Carol S. Says:
Could Jessica please let me know if there are any fishing villages of about 5,000 inhabitants that are on the pacific coast side of Panama? If so, does she have any information she could share for potential long-term rentals?
IL Panama Editor Jessica Ramesch Says:
Hi Carol,
According to the last census (2010), the fishing village of Pedasí had right around 5,000 people with about 2,400 living in the center. There are small beach towns all along this section of Pacific coastline and a steady little stream of tourists comes in, too.
We haven’t gotten the results of the new census (just this year) but the population numbers won’t have changed a great deal, Panama is not a very densely populated country and it took a long time for the country’s population to grow from 3 million to 4 million.
Pedasí is about a five-hour drive from Panama City with short flights available as well (40 minutes, about $200 at time of writing, but bear in mind that prices fluctuate throughout the year). You can read more about Pedasí on the dedicated page of our website.
Closer to Panama City there are also small Pacific towns, you may want to check out beach/fishing towns around Gorgona and San Carlos to see if they meet your criteria for fishing villages (but it is the Pedasí region that’s known as a fishing mecca because of the stellar fishing).
You asked about long-term rentals. My advice is to first book a short-term rental, you should stay a while and make sure you really do like the area before committing to a year-long lease. Once you’ve stayed a while you are very likely to find a good long-term option via word of mouth, without even having to go online or talk to a realtor.
That said, I like www.compreoalquile.com and www.encuentra24.com; these sites have lots of local properties for sale and rent and can give you a really good idea of what landlords are offering/asking. Most of the best listings are in Spanish but it’s not hard to navigate with a bit of Google translate or a fluent friend by your side.
Being here in person makes it easy to activate the expat grapevine and often find even better/newly available bargains…you can do this in person at expat gatherings/hangouts, and/or by joining your town’s WhatsApp and/or Facebook group(s).
I’d also recommend our detailed guidebook, Escape to Panama, which contains a ton of information on Panama’s regions, as well as renting or even buying property. It’s available on the IL Bookstore.
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