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Hotel Playa Cambutal, a beachfront hotel, is surrounded by beautiful black sand beaches, uncrowded surf and world class fishing. The hotel combines relaxation and comfortable beach front accommodations in an unspoiled tropical paradise. Come discover Cambutal!
This hotel is the center of the small Cambutal community and a very welcoming spot for tourists and locals alike. The beachfront is popular with surfers, and you can see many locals in the early morning and late afternoon with their families enjoying the waves and sand. The restaurant offers free wifi, is family friendly and is open to the public, so hotel guests and locals meet and enjoy the surprisingly good food and drinks offered by the well-trained staff. Tuesday is pizza night, with lively music and drinks at the beach bar to watch the sunset - and the whole community turns out to join in the fun. The vibe is warm and welcoming, and the community is very respectful of the opportunity.
The pool area is reserved for guests only, and offers a quiet retreat from the sun, either on a shady lounge chair or under the beautiful pergola shaded with bouganvilla. The grounds are lushly planted with local flora, and you will see many local birds and the occasional iguana. The 10 guest rooms are simply furnished but all have oceanfront views and balconies, where you can dry your wet clothes/ towels in the warm sun. Beds are comfortable and firm, towels are plentiful and thick, housekeeping is available daily and the staff is always willing to help. We stayed for 2 weeks and were treated more like family than guests. We will definitely be back!
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Date of stay: January 2024
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled with friends
Room Tip:Â There is no elevator - 4 guest rooms are downstairs and 6 are upstairs. If you have any concerns...
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.
Response from Albeiro - Haley Orrego - Whitmore, Owner at Hotel Playa Cambutal
Responded Feb 13, 2024
676bethannh Thank you for taking the time to review HPC! We are happy to hear you had such a memorable stay at Hotel Playa Cambutal. We are already looking forward to your return visit!
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This has to be one of the best beach hotels in Panama! We loved our time in the Hotel Playa Cambutal. Stunning views of the beach from our room and everywhere on the proper. Lovely grounds with palm trees galore, short green golf course-like grass, lounge chairs, and a great vibe.
If you like nature, gorgeous sunsets, quiet beach walks, watching surfers practically from your bed, good food, lovely decor, then you will love this hotel.
We already want to come back. Thank you Emmanuel, for your help. And thank you to the owners, Albiero and Haley, for running such an amazing place.
Lou from Boulder, CO USA
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Date of stay: January 2024Trip type: Traveled as a couple
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.
Response from Albeiro - Haley Orrego - Whitmore, Owner at Hotel Playa Cambutal
Responded Feb 13, 2024
loum463 Thank you for taking the time to review HPC! We are happy to hear you loved your stay at Hotel Playa Cambutal! We also loved having you. Please come back soon!
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Hotel Playa Cambutal is simply a beautiful place to stay while in Cambutal! There were 6 of us in our group, in 3 different rooms. Very lovely rooms with wood beams and wood ceilings, saltillo tile floors, french sliding doors across the entire width of the room, looking out to the ocean. So very beautiful indeed. The grounds are immaculate, the staff is super-friendly and very accommodating, and the restaurant serves really good food. Only negative-ish thing I want to say is that the glass doors in the rooms is the main focal point in the room, so they should be cleaned very regularly. There was dust all over the wood and glass, and spots everywhere on the glass. It's all in the details! Well, one more thing too, that needs to be addressed. The showerhead in our room was pretty messed up when I first turned it on. The water was barely spraying out of the holes, and it was squirting out of the side of the showerhead. There's no way I could have washed my hair that way. I scraped my fingernail over the tips of each showerhead hole and it fixed the problem. Scrubbing the showerheads with vinegar regularly would eliminate this problem and extend the life of the showerhead as well. Apparently it's a problem throughout the hotel because the other 2 rooms my friends were in also had the same issue. Anyway, they were small issues that I hope the hotel will correct soon because we would love to return for another visit. The beach is absolutely breathtaking at this hotel!!!
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Date of stay: December 2022Trip type: Traveled as a couple
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.
Response from Haley Whitmore, Owner at Hotel Playa Cambutal
Responded Jan 11, 2023
Thank you for taking the time to review HPC! We are so glad you enjoyed your stay. Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention, we will work on remedying them right away. Please come back soon!
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The hotel is so beautiful with such attention to detail. The rooms are comfortable and clean and the pool and seating areas outside are lovely. The restaurant is amazing! We didn't have one bad dish. The fish tacos, BLT, breakfast plates, coffees, and cocktails were all 10/10 with great low prices.
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Date of stay: November 2024
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
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Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled with family
Room Tip:Â The beach is the best at low tide :)
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.
Response from Albeiro - Haley Orrego - Whitmore, Owner at Hotel Playa Cambutal
Responded Dec 10, 2024
AnnieO222Thank you for taking the time to review HPC! We are so glad you enjoyed your stay and our restaurant. Fish Tacos and the Crispy Chicken BLT are a few of our favorites too! Come back soon!
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This hotel is a charming place, it allows you to connect with nature and with yourself, its impeccable rooms are a spectacle, they are very comfortable. The pool area is great, very relaxing and the good vibes of the collaborators are rewarding. The food is very good, it shows that they put love into each dish.
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Date of stay: September 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled 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.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
We weren't sure what to expect traveling during Panama's rainy season, but the weather was pleasant and so was Hotel Playa Cambutal. Eileen, the manager, Juli and all of the staff were amazing. They were so helpful and very friendly. We had just come from a week of fishing, so were looking for a little down time. I took my two teenage boys and they took surfing lessons from Leah, who actually was very helpful, and they rented boards from the hotel and just practiced their surfing. The BBC drink was my favorite and the food was good. My only recommendation would be to maybe add a few more options to the menu for dinner. The hotel was really clean and very charming. You certainly can't get a beach front hotel for this price very many places. I highly recommend taking an ATV tour through the hotel to the tide pools & bring your swim suit. It's a really cool location where you can get into the pool and you are protected by the rocks and the surf comes in over the pool. There are rocks in there, so might be helpful to wear some kind of swim shoes. We had a really nice lunch provided by the hotel with drinks, which was great. Thank you HPC.....we will definitely be back.
Note: there is no elevator in case anyone has issues getting up a flight of stairs, but they have rooms downstairs as well.
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Date of stay: June 2021
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
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.
Response from Haley Whitmore, Owner at Hotel Playa Cambutal
Responded Jun 28, 2021
Thank you for taking the time to review HPC! We are so glad you enjoyed your stay. It was a pleasure having you and your family at HPC. Please come back soon!
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Spent an outstanding long weekend at Hotel Playa Cambutal. The food was great, and while they don’t have an extensive menu, every item on it was well prepared and tasty. The staff was helpful, stayed out of the way, but were there where we needed something. The hotel itself opens up wonderfully onto a lawn and then onto the ocean. The beach is expansive and uncrowded. The hotel’s simple yet stylish decor makes you feel like you are staying at your rich friend's beach house, rather than at an impersonal hotel. We even asked where we could buy some of the hand-made furniture. The rooms, food and drink were very reasonably priced - we’ve paid twice as much for much poorer accomodation and food in Venao. Overall, it was the best weekend we’ve spent on the Azuero Peninsula and we are anxious to return.
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Review collected with Tripadvisor’s Reputation Pro
Date of stay: January 2022
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.
Response from Haley Whitmore, Owner at Hotel Playa Cambutal
Responded Jan 30, 2022
Thank you for taking the time to review HPC! We are so glad you enjoyed your stay. Please come back soon!
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I’ve been contacted by Hotel Cambutal 3 times over the last month to review our 3 day stay in March 2023…I’ve resisted so far, for selfish reasons - to keep this place a secret, known to all who visited but not everyone…yet.
During our stay in Panama, this hotel and the environs rank on top. It is magical, the staff is as friendly and as accommodating as we’ve ever encountered throughout years of travel. The food was good, pizza on pizza-night fabulous, and the sea…well, some of the best swimming and beach walking around.
We truly enjoyed warm hospitality and great food at the Peruvian restaurant The Black Pearl in their new location. We were also pleasantly surprised by delicious fish at the beach restaurant Florencitas (we think we got the name right :)
We’ll be coming back next year for sure, if we can get a room :)
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Date of stay: March 2023Trip type: Traveled as a couple
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.
Response from Haley Whitmore, Owner at Hotel Playa Cambutal
Responded May 2, 2023
supergd2014 Glad we wore you down and Thank you for the review! We are so glad to hear you had an enjoyable stay with us at HPC! We love our return guests. Looking forward to your next stay with us!
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This is one of our most comfortable stays during out trip in Panama. It is also the best VALUE for a beach/ocean accommodation experience. You cannot go wrong staying here.
The beach front vibe here is truly the "town hub." When the sunset or surf was on, there was always a mix of visitors and locals hanging out.
The menu selection is small but the food was great. They were able to make some vegetarian modifications which was appreciated because it was tough finding vegetarian food in Panama.
We loved the beachfront and how friendly low-tide waves were for our kids (ages 4, 7 + 9).
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Date of stay: November 2022
Value
Location
Service
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.
Response from Haley Whitmore, Owner at Hotel Playa Cambutal
Responded Nov 30, 2022
EricLpoker Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. Glad you had an enjoyable stay at HPC. We had a great time getting to know your family during your stay with us. Come back soon!
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Magnificent place at the end of the world! The swimming pool is large and sunny, the sandy beach is just a stone's throw away. Perfect for starting surfing. Horseback riding is possible from the hotel. The restaurant is perfect! Careful cuisine, affordable prices, different sushi every day, the breakfast choice could be more varied but everything is delicious.
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Date of stay: March 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled 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.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Thank you for your interest in HPC.
Tocumen in Panama City is the nearest international airport. There are two smaller airports, Chitre and Pedasi, that accept domestic and private flights. At this moment Air Panamá is only flying into Pedasi.
If you don’t want to rent a car you can contact HPC to help with car service information.
All the best
Hello! Yes the beach is also great for swimming. If you like long distance swimming or laps the best time for that would be at low tide. That's when the surf dies down the most.
If you have any other questions please feel free to contact us again or via email.
Saludos from HPC!
Hello, thank you for your inquiry. May-June we definitely get some good days. The wind usually starts off shore in the morning and turns on shore by mid day.
For more information please contact us at our email address which you can find on our website.
All the best
HPC
Panama City, Panama122 contributions29 helpful votes
"The road is good, so no need for a fancy and expensive 4x4. I rented a simple and small car and that's fine. Of course make sure you follow WAZE for the police."
There are more places to choose from in the Cambutal area.
PRICE RANGE
$104 - $122 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
PanamaLos Santos ProvinceCambutal
NUMBER OF ROOMS
10
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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