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HOTEL STYLE
Budget
Charming
Property amenities
Free parking
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Wifi
Pool
Bar / lounge
Beach
Children Activities (Kid / Family Friendly)
Pets Allowed ( Dog / Pet Friendly )
Restaurant
Location
Calle Principal, #53 Playa Rio Mar, San Carlos 1017 Panama
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I can hardly believe it's still here! First stayed in 1966 (when it seemed spanking new) when our car broke down on our way back to the States, 2 km away on the I-A Highway. Went back in 2001 with my family and it had hardly changed a bit. And from other reviews, it still seems the same! Okay, it's a bit retro-primitive, with its cold showers and spartan rooms with a Donald Judd-like minimalist decor. But I don't travel to sit playing gin in my room. Even in 2001 the restaurant was decent - especially if you like the local fish, corvina, which I do. And the grounds were actually very pleasant when you got outside of the rooms. In 1966 was there in March and saw an amazing iridescent series of breaking waves as the surf rolled in - fantastic! You can walk for miles on virtually deserted white and black sand beaches. And close to El Valle - don't miss it if you go to Panama -with Panama City, the Canal, former Canal Zone where I served for almost two years an hour away, and a hop to the Atlantic/Caribbean. I guess I'm sentimental, so I might just try to stay here again when I revisit Panama next year. If you are adventurous, give it a try.
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Date of stay: March 2012
Value
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Trip type: Travelled with family
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.
I stayed a long weekend at PSA mainly to surf. As a solo female traveller, most of the time I felt safe and well taken care of. The rooms are appropriate for the price point. The meals were large and filling. There is a decent selection of boards to rent and 'out front' was a good option most of the time.
I didn't have a car so a drawback for me was not having access to any ships within walking distance for snacks, water, etc.
The big changes I would recommend:
1) Water: They only offer water by individual bottle. And while I was there they ran out. To save on plastic it would be great to have a filtered water cooler. Even if not free, charge guests a daily rate to fill their own bottles. As a surf camp, not having water access is a problem.
2) No coffee. The people that run the place don't drink coffee, so it isn't available. I get it but it would be nice for guests getting up at dawn to surf. I have seen other places that just put an urn on early morning. It works well.
3) Wax! I asked one day for wax and she said not we already waxed the boards. So if you go, bring your own.
Those touches would make it feel more like it catered to surfers than just beach goers. Good value for money but could be a bit better.
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Date of stay: November 2017Trip type: Travelled solo
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 stayed for a couple days at Rio Mar and had a nice time. The place just got a new owner Louis and he is very kind and is giving good services. At night we ate red snapper from the grill ( louis cooked for us) and he served a delicious and simple breakfast, omelet, fruits, yoghurt. The cabins are clean and you can relaxe in a hammock. For surfing it is only a few minutes walking and the beach is all for yourselves!
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Date of stay: July 2013
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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.
Vicious dog with an owner that doesn’t care who his dog attacks, bites people and other dogs who are simply enjoying a stroll on the beach. The owner Alan will watch his dog attack another dog and laugh and not do anything to stop her. He smiles and says that it’s nature and his dog will prevail. He is completely irresponsible and a terrible dog owner and person.
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Date of stay: February 2025Trip type: Travelled solo
Room Tip:Do Not Go!
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 doesn't very often that I use caps, but in this case it is necessary. This place is terrible. We stayed here for two nights in July and it was our worst experience in Panama.
Room: dirty, worn out, overpriced. We stayed at a $35 room and got a room which wasn't cleaned properly and had a soggy, old mattress. There was still blood stained toilet paper lying next to the toilet, management wasn't impressed. The air-con worked, but it made a loud noise so we had to turn it off. The worst: cockroaches. A lot. We traveled a lot and have seen more cockroaches but they kept on coming. We complained and the reaction was lousy, more on that later.
Service: terrible, annoying, failure. The new owner, Luis, lays in a hammock all day and has his small kid running around the terrain, bothering people. The owner has an other guy helping him who tried to rip us off with the breakfast and was very rude to customers. Luis would sit outside until late at night (3:00 AM) with the music loud on, talking loudly while drinking beers. Just a note: the rooms are directly around the 'social area', so everyone could enjoy it. The last night we were so fed up with everything that we decided to leave at 2:30 AM. The owner was very apologetic but other than saying 'I'm so sorry guys, omg omg I am so ashamed' he didn't do anything. Just sat there and drunk beer.
Food: bad quality, overpriced, tasteless. The place is in the middle of nowhere with nothing around it to eat. There's no kitchen for guests to use so you must eat their stuff. Well: don't. Way overpriced, and it's just crappy fast-food. Better go to San Carlos where you have some good food. We had an American Breakfast for $6, which was stated as 'Eggs to your liking, with bread, butter and bacon or ham and coffee and orange juice. Well, the eggs was just a small portion. The bread was old and stale and tiny. The coffee didn't come and when we asked we were told that we should have said earlier that we wanted it, and the guy sighed. No ham or bacon, but a tiny piece of white cheese. When we asked for some extra bread they wanted to charge us. Who would do that? They also wanted to charge the coffee as an extra, whilst it was included. We also had a main course, skewers. We had 'mixed skewers' and got chicken mixed with cheap sausages. The salad was one leaf of green and one slice tomato. Yay.
Facilities: non-existent, dirty, sub-par. Board hire? No signs of it. Surfing lessons? Don't think so. The skateboard ramp was one of a kind you would spot in a sad city park in any western city. The pool was dirty, the chairs were broken at points. Check in was weird as it wasn't clear who we could spoke to. Everything had to be paid in cash. The social area isn't clean. The trash bins are right under one of the hammocks. There's a table full of trash. The tables itself are broken and dirty. Not where you would like to eat.
Overall it was just a really bad experience. We are both experienced travelers and have backpacked to many places around the world and we're not queens who are getting crazy about one hair on the toilet seat. But this place was just the worst of the worst. That in combination with the extremely lousy management made us want to write this review. We left the place in the middle of the night. The beach isn't worth it either: lots of rocks and not very nice for surfing.
Just don't go here.
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Date of stay: July 2013
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:They have economy rooms for $35 which are terrible and rooms for $50 which looked a little...
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.
had a night with partner back in november - rang ahead and booked a couples room. was given a price of $45 over the phone from american guy who runs bar / cafe. rocked up just on dark and in a serious rain storm - price was now $65 from manager including air con and tv. should have bailed down the road when price went up - but was late and wet.
Power went out the minute we checked in and did not come on until early hours of morning - asked for discount for no power - not a chance
we were only guests and no surprised!! had three weeks in another surf spots and found way better accom and service 300% better.
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Date of stay: November 2011
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:keep away - other surf camps close
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 didn't actually stay at the Rio Mar Surf Camp because after we drove up and viewed one of the rooms, we knew better. The rooms are cramped, dirty and generally completely run down. They are located on a hill over a supposedly great break, but you certainly don't have to stay there to surf it. We surfed it and had the waves all to ourselves, but the wave was just ok and only worked on a low tide. If you're looking for waves, go to playa Venao, Santa Catalina, or Bocas del Toro. Rio Mar is not a good call and its definitely not a good place to stay.
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Date of stay: April 2006
Value
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Cleanliness
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 surf camp is disgrace to surf camps. If you are beginner looking for some place to learn to surf then go anywhere else but here.
While there are waves that break on a low tide, Riomar is location that's full of rocks. Not some where you take beginners.
The place is run by a Panamaim who clearly has other priorities like getting his own waves and drinking until the wee hours. Apparently, he had a second job that he left to go handle while leaving the camp in the hands of young kid that had little no instruction on how to run the place. Specifically which boards we were allowed to use. The first morning we woke up took whichever boards we wanted as we were under the impression all were fair game for the guests.
After surfing for about 2 hours we came back to find the owner, Alan, irate and hungover from his previous night because we took one of his own personal boards to surf. We spent the next 10 minutes trying to apologize to him because we didn't know while he threw a fit like a 12 year old girl.
The rest of the stay was awful. We counted the hours to return back to PC for an enjoyable time.
If you take anything from this is don't stay at this place. It's an absolute waste of your money.
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Date of stay: February 2011
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
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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.
We called ahead and got a $35 quote on one of the economy rooms. Room had bunk beds with a queen on the bottom, twin on the top. The place is hard to find in the dark, almost no signs from the road Rio Mar. I had to call and talk to Ortega to figure out how to get here. Basically, when driving down the careterra rio mar, take a right at the first non-driveway looking road, and when it curves around you will see the skate half pipe and a parking lot. Rental boards, both surf and SUP. $1 Panamanian beers. $4 simple breakfast if you want it. Surf wasn't great today but apparently it can get rideable. Surfs up dudes!!!
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Date of stay: January 2013
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
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Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:The cheap rooms can sleep three, the "large" rooms can sleep 4.
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 is a charming place, but my food bill was way overpriced for what I got. The people at this place are a bit dark and unwelcoming. One of the surf instructors is dating the towel girl (not really sure what her job was, but she gave me a towel upon arrival) who can't be more than 17. Dude is probably in his early 40's. A little awkward there. The guy who runs it, is super egotistical, and has a terrible attitude. Reminded me of a grown up brat. There was only one staff guy there that was super awesome. His mates need to take a few notes from him. I'm glad this trip was just an extended layover as I would've felt totally ripped off had I had planned it seriously. The guy who ran it got me to the airport late and I missed my flight. I had asked him if we should leave at 4am and he said that 430am would be fine. He showed up at 440am. I missed my flight and had to pay airline penalties. NOT COOL.
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Date of stay: August 2015
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled solo
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.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands16 contributions27 helpful votes
"They have economy rooms for $35 which are terrible and rooms for $50 which looked a little better, but you are still paying WAY too much for what you get. Don't do it."
There are more places to choose from in the San Carlos area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
rio mar surf camp hotel panama city
LOCATION
PanamaPanama ProvinceSan Carlos
NUMBER OF ROOMS
11
Prices are provided by our partners for one room, with variable occupancy rules as provided by the property, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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