We recently spent the better part of a week in Panama City, Panama. We loved it and we can’t wait to go back! That being said the one black eye of our trip was upon our arrival, transportation leaving the airport. Here is a quick guide and horror story we wish we had read before landing at Tocumen International airport in Panama.
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Uber
For those looking for the key information:
- Open Uber app on a phone
- Order ride.
Our transfer was $17 door-to-door on Uber and about a 25-minute journey with very little traffic.
Panama uses the US dollar as its physical currency and though you may see prices in $B (the Balboa) the exchange rate is 1:1, pegged to the US Dollar. The ATMs dispense US dollars and while I never saw a paper Panamanian note, we did collect a couple of Panamanian Balboa coins intermixed with US change.
When Uber says that your ride to the old city is $2.32, that is literally all it costs and you can, of course, utilize your current payment cards on the app. This is about as cheap as you can find for Uber and comes highly recommended by just about everyone with the exception of the taxi drivers and touts.
Pre-Booked
Do not pre-book an airport transfer unless you can fill a van. Options we saw were expensive from $39-48 each way. You will generally overpay or wait for others to fill the bus in a shared ride situation for less money. You will also pay per person on a shared ride so for our party of three it really only made sense to get a private car.
Hotel cars may be reasonably priced by US standards, but Uber is undoubtedly faster and cheaper (though who doesn’t love someone at the airport waiting for them with a sign?) Our hotel charged $40 one-way for an airport pickup.
Taxi Touts/Drivers
The absolute focus and reason for writing this post is to warn you of the taxi touts (some of whom are also drivers and some are not) these are some of the worst we have encountered in the world. Wearing Panama tourism shirts (which may or may not mean anything at all), they shout at passengers who are clearly looking for a taxi rank.
This is totally normal in many countries (even some airports in the US) and we have on occasion taken up a driver who offers an advantage to us (cheaper, nicer car, no line, etc.). In Milan, we got a decent fare in a Mercedes that we could call on demand during our stay and while it was more than a normal taxi, it was only slightly more expensive but much more value.
In New York City (especially at LaGuardia) touts wait in baggage claim and call to their partners in black SUVs making their way through the arrivals pickup line. After 55 countries and hundreds of cities, I know a dishonest taxi driver by looking at them and I didn’t see an honest one among them. [I await the comment section on that last statement]
But in Milan, New York City, and Bangkok, Thailand for example, the touts know they are in violation of the transit laws and could be expelled from the premises if they become too obvious, invasive or aggressive. Simply nodding “no” and walking past them does the trick and a formal taxi rank awaits just outside the doors.
At Tocumen International in Panama City, following signs for a taxi rank will lead you right into the tout’s hands. Expecting to see yellow and black checked cabs when we left the terminal we instead met these polo-clad negotiators all speaking excellent English offering a ride. There are airport shuttle services and hotel transfer services but why bother when it’s cheaper to get a private car with Uber?
Attempt One
The tout approached, and asked if we were looking for a taxi, we said yes, and he nodded “yes” as in he was a taxi driver and motioned to a line of vehicles that looked lucky to still be in driving condition. He didn’t offer a price and there was clearly no meter in the vehicle. We declined and moved towards the public buses where an experienced traveler had told us to go to secure a cheaper cab.
However, we went too far and ran out of taxis returning back to the terminal. Of note, we did see a traditional-looking taxi near the buses but could not source a formal taxi rank. We never saw more than the single yellow cab.
Attempt Two
A rotund tout approached exclaiming that he had a taxi, how did I know he would be dishonest? He asked me if we were going to a hotel or hostel. While my wife loves that we are still being confused with broke kids, I am annoyed that we still look like the shared bathroom type.
We say “hotel” and get a once over followed by a price of $30. He asks us which hotel, we tell him, Waldorf-Astoria and a look of self-disappointment comes over his face as he realized he should have asked for more.
We decline regardless; if the price is variable based on a hostel or hotel then we know we aren’t getting the right price no matter what.
Attempt Three
We cross the busy terminal pickup lanes to where the cars and vans are parked in a line; perhaps we will cut out the middleman by skipping the touts altogether and going straight to the drivers. Then some NBA-level tout greets me and offers me a car instead of a van. I had hoped this was because he heard the exchange and can deliver a lower price.
Knowing the hotel rate, I offer $20 (I will pay a little more but we need to start somewhere). I am laughed off while the driver moves his car up in the line and get back out to go fishing for a sucker.
At this point my daughter, in her Pockit stroller is being pushed anywhere the wind blows as my wife follows behind my failing negotiations. My wife’s disdain for me is edging higher than usual and it is time to land at a decision.
Getting Ripped Off
Sometimes it costs $60 to get into the city from the airport. That’s just a cost of doing business in the travel world and I am fine with that. My contention with this process had nothing to do with the money –I just hate getting ripped off.
This has caused me problems in the past as I get emotionally set down a track of frustration and can’t get back to a productive outcome. I don’t mind paying more if something costs more, but I do mind paying more because you think you can get away with it.
It’s not that I am cheap, well, that could be part of it, but really it’s that I always want to see value. I will spend plenty of money (more than I should) on luggage when I see a value for what I am paying. However, charging me more than the going rate just because of the address of my destination, or the way I look (I couldn’t get away with being a local Panamanian) is ripping me off and that’s something I just don’t stand for.
Attempt 1.5
I head back to the door with my family’s luggage, my wife in tow with our daughter in the stroller and make for the building. My wife is mad – she knows I am this way and we will surely lose the $10 difference between what they are asking and what we want to pay – JUST PAY IT (she says with her eyes alone).
I prepare to relent when the first tout/driver asks me again. He suggests $25, I say $20, he shakes his head no, I continue walking and he says, “Ok, ok, $20” We get into a van with three other parties. A family of four piles in the back, and a solo male in the front, we were on our way shortly thereafter.
Having forgotten where we specifically are going, the driver asks at which hotel (not hostel) we are staying. I remind him Waldorf-Astoria, he is pissed and huffs back to the wheel muttering towards the windshield.
I must have not been the only spouse who waited too long to execute the negotiation because the Italian bloke in the back was getting the business from his wife for the entire ride. He, maybe, said a sentence or two but she did not stop the entire ride and while she wasn’t shouting, it’s not hard to imagine how the conversation was going for him.
We pulled up to their hotel first, the Radisson, and we determined that they had paid $40, we were careful not to disclose our amount.
Less than five minutes later pulled up to our hotel and got out but our fun wasn’t done yet.
Outright Harassment
I handed the driver a $20 bill (fresh from the Panamanian ATM at the Aeropuerto) and he decided to renege on our agreement and now decided that the price had jumped back up to $25.
There are two key elements of negotiation, 1) Whenever possible, play on your home turf, 2) Hold some sort of bargaining chip. This fool had neither.
He waited until after the service was completed and my bags were out of his vehicle to try to renegotiate the price. Had he done so while we were driving there would be nothing I could have done, and while it would have technically been kidnapping, I don’t really have a bargaining chip and am definitely on his home turf – his country, his car.
I declined his request to re-open negotiation, he persisted and we moved on, the bell staff brought our bags inside and we followed. He then split with us at the door and headed to the bar for a glass of water. He loitered for some time watching us. He was assuming that I would be more embarrassed about not paying an extra $5 in the hotel lobby and making a scene that I would cave and just give him the money.
He was wrong. For the three or four minutes he was inside he left his final paying passenger in the front seat of his van parked at the hotel with no idea if or when he would return. He tried one more time on me and I said no loud enough that he understood I am not going to be embarrassed about saying no to what I consider theft.
He wasn’t on his home turf anymore, I had the support of the hotel staff who were fully bilingual (fluently, not the elementary Spanish I employ) and the assumption of my (valid) innocence as not only a paying guest, but a Diamond member.
My wife asked me what was going on and I told her. She would always just prefer to save $5 elsewhere than have a confrontation in a hotel lobby and there is a lot of sense in that logic. However, that wasn’t going to happen, we made a deal and I expected it to be honored whether he had any intention of honoring his end of it or not.
We will definitely return to Panama, we loved our time there even if the Panama Canal was a bit of a letdown, but we will only use Uber in the future and why not? It was cheaper, easier and safer.
Panama is doing themselves no favors by allowing this as their principal introduction to visitors. If Thailand can get it under control, Panama can too. While this post is not an Uber plug, if you want $20 free you can use my referral link – we both get $20 if you use it and ride.
Have you been in a similar situation to this? Do you follow my wife’s rational approach or my stubbornness when faced with petty extortion by Panama’s airport taxi system?
There is an official taxi kiosk outside the terminal (towards the parking lot)where you walk up to and get assigned a car/drive. Fares to the city are even fixed (set annually by the government) so no haggling needed.
We followed that path, but it wasn’t as clear as it is elsewhere.
All I have to say is:
EGYPT
BUWAHAHAHA
The hotel could have thrown you under the bus and claimed you had to pay because you created the misunderstanding by not having a quote in writing and not using the official transport service provided by the hotel.
They could have, but Hilton would lose a customer.
I simply rented a car when I was in Panama City, Kyle; and other than the traffic, I really had no problem getting around. Parking was free at the hotel at which I stayed.
In response to Andrew, Egypt was another story: you are likely better off using taxis — even with the touts — than driving there…
Fair enough, though Uber was so cheap and painless I wouldn’t even bother driving in the future.
Well, uber is no longer cheaper for rides from the airport in Panama. Although the app showed me the price of 16.97 (ride to Plaza 5 de mayo) but in the end I was charged 41 with all the extra charges. Official taxi would be 5usd less. Well, things change and not always for good :-(. Bad for uber.
This is the detail of my bill from October 2019.
Base Fare $0.80
Time $6.78
Distance $9.66
Distance Surcharge $16.97
Subtotal $34.21
CS – Atlapa Sur a Norte $1.40
Corredor Sur – Tránsito Ciudad Radial $1.25
Caseta Ciudad Radial – Este a Oeste $1.25
CS – Atlapa Norte a Sur $1.40
Booking Fee $1.34
Total 40.85
Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila is very bad.
Before venturing outside with my luggage, the official tourist representative inside the airport terminal told me which color of car was official and had meters with fixed distance pricing–and which were not. She also told me what price I should expect to pay to my hotel (about $3.00). I was staying in the Makati district. But getting to the metered taxis you walk past rows of other colored cars randomly parked everywhere. I was offered $30, $25… even $20 by various drivers. But I declined their offers politely. They ALL walked along with me refusing to take no for an answer. They were very aggressive. Even after I got in my chosen taxi they yelled in Tagalog at my driver, venting their obvious frustrations at my not choosing them.
My ride in a “real” taxi cost $2.35, roughly, when converted from Pesos. It was in mid-afternoon on a weekday and the drive took around 45 minutes. My only real hiccup was that I only had very large local bills on me I had just gotten from the airport ATM. This was 5 years ago and I don’t remember paying by credit card in the taxi as being an optio. A bellman quickly ran inside to get change. A woman from the front desk returned and brought smaller bills back out. I asked her quietly if she though the equivalent of $4 or $5 (rounding up and adding a tip) was sufficient. She was aghast and said loudly that the driver didn’t deserve anything because he was paid enough. If I really wanted to tip him I should give 5 Philippine Pesos (less than 10 cents at the time) and he should be grateful to get even that. Having been cautioned, but still embarrassed with her answer, I rounded up and gave him $3.00 rather sheepishly, feeling very cheap. The driver was more than pleased though. On later conversations with Filipino friends back in the US, they speculated the hotel employee was jealous because she would never be in the position to receive tips for doing her job, which she considered a giant step above driving a taxi. So she was taking this frustration out through MY tip. Whatever the reason, these metered taxis throughout my trip were always very cheap, reliable and professional.
Sounds like you have it figured out for Manila, an airport we will likely visit this year. Thanks for the tip.
Remember you are in a foreign country and not in your US turf. Should he have chosen to call the police they would likely have supported the driver and I doubt they would care much that you were a Diamond.
That’s true that the police don’t care about my hotel status, but the taxi driver didn’t feel as confident that the police would have supported him in his claim or he probably would have called them or insisted that the hotel did so. He didn’t. Either way, I have a hard time supporting theft because of potential hassle.
I also rented a car in Panama and didn’t have to deal with any of that. Soon, the new metro line is going to reach the airport and offer another way to avoid those issues.
I would really like to see a metro line.
My cousin lives in Panama. And there’s no Metro Line 2 to the airport, yet.
And as for driving, the traffic is murder, there are no street signs and traffic lights are few. The locals are not disciplined and will run one over, as soon as look at you. GPS is not reliable. The program takes you the shortest route from point a to b, disregarding, bad areas…where even the police don’t venture.
Ubers are NOT allowed inside the airport.
Regular taxis are dirty and tattered, and drivers are obnoxious. They’ll take you if you’re going THEIR way, if not, they’ll leave you where you stand. They’ll also pick up additional fares, WITHOUT asking you.
How soon?
Its 2019 and no sign yet.
I’m dreadfully confused why you didn’t just use Uber in the first place? Generational thing?
I’m 33 so I don’t think it’s a generational thing. Uber in some countries (including the US) can’t pick up families with children without a carseat. Taxis, however, can transport children without a car seat anywhere we have traveled.
While our daughter is on the border of not needing a car seat at all, some taxis don’t have the proper hook ups for a child seat anyway, so it’s always a debate as to whether we will take the seat, rent a car, use taxis, Uber, etc. In this case, sans car seat, we weren’t aware of the requirements for Ubers in regards to car seats nor their permissibility to pick up/drop off at the airport so we opted for a taxi out of the airport.
Hi Kyle – were you able to request an Uber with a car seat via the app in Panama City?
That’s a great question, I don’t recall. I am going to assume not though I know that in the states we have used Uber Family a few times.
It’s such an awful introduction to a new city/country when you get ripped off by taxi touts at an airport. It can lead to people instantly disliking a place and never wanting to return so Im surprised airport and tourism authorities haven’t done more to try and help those people who rely on them for their industries to survive!
I once did a weekend away by myself in a fairly remote city in Romania. My flight was arriving after midnight, no Uber and my hotel did not provide a shuttle service. I was very nervous that I would be ripped off by a taxi driver because I had no other options. I walked out of the tiny airport, appeared to be about the only person who didn’t have family meet them at the airport so stood out like a sore thumb. There was no taxi rank and no airport staff around to help (it was nearly 1am in winter). A middle aged Romanian man approached me and said ‘taxi?’ I nervously and defeatedly said ‘yes’. He told me to follow him to the carpark. I knew the trip should cost around EUR15 so asked him how much and he said ’15, maybe 20 Euro’. I got in the cab and saw a meter which I asked him to put on. He told me it was already on, and sure enough it was slowly rising. We got to the hotel and the meter was showing just under 15 Euro. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, gave him 15 Euro and he made me stop so he could give me the change.
Ben, it sounds like you lucked out in Romania. I think that if it’s reasonable fair enough, but these guys were crooks. The truth of the matter is, if he had said $25 and I couldn’t find a taker at my $25 price point, then that’s the rate and I was shortly about to accept it. But we made a deal at $20 and we agreed. For me, the deal was done there.
This is my first comment ever in your blog. Just to say “way to go!”. As I can understand your wife’s frustration and the associated danger with those situations, I also hate to be ripped off. You’re a true warrior! Cheers
Thanks for commenting Jorge, don’t be a stranger. My wife probably wouldn’t want any encouragement for my behavior but I just won’t ever side with a criminal when given a safe option to challenge it.
I share your frustration Kyle; I got taken for a “ride” that cost around $35 to get downtown. I was just too tired to argue and I don’t speak Spanish.
I understand that Marissa, I have been there before and will be again.
Hmm, I doubt I would have held up against my own wife’s withering looks and pointed comments in a similar situation. Hope the fall out afterwards wasn’t too bad for you!
It was getting tense with her more so than with the criminal.
Amen. We didn’t know any better and got totally taken by the a-holes at Tocumen, each successive one with his hand out. In addition to their inflated prices and general swindler status, the vans are absolutely terrible – no suspension for the long, bumpy ride into the city, and only lap belts that were insufficient to properly restrain our young children. We used Uber the rest of the time we were in PC and it was generally cheap and reliable. That’s all I’m willing to recommend to my readers as well!
I used a collectivo. It was, if I remember, something like $1. 😉
Maybe it’s snobby to say it – but I am probably past the “collectivo” stage.
I think I’ll be riding collectivos by principal for the rest of my life 😉
I took Uber from/to the airport and throughout my stay in Panama. It was flawless. Shudder to think what it would have been without Uber.
We corrected our mistake every trip after leaving the airport.
Awesome article, thanks for the tips! Indeed, besides the Panama Canal, one can also visit the Embera Indian Villages, enjoy outdoor activities in lush jungles and spend time on white sandy beaches in Panama.
However, there are tourist-targeting scammers and petty crime to be wary of.
Do be wary of the fraudulent tour guides, beach free food and service scam, taxi card swipe, boat tour scam, shoe shine scam, fake beggars, item swap scam, carjacking and many more!
As you know, getting swarmed by taxi touts or others offering you various “services” are common at airports in developing countries. If I am arriving at an airport for the first time in a developing country, I try and do some research online first (like I am doing now) and that helps a lot. But sometimes that fails and I am stuck in an unfamiliar airport being harassed from all sides, not knowing where to go. In those cases, I pretty much will give up and pay the $50 or whatever it takes just to get me out of the situation and on my way. I am 64 and paying the extra money doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. When I was 24 I would probably have walked completely out of the airport and found a local bus instead of getting ripped off like that, but I guess things change as you get older.
Surprised your wife has not left you Kyle, particularly with a young child in tow! Sounds like you need to chill out and not worry so much about a few $$. But as Michael Morrison says maybe it is partly an age thing: I too would have been obsessed with getting the cheapest when I was in my 20s.
I’ll let her know you speak highly of her resolve.
Sounds like a nightmare! I’ll be arriving in Panama City next week at 4am…is it likely uber/taxis will be available or would you suggest staying a night near the airport? I’ll actually be arriving by bus from Costa Rica, it flying in.
Well, That’s really terrible.