7 Days in Panama: First-Timer Plan
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A week is enough to combine the city, a San Blas overnight, and one western region properly, but not both Boquete and Bocas del Toro without turning half the trip into airport transfers, they’re each reached by their own flight from Panama City, not from each other. This plan takes the Caribbean route to Bocas; for the highlands instead, see the 6 day itinerary .
Day 1: Arrival and Casco Viejo
Morning
Land at Tocumen (PTY), taxi or Uber to your hotel, 30 to 40 minutes. Entry is visa free, 90 days for most passports, 180 for the US and Canada, and Panama’s cash currency is the US dollar.
Afternoon
Casco Viejo’s colonial streets and Plaza Independencia fill the afternoon. Safe and tourist policed, but watch for pickpockets in crowded plazas and skip El Chorrillo and Curundú at its edges.
Evening
Dinner in Casco Viejo, sancocho or ceviche, then an early night.
Day 2: The Panama Canal
Morning
Miraflores Locks, 15 to 20 minutes from downtown, observation decks, museum, and the day’s posted transit schedule. Entry is roughly $17 for a foreign adult, verify current pricing at visitcanaldepanama.com .
Afternoon
The Biomuseo on the Amador Causeway (Frank Gehry, 2014), then walk or bike the causeway for the skyline and container ship views.
Evening
Early dinner, pack for San Blas, tomorrow’s pickup is before dawn.
Day 3: San Blas Overnight
Morning
A Guna licensed 4x4 collects you very early for the 2 to 2.5 hour drive to the Cartí pier, then a Guna boat, 30 to 60 minutes, out to the islands. Everyone pays a Guna Yala entry fee, roughly $20 to $22 cash, passport in hand. San Blas is cash only US dollars, no ATMs.
Afternoon
Settle into a rustic Guna run cabaña, snorkel the reef (scuba is banned in Guna waters), and look at mola, buying directly from the women who make it.
Evening
Dinner is whatever the family running your cabaña caught that day. Power is often solar or generator, running only in the evening.
Day 4: Return and Fly to Bocas del Toro
Morning
Boat and 4x4 back to Panama City, arriving early afternoon.
Afternoon
On to Albrook (PAC) for an Air Panama flight to Bocas del Toro, about an hour, landing on Isla Colón, the archipelago’s main town. It’s a long travel day between two very different coasts, budget it as one.
Evening
Settle into Bocas town and have dinner, fresh Caribbean seafood is the reliable order.
Day 5: Bocas Beaches and Reef
Morning
A boat trip out to the archipelago’s outer cays for snorkeling, the reef here is one of the largest in the western hemisphere, and the water clarity rewards the early start.
Afternoon
Spend the afternoon on one of the archipelago’s beaches, the surf and the slower Afro-Caribbean pace are the whole point of coming this far.
Evening
Dinner back in Bocas town.
Day 6: Bocas Culture
Morning
A second morning on the water or exploring Isla Colón’s colorful, low key town, this is a place built for slowing down, not sightseeing on a schedule.
Afternoon
Free time for whichever beach or boat trip you didn’t get to. Remember Bocas runs its own weather pattern, driest around March and September to October rather than the mainland’s dry season, so check conditions before committing to a full day on the water.
Evening
A final Bocas dinner.
Day 7: Return to Panama City
Morning
Fly back to Panama City on Air Panama, landing at Albrook.
Afternoon
Use the remaining hours for anything missed on day 1, Panamá Viejo’s ruins or a slower pass through Casco Viejo both work as a closing stop.
Evening
Final dinner in the city before your flight out of Tocumen.
Know before you go
- Currency: US dollars throughout; San Blas is cash only, no cards or ATMs.
- The Darién Gap is a do not travel zone per the US State Department and the UK FCDO , unrelated to any region on this route.
- Tap water is safe in Panama City; malaria risk sits in the Darién and comarca interior, not this circuit.
- No hurricanes; note Bocas runs an inverted season from the mainland, driest around March and September to October.
Book these before you go
Rough cost sense: city hotels $60 to $120 a night, San Blas $20 to $22 entry plus transfer and cabaña costs, the Bocas flight roughly $100 to $150 round trip. Budget $650 to $900 per person for seven days outside your international flight.
For more on the islands you’ll spend day 3 and 4 in, read our San Blas guide ; for the canal’s engineering behind day 2, see how it actually works . Want the coffee highlands instead of the beach, the 6 day itinerary swaps in Boquete.