 | Panamá City Transportation | Tips 1 - 10 of 45 |  |
Popular Transportation | Other Transportation Tips | All Tips (45) Taxis are on a fixed base system with most close destinations at $1 and a maximum of $3 for destinations in the suburbs. Amazingly the taxi drivers are mostly honest and all instantly know how to get to where you want to go. I definetely recommend taking taxis in PC. Leave a Comment Theme: Car/Motor Home
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The general rule of thumb here is to ignore all taxi drivers that say this! "Hey Buddy" seems to be how all North Americans get greeted.
Anyway, here's the scoop. Always flag down a taxi from the street. Never use one that is waiting for you outside a hotel or restaurante - these are the drivers that prey on the un-informed looking for a $10 or more score in taxi fare. These drivers usually speak really good english and that's another tip-off.
The only place you will want to use a taxi that's waiting is when at the airport and coming into the city. It's a flat rate. About $27 per person I recall.
Fare: The basic rate across the city is $1! Yes, ONE DOLLAR! Add $0.25 more per person in the taxi and a little more to the base rate for longer trips. Note: Fares seems to vary by $0.25, so if you are charge $1.25 instead of $1, just pay it.
July 2008 update on taxi fares:
Taxi fares went up recently. The old rates no longer apply. New base rate is $1.25 and it's now $0.50 for an extra person. It's also $0.50 to cross zones when it was only $0.25 before. Enjoy. Leave a Comment Theme: Car/Motor Home
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From reading the latest Lonely Planet and from what the hotel managers tell me, taxis to anywhere within Panama City (core area) should be about USD1.50. The US Dollar is used here, at par with the Balboa, no conversion problem whatsoever.
If you go from core to, say, the Causeway, it should be USD5-6.
Same thing from core to the Panama Canal Railway Passenger Station, about 12 kms away.
Hail a cab on the street in front of your hotel, rather than having the hotel call one. The latter takes forever and you'll be watching hundreds of empty cabs speed by while you wait.
I was in the very busy downtown area round 7 pm last night and hailed a cab to get back to my hotel in El Carmen district. It was very safe, the only lil problem was that the cab didn't know how to get on my one-way street and where it was exactly. I had to give him directions to a few landmarks, like the 99 Supermercado close by. I ended up begging him to just leave me at the supermarket and walked home (again, safely... el Carmen is a safe, residential area.) Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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We took a taxi from the city out to the Soberania National Park. It was about an hours drive. We had made arrangements to be met in the parking lot at 6:00am.
We arrived early, it was still dark but we could hear the Howler monkeys all around us.
Soon a little green golf cart type thing, called the rainmobile, showed up and the driver took us to the tower. Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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In Panama City proper, public bus transportation is available everywhere and not a minute goes by without seeing one of these psychedelic, fume-spitting, rattle-and-roll vehicle racing towards you. I wanted to do just like the locals do at least once, so I enquired one day as to which bus would take me from A to B. I was given names, numbers and colours, and shown a general direction to walk in for the many options I had.
Well, the whole system is quite 'freely' organised, and I never had time to spot the name, number or colour I wanted before the bus had sped by. Many of them are covered with wild paintings of a religious nature but not the type of apostle I'm used to seeing, so that distracted me too. You'll see the Black Christ, often holding a crystal ball with God's eye in it, or the eye is in a luminous white triangle, many Black Virgens on thrones surrounded by flags, jungle and pastoral scenes, that sort of thing. I think you should take a taxi.
The bus company name seems to be "El Senor", with the 'o' in Senor being filled with the face of Christ or of Che Guevara. Very disconcerting and leaves little time to think. Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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The Local busses are known as "diablo rojo" Red Devils and each is painted with a unique airbrush design. For actual transportation taxis are so cheap that you should use them. However these busses are a must see sight in themselves. Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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Panama City has two airports. Tocumen International is about 35 km east of town and serves as the international hub. There is a ‘Transportes Turisticos’ desk near the entrance where you can find out about ground transportation options to get into the city, if you need them. Aeropuerto Albrook - officially Aeropuerto Marcos Gelabert - is just northwest of the city center by about two kilometers. This is the city’s main domestic hub. Small planes will take you to the San Blas Komarca, Bocas del Toro, David, Contadora Island and a host of other destinations. Albrook is the site of the old airport for the Canal Zone. Leave a Comment Theme: Airplane
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As of Oct. 7, 2005, the price of gasoline jumped .90 cents / gallon, so I can assure you that the days of the "one dollar taxi" are gone for good.
1. Three dollars should get you anywhere in the city and out into Allbrook area / Ancon Hill.
2. If you're just going several blocks, two dollars would be fine.
3. Figure your tip about 10%. On a two dollar fare, don't bother to tip. It's okay.
4. Don't eat anything the taxi driver gives you.
5. Like another poster put in a previous warning, note the license before you get in. If you
don't see a license, don't get in. He should have a photo tag on his rear-view mirror.
6. Beware of the taxi drivers around the airport and casinos that speak good english. See
no. 7, below.
7. And BEFORE you get in to the taxi, NEGOTIATE THE PRICE!! Learn a few simple
sentances in Spanish to do so.
8. If you pay more than 5 dollars for a taxi ride (with the exception of Tocumen Airport) youre getting ripped off...then again, if it's raining or dark or a bad neighborhood and all you
can find it a ten dollar taxi, get in. Be sure not to tip the driver. He knows what he's doing
to you.
9. Asking a taxi for a "tour" of the city is inviting pricing problems. Ask your concierge/host
to recommend someone to you. Theme: Other
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I can highly recommend Peter Rippingale, skipper of the Golden Eagle, to sail from Panama to Colombia, or vice-versa. Details will follow as soon as possible, but for now, I can say that Peter is experienced, dependable, professional, fun-loving, and sails a great yacht. I felt totally safe during the 4-day trip from Portobello, Panama to Cartagena, Colombia, even with rough seas and strong winds from the San Blas to Cartagena for 23 hours non-stop. The whole voyage was unforgettable and fun, with great backpackers on board and a good cook too.
If you're in Cartagena, you'll probably find info on the Golden Eagle's itinerary or where to get in touch with Peter at the Hostel Viena in Getsemani. (I'm not staying there, I prefer El Centro Historico nearby. But I know Peter left a flyer at the Viena.)
If you're in Panama City, la Casa de Carmen in El Carmen barrio can put you in touch with him.
Peter Rippingale, MCA Master 3000 gt
Email: ZCNZ4@sailmail.com
Cartagena: +(57)3114190428
Panama: +(507)6535 0356 Leave a Comment Theme: Ship/Boat
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Just west of the Albrook Airport, you can find the southern terminus for the Panama Canal Railroad. This railroad runs from here across the Isthmus to Colon and offers passenger service with one 0715 daily departure. The railway was originally completed in 1855 and was the World’s first transcontinental railway. Return time from Colon is 1715. Leave a Comment
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