Why We Chose Boquete Over Costa Rica — Two Years Later

We almost moved to Costa Rica. We had the tabs open. We’d watched the YouTube videos. We’d joined the Facebook groups. Costa Rica was the plan.

Then a colleague of Robert’s — someone who’d lived in Panama City for work — mentioned Boquete almost in passing. We looked it up. Six months later, we were packing.

Two years in, here is the honest version.

Why Costa Rica lost us

Nothing against Costa Rica. It’s a beautiful country with a well-established expat infrastructure. But a few things gave us pause:

The cost. We kept finding that comparable housing — the kind we actually wanted, not the smallest unit we could tolerate — was 20–35% more expensive than what we were seeing quoted for Boquete. That adds up fast on a fixed retirement income.

The process complexity. We got mixed signals about the Pensionado visa requirements. For Panama, the documentation was clear and the process, while not simple, was well-documented. We felt more confident about what we were getting into.

The Pensionado discounts. Panama’s Pensionado program offers 20–25% discounts on medical services, restaurants, utilities, and more. Costa Rica doesn’t have a comparable program. Over a year of typical spending, we estimated this saves us $4,000–$6,000 annually.

Why Boquete specifically

We knew we didn’t want city life. Panama City is genuinely impressive — modern, international, excellent medical care — but it wasn’t what we were after. We wanted mountains, a slower pace, a real community.

Boquete delivers that. The expat community here is large enough to never feel isolated, but small enough that you actually get to know people. We have close friends we met at the farmer’s market within our first three months.

The climate is the other thing. We joke that we now live in permanent spring. Temperatures run 60–75°F most of the year. No air conditioning. Occasionally a sweater in the evenings. Coming from Portland we appreciated the absence of rain nine months a year.

What surprised us

Language. Boquete has enough English speakers that you can function comfortably as a beginner Spanish speaker. We’ve both improved significantly — there’s a language school we attend twice a week — but we’ve never felt stranded. More of the locals speak English than we expected.

Medical care. The local clinic is fine for routine things. For anything more significant, we drive to David (40 minutes) or, for major procedures, Panama City (5–6 hours, or a 45-minute flight). That’s a real consideration and we’d encourage anyone to think honestly about their health situation before choosing a rural location.

Community quality. This was the biggest pleasant surprise. The people who choose Boquete tend to be curious, active, and interesting. We’ve met teachers, entrepreneurs, physicians, artists. The quality of the conversations at the coffee shop on a random Tuesday afternoon is remarkable.

What we’d tell ourselves

Come for a month before you commit. We did three weeks on a test visit before signing anything. That’s not enough — but it’s much better than nothing. If you can arrange a longer stay, do it.

Don’t underestimate the altitude transition. At nearly 4,000 feet, some people take a few weeks to fully acclimate. Robert had headaches for about ten days. Nothing serious, but worth knowing.

Get your banking sorted before you arrive. We wish someone had told us this more forcefully. It took us two months to open our local bank account after arriving, which complicated several things we needed to pay locally.

The Pensionado visa process is worth doing properly. We used an attorney — connected through Beyond Panama Relocation — and it was worth every dollar. The process took about five months start to finish. Having professional guidance meant we didn’t make mistakes that would have extended that timeline.

Two years in, we have no regrets. We’ve found the kind of retirement we were looking for — genuinely affordable, genuinely beautiful, genuinely communal. Panama surprised us in the best way.