Canal Tour and Panama City in one day?

[cruisin2som]

We arrive in Colon at 8 am and depart at 6 pm. We're renting a car to go to Panama City which I understand is about a 90 minute drive. We'd like to see the downtown area of Panama City and nearby beaches. Would we also have time to drive to and see the canal on the way back? Is there an entrance fee at the canal? How much time should we allocate for the canal? We'd like to fit it all in.

[BillB48]

We arrive in Colon at 8 am and depart at 6 pm. We're renting a car to go to Panama City which I understand is about a 90 minute drive. We'd like to see the downtown area of Panama City and nearby beaches. Would we also have time to drive to and see the canal on the way back? Is there an entrance fee at the canal? How much time should we allocate for the canal? We'd like to fit it all in.

 

It is about a 90min drive. Are you driving or hiring a car and driver? Driving to PC is not the big problem but depending on "the downtown" area you want to go it could be fairly lengthly and congested. For example going to Old Panama ruins is in a different part of the city than the Casco Viejo. PC suffers from traffic jams as do many big cities. I would highly reccomend a local driver as there are many areas that are not that easy to find. Signage can run from excellent to non existant.

 

As far as beaches, maybe the Ft. Amador causeway out to the fortified islands may satisfy you. It's very scenic with a small beach area with a great view of the bay and various eateries. The more popular beaches are about an hour up the Inter-American Highway, adding more distance between you and the ship.

 

I don't know if there is a charge to visit Miraflores Locks or not. To watch an entire lockage it would take at least an hour. Don't short change yourself here.

 

IMO you really have a FULL day and you may want to trim it back a bit. I can't stress enough about leaving in plenty of time to travel back to your ship. If this is not a ship's tour you could be seeing more of Panama than you planned :rolleyes: !

[cruisin2som]

We're renting a car. We've read stories about Americans retiring in PC and were curious what the city is like. We can easily scale back and skip the beach. Thans for the tips.

[filmgirl]

Does your cruise offer the panama city tour? It does exactly want you want to do.. goes to the locks and the city. I thought it was great. You can view photos here: http://www.zoe-photography.com/PanamaSlide/

 

I would not have wanted to make that drive on my own. Only some parts of Panama City seemed safe and nice, others were not!