Planes, Trains & Automobiles - Making your way around the Republic of Panama is affordable, easy and safe!
In Panama city it's typical to pay for less than $5 for a taxi ride to simply about any reasonable distance out of your hotel including the regional airport. Within the small communities of Boquete and Bocas taxi fares drop to $2 or less. Even though the town of Bocas is small dragging luggage down Main Street within the heat and humidity can be a pain. Here the taxis will typically charge 50 cents to consider you to your hotel.
To get around the country you can go back-packer-frugal and obtain from one end of the country to another for under $20 but the best way to circumvent is by air.
Panama has two regional airlines - Aeroperlas and AirPanama. They flit round the country to dozens of locations every day and for a pleasantly low amount. The other day I took a taxi in the Atlanta Airport to a hotel in Suwannee, in regards to a 30 minute ride. The one way fare was over $100. In Panama I'm able to fly all the way from Panama City to David or Bocas del Toro, in regards to a 1 hour flight, for just $75!
On our first visit i was focused solely on Bocas del Toro. While perusing the EscapeArtist website I came across some really exciting articles about getting rich growing Teak & Noni while living the great life in the Caribbean. Should you read my letter about Bocas at LearnAboutPanama.com at this point you know it was a scam. However, the scam artist himself did provide us with one good piece of advice. He suggested when we were coming to see Bocas we may as well check out the rest of the country. He recommended an urban area called Boquete in the mountains, said is was lovely and quite different. In the event that suggestion had not been made we'd never have discovered our bit of Panama Paradise. That led us to produce our Panama Travel Triangle. We'd fly from Panama City to Bocas then across to David and go back to Panama City from David. It truly is a very convenient way to explore the majority of the country in a short period of time. PC to Bocas costs $75, and Bocas to David $39 including taxes. You can choose best medical insurance for Panama tour on medicalxtourism
Another adventure takes the train from Panama City towards the Port of Colon - the Freezone. The train leaves Panama in the Corozal terminal around 7AM. It takes about 45-60 minutes to get at Colon. The return leaves Colon at 5:30. The final time I checked it had been about $35 round trip and $20 one of the ways. It's a good idea to buy your tickets ahead of time as the train is often booked full by Cruiseship passengers. This railroad was originally created to connect the city of Colon around the Atlantic (Caribbean) to Panama city around the Pacific. This was the very first transcontinental railroad within the Americas. A cautionary note - a whole day is a long time to invest in Colon. Although you could possibly get some great deals in the Freezone this really is one of the worst parts of Panama for crime. It is best to plan ahead to get out of Colon City as soon as you can. You might want to explore the gorgeous Caribbean communities and islands around the coast. Look to Portobello or even a day around the beach at Isla Grande.
The Pan-American Highway (Carretera Panamericana), often called the Inter-Americana, stretches from the Costa Rican border in the western world across the country into the heart from the Darien province. There it stops about 50 miles in the Columbian border. The Darien Gap is that this area along the border between Colombia and Panama. It's a lush rain forest with one of the greatest degrees of bio-diversity in the entire world. The Pan-Am Highway is indeed a treat by Central American standards, and perhaps even North American standards! It's well maintained and there are plenty of food and gas stops completely across the Isthmus. The trickiest a part of driving in Panama is incorporated in the cities and getting out of Panama City itself. Taxis are extremely cheap I recommend getting about by cab inside the city and then picking up your car rental when you are just ready to leave.
