Any ideas or recommendations for a car rental for our 1 week trip to Panama? This will be our first trip there. We arrive Feb. 11 and have just started to research what to do, where to go.

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We had good luck renting a car for the Boquete portion of our trip. But HATED having a car in and around Panama City (although we are used to navigating San Jose, Costa Rica). We finally parked it and used taxis.

Thanks for your reply! We were thinking of renting a car at the international airport on arrival and touring the country by car. Not planning on spending much time in Panama city.

Well, notice I said "in and AROUND Panama City". The highway system in that area was a nightmare for us! Twice, we hired a taxi to guide us. But certainly, where there's a will, there's a way and you'll be fine, I'm sure. A car would certainly be nice to have once out away from the hubbub of the city.

A problem for us was the rental agency we used. It was through a website called Starlink. MY MISTAKE for not researching better. It was in the heart of PC, they spoke absolutely NO ENGLISH, and were not able to provide a map or directions to help us get out of town! It was definitely a lesson learned! LOL!

We rented from Hertz right in the airport & had no trouble at all. I would never want to drive through Panama City again (very confusing) We didn't do too much driving only to our hotel but the roads & signs were much better than in Costa Rica..it was a pleasant surprise.

I guess it's just a matter of what one is accustomed to. Costa Rica is a piece of cake for us by now. But Panama! Of course, there we were without a map. How smart was that? LOL!

Thanks for the advice! Sounds like Hertz for us.