Getting there
By air
Panama City’s international airport is Tocumen International Airport. There are direct flights between Tocumen and Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Atlanta, Havana and all major cities in Central America and Colombia. Most of the major US carriers — including Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Continental and Iberia — fly direct to Panama.
By sea
Cruise ships leave from Miami and other US ports bound for Panama City.
By car
If you’re doing a road trip through Central America, use the
Pan-American Highway, which runs from Mexico to Panama. Crossing the border from Costa Rica can take a couple of hours. Speaking Spanish
is essential to sort out the paperwork.
By bus
Buses link Panama with Costa Rica to the north. The
border crossing is open daily — you’ll either
have to walk across the border to a connecting
bus, or hand your passport over to the driver if you don’t need to
change buses.
Getting around
By air
Panama has two regional airlines, Aeroperlas and Air Panama.
As well as its international airport, Panama City also has a domestic airport servicing flights to the interior and the Las Perlas islands in the
Pacific.
There are 365 islands in the San Blas Archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Panama, of which 45 are inhabited. Aeroperlas has several daily flights from Panama City’s Albrook Airport to the different islands. Round trip tickets from Panama City are around US$60.
By taxi
In Panama City, most taxi fares within the city are under US$3. Air-conditioned buses are available from Panama City to most other parts of the country.
By chicken bus
You haven’t really travelled in Central America until you’ve
survived a journey on a ‘chicken bus’. Buses are the main mode of
transport and Honduras has a two-tier system. Chicken buses are the
cheaper, second class option and they’re hot, slow, cramped and usually
suspension-shy. The good news is the journeys are usually short and
you’re plonked right in among the locals who travel with everything
from giant sacks of potatoes to squawking chickens. It’s a great way to
sample some on-the-ground local colour.
No trip is complete without regular stops to buy frescos (drinks)
that often taste as strange as they look. Buses often have salsa music
reverberating around the seats, and sometimes American R&B music
too.
