Las Perlas Playa Blanca (formerly Wyndham Grand Playa Blanca)

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Quick Verdict

If you have been searching for Wyndham Grand Playa Blanca, start here: the resort is still standing, still all-inclusive and still on one of the best beaches in Panama — but it is no longer a Wyndham. The Wyndham Grand flag has come off, the property has disappeared from Wyndham’s own site and from Booking.com’s live inventory, and it is now marketed by tour operators and Agoda as Las Perlas Playa Blanca All Inclusive Resort. Same 230 rooms, same Km 118 address on the Pan-American Highway at Rio Hato, different name on the sign.

On paper it is the most appealing mid-size all-inclusive in the Playa Blanca cluster. It opened in 2010, it is six floors and low-rise rather than sprawling, it sits seven kilometers from Rio Hato’s Scarlett Martinez International Airport, and it has genuine suites with kitchenettes and ocean-front balconies. It also has a casino, a nightclub, a kids’ club for 2-6s and a teens’ club — a combination the neighboring resorts do not match.

What it does not have, right now, is a paper trail. Because the property has cycled through brands, there is almost no recent verified guest feedback under the current name, and published facts about it contradict each other. That is a real risk at $190-320 a night when Hotel Riu Playa Blanca is 500 meters up the same beach with thousands of recent reviews. Book this one if you want a smaller, quieter resort near the airport and you can confirm the specifics directly with the hotel. Book Riu if you want certainty.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Directly on Playa Blanca’s calm Pacific sand	No longer a Wyndham — brand and distribution in flux
~7 km from Rio Hato airport (RIH), not 90 min from Panama City	Almost no recent verified reviews under the current name
Only 230 rooms — walkable, never a shuttle bus	Built 2010, no publicly documented full renovation
True all-inclusive: meals, domestic drinks, watersports, kids’ club	Facility counts (pools, restaurants) differ by source
Suites and Penthouses with kitchenettes and balconies	Rates quoted vary wildly across third-party sites
Casino, nightclub and karaoke on site	Nothing walkable outside the resort gate
Kids’ club (2-6) and teens’ club (13+) both included	Wi-Fi is listed as chargeable by some trade sources

The Resort at a Glance

Detail	Info
Current name	Las Perlas Playa Blanca All Inclusive Resort
Former names	Wyndham Grand Playa Blanca; earlier Royalton-branded (a “Cafe Royalton” still appears in trade listings)
Rooms	230 across 6 floors (some trade sources list 241)
Restaurants	4 — El Muelle (buffet), Aqua (a la carte), Sushi & Martini Lounge, Beach Club snacks
Bars	3, including a pool bar and the lobby cafe-bar
Pools	Trade sources list 2-3: an infinity pool, a children’s pool and, per one operator, a lazy river — confirm directly
Beach	Direct frontage on Playa Blanca, Farallon — dark-gold Pacific sand, wide at low tide, gentle surf
Address	Km 118, Carretera Panamericana, Rio Hato, El Chiru, Cocle Province
Airport	Scarlett Martinez International (RIH), Rio Hato — about 7 km. Tocumen (PTY), Panama City — about 118 km / 90 minutes
Opened	2010
Adults-only?	No — family resort with kids’ and teens’ clubs
All-inclusive	Yes, a true all-inclusive meal plan, not an optional package
Check-in / out	3:00 PM / 12:00 PM; minimum check-in age 21

Rooms and Suites

Deluxe rooms

The entry-level Deluxe is a straightforward two-double-bed room built for families: air conditioning, cable TV, coffee maker, safe, minibar, iron and board, bathrobes and a walk-in shower (no tub). Occupancy is capped at four combined, and there is a quirk worth knowing — if you book three adults, the room will not take a child on top. Two children through age five stay free in existing beds with two adults; ages six to eleven carry a surcharge.

Deluxe rooms are the ones most likely to show the resort’s age. This is 2010 construction that has not had a publicly documented top-to-bottom renovation, and the fixtures reflect that. Nothing about the category is bad; it is simply unremarkable, in the way that mid-2010s Caribbean resort rooms are unremarkable. If your plan is to be on the beach from 8am to midnight, it is entirely sufficient.

Suites, Ocean Front Suites and Penthouses

This is where the resort earns its money. The Suite category adds a king bed plus a sofa sleeper, a balcony or terrace, and — unusually for an all-inclusive at this price — a kitchenette. That last detail matters more than it sounds: it means a fridge you can actually stock, a place to make coffee that is not a single-serve machine, and somewhere to keep formula, snacks or leftovers. Occupancy runs to five.

The Suite Ocean Front is the same layout pointed at the Pacific, and it is the one I would pay the upgrade for. Playa Blanca faces roughly west, which means you get the sunset from your own balcony rather than fighting for a lounger at the beach bar.

The Penthouse tops the range with a king or queen plus sofa sleeper, a balcony, a kitchenette and — alone among the categories — a bathtub rather than shower-only. Family policy tightens here: only children through age one stay free, and ages two to twelve are surcharged.

Our pick

Book an Ocean Front Suite. The price step up from Deluxe is the single best value decision at this resort: you gain a balcony, a kitchenette, sunset views and considerably more space, and you sidestep the oldest-feeling rooms in the building. If you are traveling with two children and want the tub, the Penthouse is worth pricing, but read the child-age policy carefully first — it is stricter than the Suite’s.

Food and Dining

El Muelle (buffet)

El Muelle is the main buffet and handles breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is the standard Panamanian-resort spread — eggs to order, tropical fruit, hojaldras and tortillas de maiz alongside the international staples — and lunch runs an international menu with a carvery and salad line. It is the venue you will use most, and, as at every resort on this coast, it is the venue where quality is most variable depending on occupancy.

Aqua and the Sushi & Martini Lounge

Aqua is the a la carte room, serving what the resort describes as Mediterranean and international fusion in the evenings. The Sushi & Martini Lounge is the more interesting proposition: a small sushi and cocktail bar that gives you a genuine alternative to a buffet dinner. The Beach Club handles daytime snacks — burgers, ceviche, fries — without making you change out of a swimsuit.

Four venues for 230 rooms is a healthy ratio; the Grand Decameron up the road has nine restaurants but nearly four times as many guests to feed with them. Expect a la carte venues to require reservations and to operate on a rotation, which is standard practice everywhere on Playa Blanca.

Bars and drinks

Three bars including a pool bar and the lobby cafe-bar (still listed in trade systems under its old “Cafe Royalton” name — a small archaeological detail that confirms the resort’s Royalton chapter). The all-inclusive plan covers domestic beer, wine and spirits plus soft drinks and juices; imported premium labels, as everywhere in Panama, are the thing most likely to carry a supplement. Ask at check-in rather than assuming.

One genuinely useful thing to know: Panama restricts alcohol sales nationally around Easter, typically from midnight Thursday before Good Friday to midnight Saturday, and bans music in public venues. All-inclusive resorts hold permits allowing them to serve and play music inside the property — so a Semana Santa stay here is fine, but a day trip to a beach bar outside the gate will not be.

Food quality verdict

Honest answer: not enough current, verifiable guest feedback exists to give you a confident read. The venue lineup is good for the size of the resort and the sushi bar is a real point of difference, but I cannot point you at a body of 2025-2026 reviews the way I can for Riu or Decameron. Treat the dining as “probably fine, unproven” and plan on eating at Aqua and the sushi lounge more than the buffet.

Beach and Pools

The beach

Playa Blanca is the reason all five resorts on this stretch exist. It is a long, gently shelving Pacific beach with dark-gold sand — not Caribbean white — and it sits inside Panama’s Arco Seco, the dry arc, which is why this coast gets meaningfully less rain than Bocas del Toro or Panama City in the same months. Surf is mild by Pacific standards and the swimming is easy on most days, though the tidal range here is large: at low tide the beach becomes enormous and the water walks a long way out.

The resort has direct frontage with loungers and palapas. Because there are only 230 rooms, the beach in front of this property is noticeably less crowded than the Decameron’s stretch, which is the single best argument for staying here.

Pools

This is where the published information gets frustrating. One major North American operator lists the resort as having two pools including a children’s pool; another lists three — an infinity pool, a kids’ pool and a lazy river. Both are current 2026 listings. A lazy river would be a significant draw for families, so if that is what you are booking for, confirm it with the hotel in writing before you pay. That kind of ambiguity is exactly what happens when a property changes brands and nobody re-audits the content.

Activities and Entertainment

Daytime

Non-motorized watersports are included: kayaks, sailing, snorkeling gear and paddleboards, with snorkeling, sailing, diving and surfing all listed among the on-site offerings (diving and any motorized activity will be paid). There is a 24-hour fitness center, a multi-use recreation court, horseback riding, fishing trips and a tour desk selling the standard Panamanian excursions — El Valle de Anton’s crater town and market, the Panama Canal locks, Casco Viejo. A golf course sits within about three kilometers.

Evening

The resort punches above its size after dark. There is a casino on site, a nightclub, and karaoke — a combination none of the neighboring all-inclusives offer in the same package. Nightly entertainment is the usual resort-team fare. If you want a beach week with somewhere to go at 11pm that is not your balcony, this is the Playa Blanca resort that provides it.

Kids’ club and teens’ club

Two age brackets are covered: a Kids Club for ages 2-6 and a Teens Club for 13 and up. The gap between them is real and worth flagging — if you have an eight-year-old, there is no dedicated program listed for that age. Babysitting is available but is listed as an off-site, chargeable service.

Spa and Wellness

A spa and massage service operates on site, along with a salon and a 24-hour fitness center. Treatments are charged separately from the all-inclusive plan, which is standard across every resort in Panama. There is no published treatment menu or spa size for the property under its current name — another consequence of the rebranding — so price it on arrival rather than budgeting in advance.

What’s Included vs Extra

Included in the all-inclusive rate	Costs extra
Breakfast, lunch and dinner at all four venues	Premium and imported spirits (confirm the brand list)
Daytime snacks at the Beach Club	Spa treatments, massages, salon
Domestic beer, wine, spirits, cocktails, soft drinks	Casino play
Non-motorized watersports (kayak, paddleboard, sailing, snorkel gear)	Diving, fishing charters, any motorized watersport
Kids Club (2-6) and Teens Club (13+)	Babysitting (off-site provider, chargeable)
Nightly entertainment, nightclub and karaoke entry	Excursions (El Valle, Canal, Casco Viejo)
Beach loungers, palapas, pools, fitness center	Golf green fees at the nearby course
Room taxes, when booked as a package	Airport transfers unless bundled by your operator
Wi-Fi in rooms (Agoda lists it as free; one trade source flags a fee — confirm)	Room service, where offered

This is a true all-inclusive — the meal plan is the product, not an optional upgrade you bolt on at checkout. That distinction matters in Panama, where several well-known “resorts” (Red Frog Beach in Bocas del Toro, anything Selina-branded) are room-only and get misfiled as all-inclusive by low-quality listicles. For more on where the lines usually fall, see our guide to what all-inclusive actually includes.

Pricing and How to Book

Price ranges by season

Season	Months	Typical nightly rate (2 adults, all-inclusive)
Green / low	May-mid December (excl. holidays)	$190-235
Shoulder	Late April, early May	$220-265
High / dry	Mid-December-April	$250-320
Peak	Christmas/New Year, Semana Santa, Carnival	$330+

Rates change with season and availability — confirm the current rate and exactly what’s included before you book. That advice carries more weight here than at any other resort on this coast: because the property has moved between brands and distribution channels, the same room on the same night can be quoted very differently by different third-party sites, and some of the sites still selling it under the Wyndham Grand name are affiliate mirrors rather than genuine inventory.

Best time to book

Panama’s dry season runs roughly mid-December to April and that is when Playa Blanca is busiest and priciest, largely with Panamanian and Colombian families as well as North Americans. The value window is May through early December: the Arco Seco stays comparatively dry even in green season, and rates drop 25-35%. Avoid Carnival (the four days before Ash Wednesday) and Semana Santa unless you actively want a full resort — Panamanians take both seriously and coastal properties sell out.

Where to book

Because the property is currently absent from Booking.com’s live inventory, your realistic options are Agoda, a North American tour operator package (Funjet, Apple Vacations and Vacation Express all still carry it), or direct contact with the hotel. If you book through an operator, room taxes are typically bundled into the package price. Whichever route you take, get written confirmation of three things: the resort’s current name on your voucher, whether the lazy river and third pool exist, and whether Wi-Fi carries a charge.

Compared to Nearby Resorts

Hotel Riu Playa Blanca is the safe pick. It is bigger at 573 rooms, it is on the same sand, and — crucially — it is exhaustively reviewed, consistently well rated, and bookable through every major channel. If certainty is worth more to you than a smaller crowd, book Riu.

Grand Decameron Panama is the value play: 852 rooms, nine restaurants, six pools, a three-lane waterslide and rates that start well below anything else on the coast. It is also dated in places and rated 7.6 on Booking.com from over 3,000 reviews. You trade polish for scale and price.

Gran Evenia Bijao — the resort long sold as Sheraton Bijao, and itself now rebranded — is the closest comparison in size and positioning, sitting a few minutes east at Santa Clara with a nine-hole golf course in the same complex.

The wider picture, including Dreams Playa Bonita near Panama City, is in our Panama all-inclusive guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wyndham Grand Playa Blanca still open?

Yes — the resort is open and operating, but not under that name. It is no longer affiliated with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts; it disappeared from Wyndham’s own website, and travelers who contacted Wyndham directly were told the affiliation had ended. It is now sold as Las Perlas Playa Blanca All Inclusive Resort at the same Km 118 address in Rio Hato. Many booking sites, tour operators and review pages have not caught up, which is why you will still see both names for the same building.

Is Las Perlas Playa Blanca genuinely all-inclusive?

Yes. The meal plan is a true all-inclusive: three meals a day across four venues, daytime and evening snacks, domestic alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, non-motorized watersports, kids’ and teens’ clubs and nightly entertainment are all in the rate. Premium imported spirits, spa treatments, diving, motorized sports and excursions are extra. It is not an optional package you add at booking.

How far is it from Panama City airport?

Tocumen International (PTY) is about 118 km away — plan on 90 minutes to two hours by road depending on traffic through the capital. The far better option, if your itinerary allows, is Scarlett Martinez International (RIH) at Rio Hato, roughly 7 km from the resort. Charter and seasonal scheduled services use RIH, and the transfer is a matter of minutes rather than hours.

Is the beach good for swimming?

Generally yes. Playa Blanca is a gently shelving Pacific beach inside Panama’s dry arc, with mild surf compared to the country’s more exposed Pacific coast. The main thing to plan around is the tidal range, which is large here — at low tide the water retreats a long way and the beach roughly doubles in width. Check the tide chart if a swim at a particular hour matters to you.

Does it have a water park or lazy river?

This is the single most contradictory fact about the property. One major operator’s current listing describes three pools including an infinity pool, a kids’ pool and a lazy river; another current listing describes two pools including a children’s pool and makes no mention of a lazy river. There is no water park. If a lazy river is part of why you are booking, get written confirmation from the hotel before you pay.

Should I book here or at Riu Playa Blanca?

Book here if you want a smaller resort (230 rooms versus 573), an emptier stretch of the same beach, real suites with kitchenettes and balconies, and a casino and nightclub on site — and if you are comfortable buying without a deep body of recent reviews. Book Riu if you want a property whose current condition, food quality and service standards are documented by thousands of 2025-2026 guests. For most first-time visitors to Panama, Riu is the lower-risk choice.

Final Verdict: 7.0 out of 10

There is a good resort in here. Two hundred and thirty rooms on the best sand in the Pacific Riviera, seven kilometers from an international airport, with ocean-front suites that have kitchenettes and balconies, a sushi and martini lounge, a casino, a nightclub and both a kids’ and a teens’ club — at $190-320 a night for two, all in, that is a strong proposition on paper.

The problem is everything around it. A resort that has been a Royalton, then a Wyndham Grand, and is now Las Perlas has lost its distribution, its review base and, in places, its own factual record. When two current trade listings cannot agree on how many pools it has, you are not making an informed booking; you are making an optimistic one. And “optimistic” is a poor way to spend a week of vacation when Riu Playa Blanca is a five-minute walk away with thousands of recent reviews behind it.

So: 7.0. Recommended for the traveler who has done the homework, called the hotel, confirmed the specifics and actively wants a quieter, smaller property near Rio Hato airport. Not recommended as a blind booking. If you want to see how it stacks up against every other genuine all-inclusive in the country, start with our Panama destination guide, and if the plan is a family trip, our best all-inclusive resorts for families roundup will save you a lot of filtering.