Cabañas wailidup — Hotel in Narganá

READ THIS IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING STAYING AT WAILIDUB: The main summary of what you need to know about Wailidub is that it is basically like camping on a rundown resort island and the bugs are horrible if it isn't super windy (sand flys/sand gnats); Wailidub is one of the worst islands in San Blas. That being said, it's a beautiful place, and if you don't mind roughing it to a large degree it's a great way to experience Guna Yala and Panama's San Blas islands.

We stayed at Wailidub for 4 nights after booking through the tour company Enjoy San Blas. We actually had originally booked to stay on another island (Chichime) but we got moved to Wailidub two days before our date due to overbooking and decided to still go for it despite the overwhelmingly bad reviews on Wailidub on multiple websites. We had a great time during our stay but we also were very lucky with strong winds the entire time and came prepared and brought 6L of water, a ton of bug spray, and snacks.

The strong winds are critical for the bugs. Many reviews mention "bed bugs", but I think most people are actually getting wrecked by the sand flys on the island. One night there was no wind and I went out and I could see literally dozens of flies landing on my legs and biting me. Make sure you bring a bug spray with DEET as the active ingredient. I was fortunate enough to have this and from my experience it prevented the bites nearly completely. Also, it looks like the mattresses are not replaced often and are likely infested with bed bugs due to the large number of small, rust-colored spots that covered the entirety of our mattress (see pictures). Despite the strong winds and copious bug spray we still got tons of itchy bug bites on our legs and back, and I can only imagine this would be a nightmare situation with no spray or no wind. I am personally worried we will spread bed bugs back home and I am going to thoroughly clean and disinfect everything I brought back due to the likely bed bug situation.

As for the island service, it's pretty good but not great. The food is mostly fried fish or chicken and rice or patacones. The meals are served at very specific times and honestly we really enjoyed them. The staff is friendly Guna Yala folks but it's clear they aren't trained hotel staff. When we landed on the island we didn't get any orientation or direction of any kind and we just were led to our cabin without any explanation of what all is on the island or where to go or when to eat. We learned all the rules on the fly talking to various people. Breakfast is at 7, lunch is at noon, and dinner is at 6:30. Only one side of the island is for guests and "allowed", the other side of the island is for the staff and is off limits.

There is trash everywhere all over the island and on the beach, and there are multiple direlect cabins, bathrooms, and buildings that have been torn up through age or weather. Particularly nasty is an old bathroom that is at the end of the main restaurant dock that smells strongly of sewage and clearly has just been rotting for a number of years. There are literal piles of trash and broken building pieces behind the restaurant (see pictures), and really there is only one real small area that is beach that you can use. It is about a 50m stretch between the cabins and the restaurant that is beautiful. The rest of the island beach area is not usable for guests. There are some small paths on the island, but they run to a small generator building and a small water pumping station. Really the only thing on the island is the restaurant, the cabins, and the beach. There is nothing else for guests and it's somewhat constraining.

As far as the cabins themselves, they are good but definitely not great and the facilities are extremely crude. There was an old mattress with pillows, a beautiful back porch with a hammock and lower deck closer to the water (but no stairs into the water). The toilet was old and stained but totally fine to use. The sink and shower are just PVC pipes with a valve at the end. Beware of swimming here due to...

Very low comfort, food average, lots of rubbish on the island and the people are also average friendly. They could do so much with the island, but they all hang around and are quite lazy. The fresh water stinks and the toilets are really dirty. No electricity in the room, although there are light switches, none of them works. Our door was broken, so we had to manually lift the door against the entry in order to close it for the night. It really could be a paradise here but the people are not really cleany. I would not recommend to stay longer than one night, as there are probably much better islands than this. Breakfast is two slides of toast with one slice of packed cheese and one slice of a salami with a fried egg. Food is ok but nothing special. Beer 2$ also ok. These people do not really know what tourists need, but still making so much money with the tourists. I am wondering where all this money goes to as they do not invest anything into the cabins or comfort. It’s a really pity these people do not take care of such a nice paradise...

The worst experience of our whole life. The island is covered in garbage. Everything is dirty. We paid 700 dollars for 2 nights in a cabana with private bathroom and cold water. The bathroom was dirty and the water was bad smelling. There are bedbugs or fleas: we woke up covered in bites! The food is bad (only fish and chips, the cheapest junk food). People that run the island are lazy and rude. They don't clean nothing! There is no marine life underwater, only plastic. These islands are a tourist scam, the shame of Panama! Avoid this place. We reserved with San Blas Frontera: they didn't help us and it was impossible to contact them during the stay. We wanted to leave the island but we were hostage there for 2 days because the people that run the island refused to call a boat and the agency didn't do nothing. They are scammers! Be very careful with...