Getting from Boquete to Lost and Found Hostel by local bus is much easier than many travellers expect. In fact, once you understand the two simple steps, there is really nothing complicated about it. You don't need an expensive private taxi, you don't need to organize a complicated transfer and you don't need to go anywhere near Panama City. You simply take the local bus down from Boquete to David, change buses once, and then ride directly toward the jungle. The whole journey takes around 2½ hours, including the connection, and costs only a few dollars.
Start in the centre of Boquete and take the regular local bus from the main park to David. These buses are frequent and inexpensive, with the fare currently around $1.75. The ride down the mountain takes roughly an hour, depending on traffic. You don't need to book anything in advance. Just go to the park, find the bus heading to David and hop on.
Once you arrive at the David bus terminal, the second part is just as easy. Look for the bus heading toward Changuinola or Bocas del Toro. This is the bus you want because it travels directly along the highway past Lost and Found Hostel. Before getting on, simply tell the driver "Lost and Found Hostel". The drivers know the hostel and know where to let you off. You don't need to know the name of a tiny village or worry about finding some obscure intersection. Just say Lost and Found.
The bus from David takes roughly one hour to the hostel stop, so you'll barely have time to settle in before the scenery starts changing. You leave the hot lowlands around David and head into the mountains, with the landscape becoming increasingly green as you approach the Fortuna Forest Reserve. After passing the police checkpoint around Valle de la Mina, you're only a short distance from the hostel. Watch for the Lost and Found sign and follow the driver's instructions.
When you get off, this is where the adventure really begins. Lost and Found isn't sitting beside a normal town street with a giant parking lot and a hotel lobby visible from the highway. You're getting off on Highway 10, with the jungle immediately around you. From the roadside, you follow the marked trail uphill toward the hostel. The walk takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes, and suddenly you're no longer beside a highway or thinking about buses. You're walking through the forest toward a jungle hostel overlooking the mountains.
The entire trip is therefore incredibly simple: Boquete to David, David to Lost and Found, then hike up the trail. That's it. No rental car, no expensive taxi and no complicated reservation. The hostel itself is located directly on the road connecting David with Bocas del Toro, so you're not taking some huge detour into the middle of nowhere. You're simply getting off the bus along the route you're already travelling.
And this is actually one of the great advantages of staying at Lost and Found. People sometimes see the words "jungle hostel" and imagine that getting there must involve an expedition. It doesn't. You can be sitting in a café in central Boquete in the morning, take a local bus down the mountain, change buses once in David and be walking through the jungle toward Lost and Found only a couple of hours later.
The price makes it even better. The Boquete to David bus is around $1.75, while the David to Lost and Found portion is currently around $3.50, making the entire public transportation journey only about $5.25.
There is one important thing to remember: don't leave Boquete too late. The buses from David toward the hostel are not running all night, and the hostel advises travellers to make sure they catch the last suitable bus from David, which is around 6 PM. Arriving in daylight is also preferable because you'll be walking the jungle trail after getting off the bus.
For travellers who don't want to use local buses, there are also direct shuttle services between Boquete and Lost and Found. But if you're backpacking Panama and want to save money, the public bus is remarkably easy. There is even a current shuttle option costing about $25, so taking the local buses can save you around $20 while giving you a more authentic taste of travelling around Panama.
So don't let the location make you think Lost and Found is difficult to reach. It isn't. You're not disappearing into some remote jungle that requires a 4x4 or private guide. You're taking two ordinary local buses on established routes, getting off at a well known stop and walking up a marked jungle trail.
In fact, that's part of the fun. You start your morning surrounded by the coffee shops and mountain scenery of Boquete, and less than three hours later you're sitting in a hammock in the cloud forest at Lost and Found, looking out over the mountains.
Boquete to David to Lost and Found. Two buses, one easy connection, about $5.25 and roughly 2½ hours. Getting to the jungle is much easier than you probably imagined.