Panama

[New Judge]

Anyone been to Panama?

I’m looking to go to take a “day trip” through the canal. (Want to see it but cannot bear the thought of a cruise). Seen plenty of canal trips to suit my requirements but not sure about the rest of it. Not looking to stay long (7-10 days) and not looking to roam around too much. I also notice (as far as I can tell) there are no direct flights from the UK.

Any experiences or recommendations, please?

[Buenchico]

As you've suggested, there are no direct flights from the UK to Panama City. However KLM have flights to Amsterdam from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and Heathrow, and they also operate from Amsterdam to Panama City. So that might be a possible route.

Alternatively, starting from Heathrow (or possibly elsewhere in the UK for some carriers - I've not checked) Lufthansa can get you there via Frankfurt, Iberia can do it via Madrid, Air France via Paris, Delta via Atlanta, TAP via Lisbon, United via Houston or Newark and American via Dallas or Miami.

Wikitravel is worth a read:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Panama
(Click on the links for information about specific towns and cities)

[New Judge]

Thanks Chris. A good start for me. I'm a bit reluctant to travel east first and then west but with the overall distance involved, a few hundred miles in the wrong direction is neither here nor there I suppose.

[237SJ]

If I were you, I would get iberia from Madrid. Where do you want to stay when you are not doing the day trip through the canal? If you have any questions, I can ask my South American colleagues.

[New Judge]

Not really sure, 237. I think most of the boat trips pick up (by coach) from main hotels in Panama City, so I suppose that would be best. As I said, not really looking to travel around too much, so a decent hotel with a pool might fit the bill.

[VHG]

I don't think you can do a day trip through the panama canal, I think you can only do it as part of a cruise.

A few years ago I had a friend who was a canal fanatic and had a canal boat and had been on every canal in the UK.

He wanted to go through the Panama canal but in the end could only do it via a cruise.

Note that on the cruise EVERYONE wants to get a good view through the canal so people get to the side of the boat at the crack of dawn and some stay there all day (my friend did). If you leave your spot you never get it back.

I am always amazed at the history of the building of the canal, first the French tried to build it, then the Americans built it, and about 20,000 people died during its construction, many from malaria.

[New Judge]

Yes the French tried to cut a passsage at sea level (i.e. without any locks), VHG. That's what caused them so much grief.

There are a number of operators that do full transits through the canal on day boats. They usually start from the Pacific side and return by coach to Panama city. It's an overall twelve hour trip with about eight or nine hours spent travelling through the canal.

[jno]

I believe they're widening it so they can get the new megaliners through; you should probably go before that's under way. I did it as a half-trip (off a cruise ship): by road right across, then halfway back and pick up a local ferry for the second half. Fairly jungly (in contrast to Suez). I suspect, though, that the best views are to be had from somewhere high up, ie a cruise ship; it wasn't all that exciting at water level.

As you're probably aware, the Atlantic end is the east end.

[fjc19]

It is one of the best trips you can do!! Wonderful...
http://www.panamacanaltrips.com/full-transit-tour

The day trip is amazing and in small boats.
We went through alongside vast oil tankers, so you got a sense of scale.

It was an amazing experience. Our small ship fed us...constantly and there were onboard talks about the various sections of the canal.

It took about 12 hours but was so full of interesting things to see it went by very quickly.

Coaches take you back from Colon to Panama City. Colon is not somewhere you would want to hang about in...scary!!

One of the best journeys ever!!!

Can I please join you... I want to do it again.

[Khandro]

NJ, The only thing that springs to mind (I have that sort of mind) is that it is contained in (possibly) the world's longest palindrome and invented by Kenneth Tynan (at 3:00am);
'A man, a plan, a canal, - Panama!' Have a good trip.

[New Judge]

Thanks both. Interestingly you have contrary views of the best vantage point (low down or high up). I’m definitely doing the small boat trip as recommended by fjc. (I’ve already had a good look at that site, thanks). There’s no way I’m going on a cruise. Most of my worst nightmares rolled into one!

Yes, the expansion scheme is well under way, jno. I think it’s due for completion next year.


“As you're probably aware, the Atlantic end is the east end.”

I know what you mean, jno, but curiously, the Atlantic (well, Caribbean) end of the canal is actually further west than the Pacific end. Because of the way Panama “snakes” around the canal actually runs from south-east to north-west. Looking quickly at a map of the area you would instinctively expect it to run from south-west to north-east. This map illustrates what I mean. You can see that Colon (the Caribbean end) is to the west of Balboa on the Gulf of Panama (the Pacific):

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/camerica/pa.htm

Another curious fact is that from in Panama you can see the sun both rise and set over the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

Thanks both for your help. My research begins in earnest!

Yes Khandro, even longer than "Able was I ee I saw Elba" :-)

[jno]

that's because I said Atlantic when I meant Pacific, NJ. A mistake any ancient mariner could make, I'm sure.

I don't know that I'd want to be reminded of the difference in scale between a riverboat and the Behemoth of the Seas... but personally, I felt a viewpoint from a bit higher up would have been useful for seeing the scale of the canal and the jungle.

Good luck, however you do it, it's a great experience.