Las Lajas Beach Resort

The Chiriqui province of Panama has lots of coastline. Most of it is undeveloped and remains in Stages 2 and 3 since the early focus in Chiriqui has been in the highlands of Boquete.

Boquete, just over an hour from the coast, has built a nice base of real live people who actually live or spend significant amounts of time at their home or condo in the mountains.

There is a real consumer demand for a place for those folks in Boquete to enjoy the beach. The problem is that the Boquete crowd are highly value oriented and price conscious. After all, they came to Boquete in the first place after “hearing twice the lifestyle for half the price.”

Thus far none of those brave souls building coastal hotels in the province have understood this. Maybe they understood it, but none have been able to execute. Sure, there are places to go spend the weekend at the beach, but most are either too much or not enough.
Boca Chica has great places but they are nicer and significantly more expensive. The lower end spots there aren’t much to talk about.

Las Olas is, well, Las Olas.

Don’t get me wrong. Being the first to market with a hotel in a stage 2 or 3 market is one of the most difficult tasks that i can imagine, so i have a lot of respect for any owner of this type of hotel.

Which makes Las Lajas Beach Resort that much more impressive. They just opened this year and have done a great job so far.

They didn’t over do it. They didn’t under do it. They are offering air conditioned rooms on the beach for a killer price ($40 to $75/night depending on when and which room). A great pool and bar overlooking the ocean.

I was just there over a Thursday to Saturday and the place was completely full. They only have 14 rooms, but i swear there must have been around 30-40 people there. That is saying something for a hotel in Chiriqui in rainy season.

Plus i got to do a little scouting; seeing the Las Lajas coastline on horseback with my two boys. The whales are still migrating so it’s pretty nice to see the Humpbacks over afternoon coffee.

Las Lajas has needed a place like this for a long time. It’s good for Chiriqui that someone has been able to execute a successful opening.