El Otro Lado
PANAMA
You have to head to pirate country to reach El Otro Lado—a 110-hectare hideaway on Panama’s Caribbean coast. Barely 90 minutes’ drive from Panama City, this is the place where British and Spanish pirates battled for bounty centuries ago. Today, though, travelers go for the treasure of solace.

Originally built as a private residence, El Otro Lado is a group of four villas shrouded in rain forest, reached only by boat from historic Portobelo town. Although each villa is individually designed, they all share a visual DNA—whitewashed interiors enlivened by contemporary furniture, stark black-and-white photography and Latin-Caribbean painting. Relax on a palm-fringed beach lying a short boat hop away or by the resort’s infinity-edge swimming pool. Then dine on ultra-fresh ceviches washed down with potent mojitos. Back in the pirate days, both Christopher Columbus and Sir Francis Drake fought for control of the Portobelo region. A few nights at El Otro Lado and it’s easy to understand why.