El Hotel y Restaurante Avicar — Hotel in Tortí

80 miles north of the end of the Panamanian Highway and the Darian Gap, Hotel Avicar is a joyous and pleasurable stop before stepping off into the end of the world. You will sleep in air-cooled spacious rooms and Andres, your host, will make sure you have a tasty Panamanian meal served in his restaurant. The hotel features a small swimming pool, hummingbird feeders flashing with color, and a beautiful view of the amazing surroundings. Torti is a sweet isolated little town filled eye-catching murals, a few shops with basic goods and beer and wine. Maybe a dusty bottle of gin if you look hard enough. You may be lucky enough to meet up with some people from the Kuna tribes who frequent the area. The women wear beautiful hand embroidered shirts called molas, while the men dress more often in standard western wear. If you want to take a photo, ask and donate a few dollars for their time. Andres will give you all the local information that you need. He runs a wonderful hotel and restaurant and you will...

For the price this is a nice hotel. Good birds, nice location, quiet rooms, working AC, extremely wonderful owner Andres, and restaurant on site with basic food served all day.

Downsides: The showerhead was in very bad condition and very dirty. A thick growth of orange bacteria tells me clearly that no one cleans the shower heads or scrubs the shower tiles regularly. The property hosts several outdoor cats which sit under the hummingbird feeders all day. On at least one occasion, one of the cats attempted to catch a hummingbird. Get rid of the cats. Hot water was off for two days (text message cleared up the problem quickly once I brought it up). The pool was having troubles with chemical balance. A scorpion got into our room, probably because the door is not sealed completely, not a big issue, but this can...

In an area not know for great accommodations and food, Avicar stands out. We stayed there for three days on a birding expedition. Unprepossessing from the road, the rooms sit on a shady hillside with a nice swimming pool. Rooms are basic but well-cared for and clean. And the food is worth a special trip. For breakfast, the best fried bread we had anywhere in Panama. For lunch and dinner, all the dishes are nicely cooked, with a variety of different sauces. The local shrimp are particularly good, and the patacones crisp without being either overly oily or starchy. Owner Andres is friendly and engaging, and clearly a source of great hospitality to the local community as well...