Earlier this month, members of my scouting team traveled west out of Panama City to spend three days on the ground in the country’s most compelling beach destination: Playa Caracol.
This beachfront community is the very first you reach after leaving booming Panama City. The setting is spectacular… It sits on a vast sweep of pristine sand fronting warm Pacific waters renowned for their swimming, surfing, and deep-sea fishing. Behind lies Cerro Chame, a 1,837-foot mountain that attracts day-trippers who come to picnic at its waterfalls and hike to the top for the stunning Pacific views.
Playa Caracol lies nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Cerro Chame Mountain, putting surfing, swimming, and hiking on your doorstep.
Little more than a decade ago, this community didn’t exist. This stretch of sand was hidden from the world.
But visit today, and you’ll find some 700 delivered condos and homes…beach clubs…surf schools…stores…restaurants… The Radisson Riviera hotel has opened here. A Margaritaville resort, Panama’s first, is being built. Two further international hotel brands are in talks to establish there.
My scouting team went there to see how the community is progressing. What they found was a vibrant town with incredible energy and momentum.
Couples sipping cocktails at bustling beach clubs and restaurants…groups of surfers riding waves in the morning sun…multigenerational families gathered around community and hotel pools…retirees lounging on the terraces of their ocean-view homes, soaking in the sun and the sound of the ocean waves…
In a moment, I’ll share more about what my team saw in Caracol. And I’ll tell you about an exclusive new deal I’ve negotiated here. It’s a chance for members of my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group to own ocean-view condos…steps from the beach…for RETA-only pricing under $300,000 and see expected gains of $181,100 just five years after delivery.
First, let me tell you how I first heard about Playa Caracol…
The Radisson Riviera at Caracol is open for business. Playa Caracol is established, it’s no pie-in-sky idea, it’s real and the window to get in before the next phase is closing.
I scouted Panama for the first time in the mid-2000s when it was in the midst of a stunning transformation. I could see the opportunity. I spent time there and did a lot of research. And I bought and sold property and did well from it.
In the two decades since, I’ve returned frequently and watched firsthand as Panama has evolved into a prosperous, modern country and a true global safe haven…
Over the years, I’ve built a network of contacts and brought RETA members a host of incredible deals in Panama. Many of these deals were brought to life by developer Alfredo Aleman.
Alfredo specializes in bold and beautiful feats of imagination and engineering. He’s built a man-made island community in the Bay of Panama that ranks as the most prestigious on the continent.
He’s also the visionary behind Playa Caracol…and the man who first showed me this beach back when it was still virgin sand.
About 18 years ago, the beach at Playa Caracol was hard to reach and undeveloped. Today, it’s emerging as the premier beachfront community in Panama.
Eighteen years ago, Alfredo brought me to a hidden stretch of coast, promising that if I could withstand a bumpy drive, I’d get to see one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Panama.
And he was true to his word.
Back then, this stretch of coast—in the Pacific Riviera area west of Panama City—was completely unknown and undeveloped.
Development had leapfrogged Caracol to beaches farther down the coast for three reasons…
- A lack of road access. What passed for a road down Chame peninsula was a car-killing bone-shaker. And there was no road at all to the strip of beach where Playa Caracol is today.
- Most of the land was owned by just a few families that didn’t want to sell.
- Much of the land was zoned for agricultural use.
This area might still be under the radar but for Alfredo. He saw what others had missed: the nicest, closest beach to Panama City, waiting to be unlocked. He built the road. He put in the infrastructure. He began, patiently and methodically, building a community unlike anything else on this coast…
Alfredo had a vision to create a destination that would be truly and exclusively beachfront. The kind of place where people would savor ocean sunsets and easy evening strolls. A beach resort town and community on a par with the best in the world. Now his vision is being realized in Playa Caracol.
Playa Caracol was just an empty stretch of beach little more than a decade ago. The scale of what’s been achieved since then is incredible—hundreds of delivered homes and condos, beach clubs, hotels, spas, restaurants…
Today, Playa Caracol has hundreds of residential units. There’s a thriving surf club…a beach club…and the Radisson Riviera hotel, which includes a luxury spa, state-of-the-art gym, superb pool, and gourmet restaurants.
My RETA group has been ahead of this transformation, with a run of incredible deals.
- In January 2023 RETA members were able to buy ocean-view condos in Las Olas in Playa Caracol starting from $254,600. By November 2024, a condo that had a RETA price of $288,800 was listed retail at $371,273.
That’s an uplift of $82,473.
- RETA members bought in Surfside residences in Playa Caracol back in March 2020 at prices starting at $214,300. Similar condos were recently on sale by the developer at $330,000.
An uplift of $115,700.
Inspired by the world’s greatest beach and surf towns, developer Alfredo Aleman and his team have created a unique true beachfront community in Playa Caracol.
Now, this place is at a critical inflection point in its development. My scouts could see this when they were on the ground.
As my scout Ciaran Madden told me, “I first visited Caracol in summer 2025, before returning earlier this month. Even in those nine months, the transformation is incredible.”
“There are new roads and new restaurants. The rooftop at the Radisson Hotel has opened, with a lounge overlooking the ocean. There are barbecue and sushi joints. Whole new communities are being delivered like Las Olas, where I saw families gathered around pools, enjoying picnics as kids played on water slides and took running jumps into the water,” he said.
“I chatted to Alfredo while I was at Caracol. What always impresses me so much about him is his clarity of vision for what this place will be. He told me about plans for a retail village, a water park, restaurants, food trucks, a market…even a church. That’s in addition to the Margaritaville that is flying up and the two other major international hotel brands that are in talks to open. The momentum here is incredible.
“Strolling the sand, I bumped into a few owners…people who’d bought here a year or two ago. They told me how lucky they felt to be ahead here, to own frontline to this stunning beach, near a world-class capital, as the community grows at this incredible pace,” Ciaran said.
RETA members were greeted with baby coconuts as they arrived in Playa Caracol to see the rising beach town envisioned by Alfredo Aleman.
This is what Caracol represents today…
A unique and rare opportunity to own true beachfront on miles of tropical beach…within easy reach of a world-class capital…just as this community hits a whole new level.
Look at any other tropical beach near a major global city and ask yourself how much real estate costs…true beachfront real estate…
In Huntingdon Beach, California, from which the developer Alfredo took much of his inspiration for Playa Caracol, a condo this close to the sand will easily run $800,000 to over $1 million.
In his world tour to understand what makes the perfect surf and beach towns, Alfredo also visited Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, and if you want to own a two-bed there near the beach expect to pay close to $2 million.
But with the new RETA-only Playa Caracol deal, you can own a stunning home just steps from a vast, pristine stretch of sand for under $300,000!
I expect gains of over $181,100 within five years of delivery with this deal.
If you’re a RETA member, stay tuned. I’ll be sending you a full briefing on this deal this Friday, March 27, at 1 p.m. ET.
Wishing you good real estate investing,
P.S. As I say, Alfredo Aleman only does exceptional, innovative best-in-class real estate. I consider him and his GLP group the best developers in Panama.
He created two man-made islands in the Bay of Panama called Ocean Reef on which he and his group have now almost finished building one of the world’s few ultra-prime neighborhoods.
A world-beating feat of engineering and imagination…Ocean Reef is a luxury community on two man-made islands connected to the heart of down-town Panama City. Even I thought the developer was crazy but he’s created one of the world’s most exclusive neighborhoods.
RETA members were lucky enough to get in on two deals on the Ocean Reef islands.
In November 2023 in Ocean Club Residences RETA members were able to buy two-bedroom condos for $590,039. A similar condo was sold for $757,039 in January 2024.
That’s an uplift of $167,000.
And in 2021 RETA members could buy in Seascape on Ocean Reef. Three-bed condos were available to RETA members in May 2021 for $1.4 million. A similar condo was listed retail in October 2024 for $1.7 million
That’s an uplift of $300,000 and ownership of incredible real estate…the very best in class.
