After a flight from Toulouse to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Panama, we landed on December 26 at 16:20 p.m. at theTocumen Airport à Panama City. After 30 minutes to get out of the plane, we are surprised by the endless queue waiting for us at the immigration counters… We will have to be patient to endure an hour of waiting before going through customs. Then retrieve the backpacks and re-queue to pass the luggage to the detectors. Finally, we leave the airport at 1:18 pm!
Panama City Airport-Hotel Transfer
Outside, we are surprised because night is already falling… It is 29 ° C and we already feel that we are in a rich, well organized and secure country. The first images of Panama make us understand that this country is totally different from other countries in South America.
Taxis take 20 USD to take you to central Panama City (30 minute ride).
Panama City private driver
As far as we are concerned, we had booked a private driver with whom we will make other trips during our stay in Panama.
From the start, we find our driver (who speaks French quite well) very very nice. During our tour, we will have the opportunity to appreciate him more and more because not only is he punctual, courteous, kind but he is much more than a driver, he will be almost our guide on Panama City !
Before dropping off at Clarion Victoria Hotel in a chic and modern neighborhood, Juan stops us to buy an internet card at 5 USD for 30 days and 3 bottles of water to take with us for our departure to the San Blas Islands the next day.
Then he explains to us how to use the metro from Panama City and even lends us his own card that we will only have to top up. Throughout our discussions, Juan quickly understands that we like to eat well and gives us his list of good addresses for inexpensive restaurants (see article dedicated to restaurants in Panama City).
Here are the coordinates of Juan Manuel Rivas Dugarte and his agency 24/7 Transports : reservations@24transporte.com
Panama City Hotel
The majority of Panama City hotels are large ultra modern structures and perfectly equipped, except in the Colonial district where there are charming boutique hotels.
I chose a reasonably priced hotel in a great location because it is located 10 minutes from the station. metro EL CARMEN and in the El Cangrejo district very nice with restaurants and shops.
At the reception, we have a good surprise:
While I had booked a standard room, the hostess told us that since they had many empty suites left, she was upgrading us. She gave us at no extra charge the following n ° 704! What a welcome ! Our stay started too well: great driver, great hotel and it was just the start ...
We discover an entrance with a kitchenette (coffee maker + fridge), a living room (armchair + large screen TV), a huge comfortable bedroom with TV, safe, a beautiful and a large bathroom. We had a breathtaking view of Panama City (view the photo). And the icing on the cake: a hotel rooftop swimming pool !!!
View from our room over Panama City
But we will not enjoy this hotel and our beautiful suite for long because we have to go to bed early… Tomorrow, we will be up at 4 am for a departure at 30 am for the children. SAN BLAS Islands !
We will have the opportunity to come back to it during the last 4 days of our tour to visit Panama City and its surroundings.
See the rest of my tour on my article:
Your message give me the idea to go to visit Panama. It's helpfull.
Thanks