La Amistad International Park
Shared between Panama and Costa Rica, La Amistad is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — one of the hemisphere's largest protected cloud forests with exceptional biodiversity.
CHX · MPCH · Panama
Changuinola Airport
Changuinola — Bocas del Toro — Mainland. 15 min to La Amistad Park entrance.
Runway
1830m
Surface
Asphalt
Elevation
19m
Hours
6am-6pm
Book your private flight to Changuinola
Airport at a glance
Changuinola — Panama
Changuinola is a banana town. That is not a slight — it is the organising fact of the place. The plantations that surround it have shaped this corner of Panama for over a century, and the flat green geometry of the fields is the first thing you see on approach. The airport is named for Manuel Niño, the first Panamanian pilot, and sits 6 kilometres inland from the Caribbean and just 10 kilometres east of the Costa Rican border.
For travellers, CHX is a border airport and a back door — to Bocas del Toro without the boat from Almirante, and to a part of Panama that almost nobody visits.
Runway 03/21, 1,100 metres by 25 metres, asphalt, at 6 metres elevation. ICAO: MPCH. Coordinates: 9°27′32″N, 82°32′55″W. Operated by the Autoridad Aeronáutica Civil. Daylight operations, with customs and immigration.
Eleven hundred metres at twenty-five wide is a comfortable, well-proportioned regional field — short of BOC's 1,500 metres but wide, flat and unobstructed. It handles the Cessna Caravan and regional turboprop classes without difficulty.
Getting there
Changuinola Airport — Getting there
Three cases, and they are specific.
The border. CHX sits ten kilometres from Costa Rica. For an itinerary crossing between the Costa Rican Caribbean and Panama, it is the closest port of entry on the Panamanian side — and a charter into CHX replaces the Sixaola crossing, which is functional but slow.
Mainland Bocas province. Changuinola is the provincial mainland's largest town and the road head for the Talamanca foothills. Everything inland from here is reached from Changuinola, not from the islands.
Reliability. BOC's approach is over water into an island field. CHX is inland on flat ground. In marginal weather it is the more dependable of the two, and the road and water-taxi connection from Changuinola to Almirante and on to Bocas Town takes roughly an hour and a half in total.
Connections. Changuinola connects by charter to Panama City (PAC, ~60 min), Bocas del Toro, David and — across the border — to Limón, San José and the Costa Rican Caribbean.
| Panama City | ~60 min | a full day overland |
Nearby
Things to do near Changuinola
South of Changuinola the land rises into the Talamanca cordillera and the Naso Tjër Di comarca — the territory of the Naso people, one of the few indigenous groups in the Americas that retains a monarchy. The Río Teribe is the way in, by motorised dugout upriver from El Silencio, to the village of Wekso and beyond. Community-run guiding operates from there into the forest.
This is also the Panamanian gateway to La Amistad International Park, the binational reserve shared with Costa Rica, inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage and one of the largest protected forest blocks in Central America — most of it trackless and genuinely unexplored.
Closer to town, the San San Pond Sak wetland is a Ramsar site protecting mangrove, beach and lagoon, with West Indian manatees in the waterways — one of the more reliable places to see them anywhere in Central America — and marine turtle nesting on the beach from roughly March to July.
The plantations around Changuinola are among the oldest continuously worked banana lands in the Americas, and the narrow-gauge rail lines that serve them still cross the roads in places.
Palo Seco Protected Forest
Pristine lowland rainforest in Bocas del Toro province — primary forest with jaguars, tapirs and over 300 bird species in a rarely visited protected area.
Naso Indigenous Experiences
The Naso Teribe are one of the last kingdoms in the Americas — exclusive cultural immersion visits to traditional communities in the Changuinola river basin.
Nature Expeditions — Changuinola
Private guided expeditions through Changuinola's remote river systems and rainforest — accessible only by private flight and boat.
Premium Birdwatching — Bocas Highlands
The Bocas del Toro highlands host exceptional endemic birds — private guided birding with specialist naturalists in pristine cloud forest.
Cross-Border Expedition — Bocas to Costa Rica
Private helicopter expedition from Changuinola across the Costa Rica border to Tortuguero or the Osa Peninsula — a remarkable cross-border wilderness journey through the La Amistad International Park biosphere.
Cloud Forest Birding — La Amistad
Pre-dawn birding in the La Amistad International Park buffer zone — resplendent quetzals at dawn, three-wattled bellbirds, harpy eagles and over 590 species in one of the most biodiverse birding sites in the Western Hemisphere.
Cave Expedition — Bocas Highlands
Private caving expedition in the limestone cave systems of the Bocas del Toro highlands — stalactite formations, underground rivers and endemic cave species in a system that has been explored by fewer than 100 people.
When to fly
When to fly
Caribbean pattern, and Changuinola is genuinely wet — this is one of the higher-rainfall parts of Panama. The more reliable windows are September and October and again around February and March; November to January and around July tend to be wettest. Rain settles in here rather than passing, and morning operations are the standard.
FAQ
Changuinola Airport — Frequently asked questions
What is the runway length at Changuinola (CHX)?
1,100 metres by 25 metres of asphalt, runway 03/21, at 6 m elevation. ICAO: MPCH.
How far is CHX from the Costa Rican border?
About 10 kilometres east of it, and 6 kilometres inland from the Caribbean coast.
How do I get from Changuinola to Bocas Town?
Roughly 30 minutes by road to Almirante, then a water taxi of about 30 to 45 minutes to Isla Colón.
Who was Manuel Niño?
The first Panamanian pilot. The airport is named in his honour.
What is there to see near Changuinola?
The Naso Tjër Di territory on the Río Teribe, La Amistad International Park, and the San San Pond Sak Ramsar wetland with its West Indian manatees and nesting turtles.
Is CHX a port of entry?
Yes, with customs and immigration — which makes it a practical crossing point from the Costa Rican Caribbean.