Terrible rooms. Sheets stained, was afraid to sleep in them because they smelt so dirty. Food, was okay, but terribly overpriced. Totally overcharged us on our bill at checkout, had to fight with the desk lady for her to take the unecessary charges off. Ocean is beautiful, hammocks are relaxing. Kayaks are available to take out, but the sea was a little to rough for me, ended up flipping my kayak. The walk over the mountain was very strenuous, but showed a whole other world on the other side of the island. The small town was unlike anything we had ever seen, and quite the culutre shock. The rooms, food, and service are terrible. I actually felt a little unsafe being there, which is not a good thing. Will not stay there again.

I'm glad I didn't read the reviews of this hotel before staying there. I may have skipped it altogether, and missed a great weekend away from the city. Contrary to what I've read in earlier reviews, the hotel was clean, no bugs (not even a mosquito bite while eating outdoors at night), it was quiet and restful, the pool was perfect, and we really enjoyed the free snorkeling and kayaking along the reef. There are two options for rooms, a regular room in one of several ocean facing bungalows or a "suite" - ie, a room that is built over/on the sea. We chose the suite, and were happy to have an unobstructed view of the water/palm trees, and to be far from the music and general noise of the pool and restaurant area. Staff was friendly - not falling over themselves to cater to your every whim, but Panamanian friendly - leave you be unless you ask for something. And when I asked for things (ie, sheets for a crib, a snack, a ferry) service was fast and efficient. Food was delicious.

Our kids (age 2 and 4) had plenty to do, between the kayaks, swimming pool, swings/slide play area, and other kids at the resort. It was not overcrowded and we were able to just relax and enjoy our time. The prices were a bit high at over $200 a night for a suite, plus a menu that kept us spending at least $40-60 per meal for the four of us.

We hiked to the other side of the island, which reminded me a bit of my favorite surfing town in Mexico. Not a tourist trap, just a laid-back beach town with a few beach bars and cafes, and a decent swimming beach. This is not a main destination if you are looking to fly to the Caribbean for an island resort, but it is a great place to stop and relax for a long weekend away from Panama City. 2 hour drive, easy access, nice getaway.

Isla Grande is one of my favorite places in this planet. Unfortunately its best appointed hotel is Bananas. I say unfortunately because this hotel is not in the most beautiful and colorful side of the island, in the weekends its crowded, and the service is mediocre (due to understaffing). The hotel rooms are generally clean, but do not expect luxury. The restaurant's food is delicious, however, (once again) the service is slow and difficult.

The best beach is not in the hotel but just to its side, next to the port. The snorkeling there is quite nice, and most of the time the water is warm and completely transparent. At night, get in the water to see photoluminescence (it's amazing and a hidden secret of the place).

I highly recommend taking a tour out of the hotel to see the rest of this amazing region of the Carribean. There is a great variety of beaches and snorkeling areas. The culture of the town of Isla Grande is also quite fun. Bathe in the area of the statue of Christ in the front of the island, typically loud Latin music sets the tone for your dip in the crystal clear Carribean sea.

We arrived Friday night and we were alone!!! I couldn't imagine alone on a nice resort like this. We had dinner and went to bed. The next day first thing in the morning I went to the bathroom but no water in the toilet? So I dressed up and found a bathroom by the restaurant and surprise NO water. After my business I went to the admission and I disturbed the girl over there surfing on internet and told her my problem. She told me that they have to pump water to the tank and she will call somebody later. I told her that I was embarrassing with the public bathroom and I couldn't flush, so with an attitude she grabbed the phone and called .the place still desert at 10 o' clock in the morning but a couple showed up. I went to the front desk to ask for flyers or information for fishing and snorkeling but the new guy and I we chat for 20 minutes before she hung her cell phone. She told me she was busy and will come back to me later but the price is around $150 per person. I never heard about her. We went to town on foot a 20 minutes in a hiking trail and you end up by a dump in town. Every time you take a taxi boat for the main or the island and tell the taxi you're going to Banana its $15.00 not 2 or 3 as mentioned? We went for dinner around 7 and the nightmare started: About 30 people’s totals at the resorts may be 12 to 15 for dinner. I previously owned 2 restaurants for 7 years so I have a quarter bite experiences. I order a lobster tail at $18.00 per pounds and a drink. 3 drinks are not available on the wine is overprice so I took a beer. My wife got her plate and the waitress told me that lobsters are only 3 pounds. And the price of my plate will be $58 00. I figured it's more expensive there than in Canada
So I choose langoustines 4 small pieces for $16.50 and for dessert a banana flambé but 30 minutes later she came back and told me they didn't have any???? So I asked to see the owner cause I guessed he was the guy yelling to the personals and asked them to do the garbage can while we had supper, they came out with 4 bags around the tables (don't forget we were alone till 10 in the morning)
It starts to scare me. The owner showed up and I tried to start a conversation with him about the price of the lobster and his just start to argue with me "there is a deal on lobster for the weekend at 9.99 per pounds because there is only Jewish here for the week end and they don't eat this. Who's you're waitress she should brought you the deal menu". No she didn't bring me the menu but it’s not her fault if nobody told her I said. So he went to the bar and screamed to the employees and told them there is a special menu but nobody knew. He came back to me and told me "those peoples are so stupid’s and he walked away.
The next morning guess what? No water in the toilet. So here I went and I just meted the owner with same clothes than the night before and I told him can we get water please? He said he will call somebody but he didn't care. I tried to seat at a table but all of them are dirty with left over from the previous night (check the pics) it's full of bugs another showed up and tried to sit at a dirty table and we are there waiting for a coffee but all personals ignore us, they feed the parrots swipe the floor, clean the swimming pool but nobody clean table or tell us when we can have breakfast or a coffee. At 8.30 I went to my room make a coffee and grab my camera because my patience was out of limits.
I took pictures and we packed our luggage and we left the rotten banana.
The owner lost control of his place, as no experience with customer service and only 2 waiters were goods the rest were there for the pay check only with bad attitudes.
Good luck with you' re business mister know it all! Stop advertising new administration and you are training you’re personals !
We will go back with a new administration.