Hacienda del Mar — Hotel in Pedro González

Traveled end of May - early June. Found this little known gem online. Located on San Jose Island about 50 miles from Panama City, Panama surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.||Who knew this place existed?||The resort arranged a flight from Albrook airport, and the day we flew we were the only couple going to the island and we flew in a very small plane, four seater, which was a fun adventure. Our pilot was very professional.||The staff at the resort were very friendly and helpful, despite their limited English, we enjoyed trying to communicate with our limited Spanish. The restaurant staff was especially outstanding! We pretty much had the place to ourselves all week until the weekend. ||Our suite had a beautiful view of the ocean from its deck. The solar heated hot-water was plentiful. Our suite also had two ceiling fans and two wall mounted air conditioners which did the job! Room also had a minibar/fridge and it's own coffee maker.||||Breakfast was included and featured eggs and toast. Lunch was hotdogs, club sandwiches, burgers and chicken sandwiches. Dinner was pasta, salads, pork, shrimp, scallops and fish, served with several sauces. Numerous items to choose from on the menu. I personally requested Sancocho chicken soup and had this several times!||||We did not do any of the activities, mostly due to our limited understanding of Spanish. We did go walking on trails everyday and saw many birds and boars. There was no toucan on site, however the McCaws were abundant, and we spotted several types of wild parrots. ||||The pool was outstanding and clean. The pool area looked like it was brand new. The pool is not really for little-ones, however. The main beach area was clean and the staff provided (set-up) lounges for us to utilize while at the beach. There was no seaweed and very large sand area to enjoy the ocean. Snorkeling at the beach was difficult due to the waves. We did not encounter any bugs, sandflies or no-seeums. I still would bring bug spray though just in case. ||||I mentioned earlier in my review that we had the place to ourselves during the week, and it was truly peaceful and quiet, however, just as an earlier reviewer noted, at the end of our stay, on the weekend, new guests arrived, loud and rude, and proceeded to loudly play own music from what we would call "a boom box". In addition, they took over the patio area beside the pool, disturbing the other guests, continuing on throughout the day and in the evening as we were trying to enjoy dinner, blasting their music at the pool. No resort employees stopped this obnoxious behavior (these were not teenagers. these two couples were adults). We enjoyed our stay until the weekend, we could not enjoy the pool once these people arrived. We will not return, although up to that point it was a great relaxing and...

We have been visiting this place since 2006. We used to love it. Great memories from when Hacienda del Mar was a place for a quite and relaxing family vacation. However, we visited last year in April and did not enjoy our stay. It was noisy, mainly because the family of the owner were there playing their own music. However, we decided to give it another shot this April 2019. Just came back and will never stay there again. We arrived on Tuesday and had to ask the manager to please turn down the volume of the music. Some conga or salsa or whatever they were playing loudly in the kitchen and reaggeton by the pool. This is a small place and you could hear both tracks playing simultaneously (the music in the kitchen and the music by the pool). She (the manager) replied that a family of 14 were having a long celebration and that they were by the pool playing “their” music and that they were also going to have a birthday party so we better hold up. We complained and complained for three days in the row but for some unexplainable reason those guests had the right to listen to their tacky music loudly since 10:00 a.m. (when they open their first bottle of booze) every morning after breakfast until 8:00 p.m. before dinner. We were under the obligation to listen to their 10-hour long sessions of reaggeton of porn-lyrics because they were celebrating the 28th birthday of a young “lady” with huge breast implants and huge butt-chicks implants bouncing for four days. This Fendi, Dolce & Gabana, Carolina Herrera Vulgatrix and her family were of course dressing all sort of expensive brands with big logos showing off that they have accumulated some cash from whatever sources. They monopolized the small pool area in the hotel and for some strange reason they had rights and the rest of the guests (low profile people with families) did not. We were bullied since the day we arrived (April 16) until the Vulgatrix and her party left (April 19). We had one day of peace and we could listen to wild life and the sea for one day only after spending USD3,700 for a 4-night stay. We were told by one of the waiters that this is how it is nowadays at Hacienda del Mar. It is a loud place where guests get to play their own music through the boom boxes by the pool. Hotel policy. We are not...

I found out about Hacienda del Mar on San José Island (Part of the Pearl Island Archipelagos) by chance and I absolutely loved every second here. It’s a great place to relax unwind and be one with the abundance of nature all around. ||||It’s a great place to unwind and just see the day go by and lay at the wonderul golden sand beaches and watch the Blue-and-Gold Aras and rare Red-and-Green Macaws fly by. ||||As I was a soli traveller, might not be the first pick of destination but I would highly recommend for couples or families. I would not take babies-toddlers here. ||||I stayed in Suit 14 which has a breathtaking view of the pacific coast and an even better sunrise. The Suit is spacious and has a great 2 person bed with plenty pillows, a bathroom with hot water shower and also a good cold one to pick you up, amenities incl. There is a sofa (bed option for 3rd person). The AC works wonders I even turned it down, as literally Ice came out. So if you like it freezing you’re not gonna get hot here. ||||The breakfast was continental and always incl. fresh fruit and juices, eggs to your licking and friedly service.||||Most employees only speak Spanish but you get around, a translator does miracles. ||||As it is a private Island Resort you can only fly here with a confirmed Hotel booking for I’d say 3 nights at minimum. ||||I was lucky enough to fly over with a family of 3 so i sat in the co-pilot seat of the small 3 passenger plane, an adventure on it’s own. As the reaort offers many activities most require minimum of 2 or even 4 persons, so again i was lucky to come at the same time as that family and we decided to do a minimum of 4 passengers boat tour and we were blessed to see whalesharks and blue marlin fish. Plenty birds from sea gulls to Buzzards and Hawks, of course more Aras (tropical parrots). ||||The family told me the 4x4 squats weren’t all that and the tour is expensive for the 2 hr drive, I would thus recommend the snorkeling (free) and the boat tour, or go diving (license required).||||I would...