Price seekers may be willing to travel during the wetter months to get a better deal. The best time to visit Panama is between January and mid-April. This is the driest part of the year and it shows this tropical country in its most impressive form. If you want to enjoy sunny days and infrequent rains, the best time to visit Panama is from late December to mid-December of April.
That's when the Las Tablas Carnival awaits you for unbridled joy, the Barú volcano at its best and the coffee harvest season. It's also the time when Panama is incredibly crowded with tourists, so be prepared to pay an arm and a leg for a room. The wet season, from May to December, is known for its frequent rains, especially on the Caribbean coast. Well, more rain is more fun on a rafting adventure.
The rainy season also offers vibrant green landscapes, opportunities to observe turtles and excellent surfing conditions. This is the start of the five- to six-month nesting season for loggerhead and green sea turtles off the Caribbean coast and is the best time to visit if you want to observe them in the wild. Surfers continue to enjoy the waves off the Pacific and Caribbean coasts during the month of March, and if Holy Week falls in the same month, the activity can be very busy. August and September are also the best months to visit Coiba National Park and the Las Perlas Archipelago to spot sharks, whales and orcas.
With the dry season and tourist season at its peak, January is a great month to travel to Panama, particularly in beach areas. Surfers prefer the rainy months, from April to December, when the best waves break out along the coast. Temperatures and humidity are starting to rise, but this month also offers a chance to get to know the country through the eyes of a local at several important festivals. Contrary to the national trend, September and October are the driest months to visit the Bocas del Toro Islands.
