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One of Panama's most gorgeous hikes

A complete guide for hiking "El Sendero de los Quetzales"

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General Information & Facts about "El Sendero de los Quetzales"

Considered one of the most gorgeous paths in Central America, the Quetzal's Trail is without any doubt the most popular hike in Panama's western highlands. Located within the Volcán Barú National Park, the "Sendero de los Quetzales" links the towns of Guadalupe, which is near Cerro Punta on the west side of the Volcano, with the town of Boquete which is on its east. The trail skirts the Barú Volcano on its north face and can be hiked in any direction, starting in Boquete and ending in Cerro Punta, or vice versa.

Hiking the 9.6kms (total distance of 6 miles) of this path may take from 4 to 7 hours. Fluctuations in timing come from differences in hiking speeds, direction chosen to complete the hike (uphill or downhill), time spent contemplating the scenery and time invested "hunting down" one of the splendorous birds that gives its name to this path: the Resplendent Quetzal.

Boquete's altitude is 975 meters (3,200 feet) above the sea level and Cerro Punta's is 1,981 meters (6,500 feet) but the highest point in the Quetzal's Trail is marked at 3,100 meters, only 375 meters short of the Volcán Barú, Panama's highest peak. This makes the shift in altitude more than 2 kilometers for the entire hike. In this National Park temperatures range from 10°-16°C (50° to 60°F).

At each end of the Quetzal's Trail the ANAM (National Authority of the Environment) has a Ranger Station that marks the beginning and end of the hike. At the last part of the paved road, roughly 8km from downtown Boquete, Alto Chiquero Ranger Station guards the entrance on the east side of the National Park. El Respingo Ranger Station is certainly closer from the town of Guadalupe, at only 3km.

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Our guided tour includes a bilingual bird watching guide and transportation arrangements to drop you off at a pre-selected Ranger Station and pick you up at its counterpart once the hiking tour is over. Hiking the Quetzal's Trail in each direction has its own advantages and disadvantages, as it will be explained further on.

Quetzal's Trail Hike: Guided Tour Itinerary and Cost

What do you need to take?

Quetzal's Trail Guided Hiking Tour Itinerary from Boquete to Cerro Punta

Quetzal's Trail Guided Hiking Tour Itinerary from Cerro Punta to Boquete

Note: schedule is subject to change. Times are approximate and depend on weather, group size, hikers physical condition and other factors.

 
Student Price
Non Student Price
1 or 2 persons $125 in total $140 in total
each additional person $20 $25

Note: we are continuously organizing tours for our Spanish students, so please feel free to contact us to check on dates in which you would like to join a group. Prices are obviously much more convenient when 3 or more people go together.

Maximum capacity: groups of 16 hikers.

Prices includes: transportation to and from each Ranger Station, entrance fee to Volcán Barú National Park, Bilingual Bird Watching Guide, safety kit.

The Quetzal's Trail Scenery: an Eco-Path in the National Park

In this trail through Chiriquí's highlands you have to make your way up and over the mountains, through primary, secondary and cloud forests, delighting your senses with colorful orchids hidden in the immense trees and the name of the game is trying to spot an elusive Resplendent Quetzal within the dense vegetation. You may also bump into Ngöbe Bugle ladies with their wonderful dresses that look like the colorful birds against the dark forest.

It is a precious hike in the sun but during the rainy season the cool mist and fog also give the cloud forest a mystical feeling. The rainforest is always changing, with beautiful vistas of peaks, valleys, waterfalls and rivers flowing fresh and clear. During this hike you will have to cross many streams, sometimes balancing on tree trunks, sometimes stepping from stone to stone, but always being careful with slippery plant life that can complicate the maneuvers required. By now you should have begun to understand why his is certainly one of the Panama's best hiking tours.

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As indicated by the hike's name, the Resplendent Quetzal is the highlight of this tour. Chances of spotting a Quetzal will certainly be higher if a bird watching guide accompanies you. He will be able to mimic the bird's noises, call them, make an approach without scaring them off, and from his experience he will be able to take you to the appropriate places where Quetzals can be seen. Our guided tour includes a professional birdwatching guide.

Birds, Vegetation and Wildlife in the Quetzal's Trail

The Quetzal's Trail is a botanical paradise for hikers, with layers upon layers of dense growth and shaded isolation beneath the lush canopy of the forest. A wide variety of green tones can be appreciated and where sunlight manages to penetrate, brilliant colors explode in nature's fest of beauty.

The area is considered to be an island within the biosphere due to its isolation and the Barú Volcano's height. Endemic orchid species and unique flora such as the magnolia and giant oak trees, which are between 600 and 900 years old, call this land home. Along the path you will stumble upon wild bamboo gardens, gigantic, gnarled trees covered with vines and nascent prehistoric looking bromeliads from their trunks.

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The rainforest is home to over 250 bird species, some of which include the silky flycatcher, the three-wattled bellbird, several hummingbird varieties and the hairy woodpecker. The Resplendent Quetzal is obviously the star of the list and is more frequently spotted during the dry season, from December to May.

Hiking the Quetzal's Trail from Boquete to Cerro Punta

Hiking the trek in this direction demands more physical stamina and endurance than going downhill, but it does have a major significant advantage: you will be able to encounter more wildlife in the lower altitudes of the National Park, especially during the first hours of light. If you choose to make the uphill trek, then our guided tours aim to arrive to Alto Chiquero's Ranger Station in Boquete at sunrise (between 6:00 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. depending on the time of year).

Within the first hour you could find them still roosting along the trail. The amount of birds rapidly decreases after the first hour, mainly due to the progression of day but also because of the increase in altitude.

Another point in favor of this option is that although the uphill hike is more strenuous, it can be gentler on the knees than a steep rough descent. And yet another advantage is that in Boquete it more commonly rains in the afternoons and in Cerro Punta it more commonly rains in the mornings, so you may stand a better chance of remaining dry if hiking in this direction. Truth told, in the rainforest during the rainy season, there is no such thing as a guarantee for dryness.

From Boquete's side, El "Sendero de los Quetzales" starts after Alto Chiquero's Ranger Station with three quarters of an hour hike (mostly downhill with a few ups) on a semi-paved road. At some point instead of continuing on the dirt/rock road we take a left and join the trail that immediately immerses us into the rainforest. After about an hour and a half or two of mostly flat terrain with only a slight pendent, the steep ascent begins.

Series of staircases scale the steepest terrains, and present the greatest obstacles. Ongoing exposure to moisture has rotted wood, and steps are frequently missing and covered with moss.

Midway up the ascent we reach a picnic area with several wooden tables. Further up, about halfway along the trail, we arrive to "Mirador La Roca" which is approximately equidistant from both Ranger Stations and marks the trail's highest elevation at 3,100m. Depending our hiking pace, this part of the trail can be covered in 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. This resting area offers a viewing platform with almost 270° panoramas, a shelter, picnic grounds and a camping site. This is where we stop to have a nice lunch. An unnamed opening, several minutes before this spot, offers even greater panoramic views.

The rest of the trail continues upwards into the cloud forest but with a less inclined gradient. It is certainly tough enough and after 2 or 3 hours of ascending we finally reach Alto Respingo Ranger Station where our transportation will be waiting for us with the lunch that we bought on the previous day so that we can re-energize and relax on our 3 hour drive back to Boquete.

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Although an early start will not guarantee spotting one of the elusive quetzals, starting the hike just before dawn will dramatically tilt the odds in your favor. In a guided tour hikers have discovered up to 15 quetzals in a single day.

Hiking the Quetzal's Trail from Cerro Punta to Boquete

The major advantage about making the hike from west to east is that it is mostly downhill and for some hikers this might mean that it is now a doable hike. If you cannot make it uphill or do not like the idea of having an early start, completing the Quetzal's Trail in this direction is certainly worth it.

From another point of view it is also a comforting idea to know that at the end of the hike, only after a 20 minute drive, you will be back in your hotel for a hot water bath, or in one of Boquete's many restaurants with a hot plate of food in front of you, as opposed to making a 3 hour road journey after the hike, first from Cerro Punta to David, and then from David to Boquete.

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The downhill hike takes in average an hour less than the uphill hike. The itinerary is basically the same, just in the opposite order, which means that although it is mostly downhill, at the very end of it, during the last kilometer, you will be challenged by la "Loma de los Lamentos" (Hill of Miseries).

Birdwatchers dream: Spotting an Elusive Quetzal in Panama

The iridescent green resplendent quetzal is widely considered to be the most beautiful bird in the Americas. Many marvel at a sighting, especially of the mal quetzal for his breeding plumage and tail feathers that can reach nearly 0.6m (2 feet). From December to May, the best place to see a Resplendent Quetzal is in the cloud forest of Volcán Barú National Park. As suggested before, starting the Quetzal's Trail around sunrise gives you ample chances of spotting one and you will have even more possibilities if accompanied by one our bird watching guides who can mimic their noises in order to attract them and search for them in places only known by them. We can also organize a bird-watching tour, focused on spotting quetzals, for those not necessarily interested in hiking the Quetzal Trail.

The Resplendent Quetzal has its past rooted in the Mixtec, Toltec, Mayan and Aztec culture. Quetzalcoatl, a central figure in Central American indigenous mythology, is depicted as a hybrid of a quetzal and a serpent, born from a feather that landed on his virgin mother. The snake represents the earth and vegetation, but it was in Teotihuacan (actual Mexico City, around 150 BC) where the snake got the precious feathers of the quetzal, as seen in the Murals of the city. The most elaborate representations come from the old Quetzalcoatl Temple around 200 BC, which shows a rattlesnake with the long green feathers of the quetzal. More recently, indigenous peoples in Central America, believing the quetzal unable to survive in captivity, have interpreted it as a symbol of freedom.

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The Resplendent Quetzal has been called "the most spectacular bird in the New World" but today it is listed as Appendix I in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, meaning that the species is threatened with extinction.

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