Panama City Mid-range
Sancocho is the national chicken soup and the standard hangover cure. Seafood at the Mercado de Mariscos is excellent and cheap — ceviche by the cup at the counter.
Budget travel in Panama
What a visitor's money does in Panama: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Mid-range average across 1 guide · 5 is very cheap
Money
US Dollar (USD) · 1 EUR = 1.15 USD · 1 GBP = 1.34 USD
Panama uses the US dollar as its paper currency, alongside locally minted balboa coins at parity. No exchange is needed if you carry dollars.
ATMs
Avoid: street machines outside Casco Viejo, ATMs in El Chorrillo
Use: Banco General, Banistmo, BAC Credomatic
Panama uses the US dollar. Foreign-card fees run around $5 per withdrawal, so take out larger amounts inside malls or branches.
Getting around
A short ride in Panama City: $3–7 across town — cheap
From the airport: Tocumen to Panama City $25–35
Cheaper and metered, against street taxis that are neither.
City by city, cheapest first
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
