Panama City
Panama
A glass skyline beside a colonial old town and the canal
Photo by Yosi Bitran on Unsplash
Photos by Zdeněk Macháček, Rikin Katyal, Darren Miller and Ignacio Hernandez on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Panama
December to April
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 255mm in Oct
Where it is
8.98°N, 79.52°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Watch ships transit the Miraflores Locks
- Explore Casco Viejo
- Walk or cycle the Amador Causeway
- Hike Ancon Hill for the skyline
- Visit the Biomuseo
- Day trip to the San Blas islands
Panama City travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Panama
Mid-rangePanama uses the US dollar as its paper currency, alongside locally minted balboa coins at parity. No exchange is needed if you carry dollars.
ATMs & cards
Banco General, Banistmo and BAC machines are reliable and common. Use those inside malls or bank branches rather than on the street. Fees are around $5 per withdrawal for foreign cards.
Avoid these
- street machines outside Casco Viejo
- ATMs in El Chorrillo
Use these instead
- 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.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Panama
Reasonably safeCasco Viejo, Marbella and Costa del Este are comfortable. El Chorrillo and Curundu are not and border the old town directly, so pay attention to which street you turn down. Use Uber rather than hailing taxis.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- El Chorrillo — and Curundú, which border Casco Viejo
- Casco Viejo — its outer edges at night — the transition is one street
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Panama visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Proof of onward travel and of funds is asked for more often here than elsewhere in the region.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Panama
Good and affordableRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Yellow fever if you are going to Darién
Getting treated
Panama City has the best private hospitals in Central America, several affiliated with US institutions, at a fraction of US prices. Outside the capital, standards drop sharply.
Tap water is safe in Panama City but not everywhere else.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodSancocho 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.
Nightlife
Rooftops over a skyline that looks like Miami, and Casco Viejo, which is where everybody actually goes.
- Casco Viejo — the old town, and every good bar in it
- Calle Uruguay — the club strip in the new city
- Amador Causeway — the waterfront bars, and the view back
Closing: 03:00.
A beer in a bar: $2–5
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
- From the airport
- Tocumen to Panama City $25–35
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper and metered, against street taxis that are neither.
Time zone and your working day
America/Panama — 1 hour behind you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 10:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–16:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 10:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 10:00–18:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Panama
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.6× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 40% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Panama, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic
Catholic majority with a substantial Protestant minority.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet before asking; buenos días opens every interaction
- Use Uber rather than hailing street taxis
- Dress smart-casual for restaurants; Panama City is more formal than it looks
- Carry small dollar notes — change for large ones is often scarce
Don't
- Do not wander from Casco Viejo into El Chorrillo; the boundary is a single street
- Do not drink tap water outside Panama City, where it is generally fine
- Do not photograph the canal security areas
- Do not call the currency anything but the dollar in practice, despite the balboa
Where to stay in Panama City
No Holistay rentals in Panama City yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Panama City on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Tocumen PTY
40 minfrom the airport· 18 km as the crow flies
40 min to the city.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
