Travelling to Panama in January 16 2019 - ANY ASSISTANCE welcome

Hi
I'm pretty new to panama but  I can tell you Jan 15/29 there is a Papal visit.  I believe expecting 4 million people - so get what you can booked ASAP .  He won't be here until 23 Jan but I'm sure people will arrive before. Good luck. And buy bottle water soon as arrive.

Thanks a lot. I just paid for airline ticket and car rental.
I am all set, I will actually arrive at 03:18 on Jan 17.

Thanks for the tip.
Regards,
Luiz

Good, just plan for delays while you are here.

My $.02 I'd take the bus to David. Driving in Panama City is a real pain on a good day, and there may be all sorts of additional uproar with the Pope visiting. Once you get out of the city it's much better but still a long drive. You can rent a car in David.

FYI you will be required to buy car insurance which will more or less double the price of the rental car (no matter what other insurance you may have). Carefully inspect the car for any scratches and dings no matter how small so they won't blame you and change you later.

Bien viaje! It will be interesting to hear your impressions of the country and Puerto.

Hi, I'd actually fly from Albrook airport in PTY to David, then rent the car there, except if you want to make the drive part of your adventure.

The Panamericana, although a highway, is in some places in a terrible state. Potholes and uneven surfaces forces you to slow down substantially.  Add that to your travelling time. If you don't know the area, it will be a nightmare to get through the city and out the other side, even though traffic at 4am will be lighter than during the day.

Road signs are few and far between, with mant roads not having road signs at all.  I found Google maps to not be very accurate either.

And then, at some time, you have to return the car...during the day? Avoid at any and all cost to drive in PTY during the day.🤤 Rush hour starts at about 7am in the CBD (earlier on the roads leading ínto the city, and ends at around 10pm. I kid you not!

When inspecting any rental car, take pics of every surface: metal, windows, roof, hubcaps, tyres, contents of the trunk, gas cap, upholstery, windscreen wipers and the keys.

Keep us posted on your travels.

(Pm me your itenary, and if the areas coincide with places I visited last month, I'll give you my input)

Ilona

Hello everyone,
Thank you for your inputs. Unfortunately, I already paid for the rental car.
My plan is to arrive at around 3 am, pick up the car and momentarily drive to Coronado and Pedasi on the same day Jan 17, so I should beat traffic!

Next day 18 Jan, proceed to Boca (maybe spend the night in Boca) or, got down to Puerto on the same or next day (18 or 19 Jan).

Once I am in Puerto, I will try to make some contacts, visit the town and surroundings, spend a night or 2, and start my journey back South to PTY slowly and truly, as my flight back to NYC is on the early morning of Wed 23 Jan (2:30 am), thus I plan to beat traffic again on the way back, I need to be at the airport around midnight.              (DOES MY PLAN SEEMS POSSIBLE TO YOU ALL?)

These are my preliminary plans, and I consider changing as per comments and information arriving from you guys & girls.
Thank you so much again.
Luiz

Once I flew from PTY to David I was totally spoiled and never took the bus again! But if you want to see some of the country and local flavor the bus is good. If  your flight into Panama lands at Tocumen airport it makes more sense to take a Copa flight from there to David.

But for driving, hopefully your off hours travel plans will make driving easier. People do it all the time and survive so I'm sure you can too 😁 If you will have a smart phone try Waze or Google maps to navigate. In the US I downloaded google maps for destinations I needed and I could navigate without internet. If that works here too it would be really helpful.

Once you are out of the city you only need to follow the road. If you have trouble finding a place people are really helpful. That's one of the things I love about Panama. People think nothing of dropping what they are doing and to do whatever they can to help you.

Thanks a lot Kris, I will do some research to see if I can do a route download in google maps to my phone, I am sure I should be prepared to do some off-line navigation, that would definitely help.

Thanks again and all the information is very welcome.
Cheers
Luiz

The Pope lands the 23rd - about 430 pm security will be extremely high. I understand from the Uber drivers they planning  for it to be 4 day national holiday. There are road closures planned.  The Chinese Prez came n shut down the city.  And he had no followers.  All I can say is plan for long delays.

Hola Luiz,
My name is Kim and I live in Puerto Armuelles. Pm me if you would like any info or assistance when here in our beautiful little town. Safe adventure! Cheers!
Kim

Thanks,
I will do that Robert, I should be there on the 19 or 20 JAN.

Cheers
Luiz

One place I do want to visit- I will retire, but will start exploring this summer

you really should look at google earth and be a little more realistic .. year drive times are not even possible ..

google maps is good but waze will help with your traffic situation ,, 17 years here my self ,, the faster you get out of panama city the better ,, the corodor is the only way to drive it can make the diffrcne of an hour to get gone and as many as 3 hours to cross the city

Thanks a lot.
I will arrive at 0300 hrs in PTY on the 17 Jan, will get a rental car and leave the city (probably by 0400 to 0430) so I should be ok with WAZE that early in the morning.

Any advice is welcome.
Thank you,
Luiz