place !
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Farallon area.
PRICE RANGE
C$200 - C$351 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
PanamaCocle ProvinceRio HatoFarallon
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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