Panama City Travel Tips

Panama Travel Tips

These are the Panama City travel tips we actually used on the ground, from getting around to tipping to where we found a laundry that cost a fifth of what the hotel wanted.

To help you plan a more seamless trip, we wanted to share these tips for traveling to Panama!

Language

For the most part, english is widely spoken in Panama City.  I imagine less english is spoken as you head into more rural areas.  Don’t expect people to be fluent but many can speak enough to get by.  As always, we encourage everyone to learn some of the basics and bring along your google translate to fill the gap.  In our opinion, you should never expect that someone in a non english speaking country will speak some english just because you do.  We speak a decent amount of Spanish, but as a rule of thumb we like to learn “Do you speak english?” in the native language of where we are traveling.  Most people will appreciate that you are trying and you will more likely be met with more pleasantry.  Here are a few phrases worth learning:

• Tu hablas Inglés? (Do you speak English?)
• Buenas (Hello). This is specific to Panama, in other countries Hola is more known.
• Por favor (Please)
• Graciás (Thank you)
• Cuanto? (How much)

Transportation

Taxis are very easy to find around the city and are an affordable way to get around.  That being said, official rates are usually ignored and there are no meters used, so it is very important you remember to negotiate a fare with the driver prior to getting in the cab.  Sometimes this can be hard to do when you are new to an area and don’t know what a fair amount for that trip would be and don’t know if the cab driver is taking advantage of your lack of knowledge.  Uber is also widely used in Panama City and our preferred method of getting around (besides walking!).  With Uber, there is no negotiating and wondering if you are being ripped off and you don’t need to have any cash on you.  Regardless of what you choose, the cost of fares is substantially less than anything you would be used to in the US or Europe so you will probably feel like you are getting a good deal.

Money Money Money!

The official currency of Panama is the Balboa. BUT they do not print paper money, so they only have Balboa’s in coins, leaving them to accept the US dollar as their currency.  You will be able to use the US dollar anywhere you go but you may receive a mix of US coins and Balboa coins as change.  The conversion rate is 1:1 so any prices you see in Balboa you can equate to the exact same amount in USD.  It’s that easy!

Tipping

Tipping is not a requirement in Panama, but rounding up your bill is appreciated.  In higher end restaurants it is common to leave a 10% tip and on occasion they already tack it on to the bill, so best to check before you calculate a tip.

Taxi drivers will not expect a tip but will appreciate if you round up to the nearest dollar.  We usually gave our Uber drivers an extra dollar and they always sent a thank you response so I believe it was appreciated.

Hotel cleaners should never be forgotten.  In Panama it is common to leave $2-$3 for the housecleaner each time they come.  If someone helps you with your luggage, a $1 should be sufficient.

Drinking Water

Panama has a modern water treatment system making it one of the only Central American countries where is is safe to drink the tap water.  Yay!!  This is not necessarily the case for rural areas though, so best to double check if you are traveling to other parts of the country.

Medical

Dial 911 for an ambulance!  Easy to remember if you are from the US.  This is always the first thing I look up before arriving at a destination.  I guess it is the mom in me.  Medical clinics and facilities are really good in Panama city.  Outside of the city, they can be more sparse.  We always recommend traveling with medical insurance.  Biting bugs, including mosquitos, are also prevalent.  We didn’t see too many in the city but on our day trips to the canal and the Caribbean, bug repellant was definitely used and needed!

Identification

All visitors are asked to carry their passport or identification at all times.  I read that police may stop you to check but that never happened to us and I never saw it happening to anyone else.  Consider carrying a digital copy of you passport and leaving the real deal somewhere safe when you are out and about.

Safety

We felt very safe in Panama.  We didn’t really walk outside of Casco Viejo after dark either.  We read that you should not wonder outside of the brick roads, especially after dark so we did just that.

This advice never prevented us from doing anything we wanted to do and it’s best to play it safe with littles in tow.   Pickpocketing is common, like with any country, so be mindful of your surroundings and how you are carrying your belongings.  You can report a crime by calling 511 9260 (the Tourist Police in Panama City) or 104 (National Police).  I always like to keep the address and number of our embassy somewhere in my iPhone notes for each destination we travel, just in case.

Laundry Service

If you are staying in Casco Viejo and are in need of having laundry done, We found a great little place…

New Casco Laundry is located right next to Nomé Chocolate.  She is open daily from 7am-6pm.  We had two bags full of laundry washed, dried and kind of folded for $18.  If we had that much laundry washed through the hotel, it easily would have been over $100.  She offered to do a 4 hour turn around but I told her we would be back the next day.