Any shops around Colon Pier?

[schmenge]

We will be on an 11 night Edge Panama Canal in February.  We stop in Colon afterwards in the evening. Are there any shops near the pier, or is it more industrial?

[Essiesmom]

There is a ‘shopping center’ at the pier but years ago when I was there it was mostly duty free electronics.  Lots of crew with laptops sitting along the walkway using Wi-Fi.  Not recommended to leave the area without armed escort…. Your stop at Colon is strictly to pick up guests returning from excursions.  EM

Edited January 7, 2023 by Essiesmom

[elbodans]

On 1/7/2023 at 12:05 PM, schmenge said:

We will be on an 11 night Edge Panama Canal in February.  We stop in Colon afterwards in the evening. Are there any shops near the pier, or is it more industrial?

We called in Colon last month on an MSC ship. I am an adventurous soul and am afraid of almost nothing (this bothers my mom greatly.) However, I would 100% not walk around the area surrounding the Colon port at night. 0% chance. I'd honestly be surprised if they even let you. 

There's a small duty free shop right outside the ship, but it closes in the evening. There's also the Free Zone--a HUGE duty free area with shops from all around the world--which is walkable from the ship. But that closes at 4pm. Which is good, because walking from there at night is also a bad idea.