Panama's cloud-forest highland town — the country's best coffee, endless hiking, and the place expats escape to
Boquete in Chiriquí province sits at 1,000m in the Barú Volcano valley, a permanently cool, green highland town in a country most people associate with the Canal, heat, and lowland humidity. It produces what coffee connoisseurs consider some of Central America's best beans — Boquete Geisha variety from the Hacienda La Esmeralda estate won the 'Best of Panama' competition so many years running they eventually gave it its own category. The surrounding Parque Nacional Volcán Barú contains Panama's highest peak (3,475m), where conditions are right to see both the Pacific and Caribbean on a clear…
Boquete was established as an agricultural town by indigenous Ngäbe-Buglé people long before Spanish colonisation. Coffee cultivation was introduced by European immigrants in the late 19th century — Swiss, German, and Scandinavian settlers who recognized the highland climate's potential. The modern town expanded in the early 20th century as the Canal construction brought investment and population growth to all of Panama. The recent growth as an expat retirement destination began in the 2000s, when international retirement surveys began ranking Boquete as one of the world's best retirement des…