Fodor's Expert Review Casa Conde Beachfront Hotel

Spread over verdant grounds just behind relatively pristine Playa Panama, this all-inclusive property has an excellent location with bay views, balmy breezes, and a huge swimming pool. Spacious standard rooms are in one-story buildings with old-fashioned charm: red Spanish tile roof; red-tile floors; high, sloping ceilings; and covered front terraces offering a glimpse of the bay through the mature trees that line the nearby beach. Standard rooms are equipped with amenities you might expect from a bigger luxury hotel, including flat-screen TVs, air-conditioning, and separate vanities and bathrooms. Suites are bigger, more elegant, and more private, but they are set back a little farther from the beach. A four-story Mediterranean-style addition has six rooms with ocean-view terraces. Master suites have a Jacuzzi in the bathroom, walk-in closets, and wraparound patios. The large pool has a waterfall and swim-up bar, and an elegant, airy restaurant serves pizza, pastas, and other Italian fare as well as local seafood and beef. The hotel also works hard at sustainability, earning four out of five leaves in the national sustainability program.