Driving in Panama

Our group was thinking of renting a 15 passenger van and going to the Gatun Locks and The Maria Chiquita or Playa Langosta beaches instaed of taking a pricey tour. Any thoughts???

From my previous experiences in Panama, if you don't know where you are or where you're going, I would NOT recommend driving in Panama.......driving in Panama is definitely an experience. Many roads are poorly marked, if even marked at all.....not recommended.

What did you do in Panama??? We will have children with us so we're looking for something kid friendly.

I was an army brat. My father was in the Army, and I lived in the States. I would spend my summer vacations and Christmas break in Panama with my father. I absolutely love Panama, and can't wait to go back, but driving was certainly an experience. Mind you, last time I was in Panama was in late 1988, shortly before the US invasion, so things may have changed, but as for the way Panamanians drive, I doubt it........many roads were not marked with signs, or with lane stripes, some roads in Panama City did have lanes marked, but that didn't mean much...what should be a 2 lane street turned out to be 3 or 4 "lanes," and I remember that at many intersections, you could turn left on red, as well as right. There was also at least one main road in Panama City that was one-way in one direction in the morning, and then one-way in the other direction in the afternoon.....got kind of confusing, and there were always accidents. Most drivers do not use turn signals, the only things on some of their cars that seem to work are the radios and horns! You will hear a lot of horn-honking in Panama. Panamanians are really great people though, and have such a beautiful country--definitely not a place to be missed!

As for kid friendly, I don't really know about beaches on the Atlantic side, as most Americans stationed in Panama were all stationed at Albrook AFS, Howard AFB, Ft Clayton, Ft Sherman, Ft Amador, and Quarry Heights, all in and around Panama City. If you can get to Panama City or Balboa, I would take a ferry to Isla Taboga or Isla Contadora if you're looking for a beach. Sorry, don't know much about the Atlantic/Colon side, other than Colon was a dumpy, dirty, extremely poor city where the best part of the city was leaving it. Either way, you'll love Panama...One of these days I would like to take a land tour back to Panama and stay for a week or so....too much to do and see in 7 or 8 hours.....

My husband and I stopped in Panama in April on the Legend and we rented a car and did our own thing. I also had a guide book and we had plans ahead of time on what we were doing. My husband is also a professional driver (driving semi's not that really made a difference). We had no problems. We went to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort on Gatun Lake and had a massage. It's such a beautiful area. The drive out there is not like some huge city with so many different arteries of roads where you'd get lost.

The port in Colon is on the edge of town so it was quite easy to get to the main highway. To get us to the main highway we just used the map Budget gave us for Colon and verified with the guy at the office. It was really easy. It was basically down one road to the otherside of town and then we hit the main highway to Panama City. You have to be a bit careful driving through the city because some of the streets going across it is sort of like being on a side street going across a main thoroughfare. Once on the main highway to Panama City it was easy. One thing that was different and almost distracting are the billboards. They are stacked one behind the other pretty much the whole way (at least as far as we went). There was one agricultural checkpoint with an armed guard but they waived us right on through.

I actually really want to go back to Panama and do a land based vacation. I really liked it there. People will try and scare you (not the Panamanians but the cruise guys and most everyone else). My dad kept saying bandito's would get us but as I told him the only time we saw an armed guard was at the agricultural checkpoint and he was like the police. You have to be smart just like going to any place and do your research. I don't know if I'd recommend just aimlessly driving around but if you plan your route and have set places and maps of where you're going and some overall maps you'll be fine. Just be prepared at the port the taxi guys will bombard you. Also, make sure you set up your rental reservation ahead of time and not wait until you're at the port.

One last thing, my husband and I know hardly any spanish we really just used the book we had and our maps. We did give ourselves an extra thirty minutes when we drove back because we did hit a little bit of traffic going back into Colon.

Thanks for the info - it seems alot of people take the scare tactics to heart.