mmmmmjenny

It's our honeymoon!

Panama City - 2 days
-get to know the city
-Partial Transit tour
-kayak the Panama Canal

San Blas - 3 days
-sail around to different islands

Bocas del Toro - 3 days
-snorkel
-kayak
-swim!

Boquette - 3 days
-tour coffee plantation
-birdwatching
-hiking

Pearl Islands (staying on Contadora)- 1 day
-snorkel
-maybe deep sea fishing

El Valle - 2 days
-kayaking
-hiking
-biking

Any suggestions?

JeanH

Your trip sounds wonderful to me. Canal transits are only offerred on Saturday. Will that fit your plan?

Are you going to charter a boat to get around San Blas? Otherwise, I'm not sure how you'd get from island to island easily.

Do you have hotels picked out? Jean

mmmmmjenny

Yes, we are likely taking a sailing boat to the different islands in San Blas (San Blas Sailing). It's very expensive, so we are trying to make up the cost by staying in less expensive, but nice, hotels elsewhere.

Here are the hotels we are planning to stay at:

Panama City: Plaza Paitilla Inn
Bocas del Toro: Hotel Angela
Boquete: Isla Verde
Pearl Islands: to be determined, but not the expensive resorts
El Valle: Crater Valley (a final splurge)

By the way, we almost stayed at the Radisson Decapolis Hotel in Panama City. Looks like an amazing, fancy hotel. When i went to the Radisson website, i was able to get a rate of $108 and with my AAA membership, they included $20 in drink coupons and I think $30 to use at the casino!

Finally, another helpful website in planning our trip was www.tripadvisor.com where you can read reviews on hotels.

AndrewGW

Your itin looks good - San Blas Sailing are a good outfit.
Your hotel picks are good - not sure if Punta Galleon on Contadora would be in the budget?
El Valle is great any day but the big market is on Sunday.
The Decapolis is nice but the Plaza Paitilla is right across the road and has been recently refurbished so save the money...

Have a great trip.
Andrew

mmmmmjenny

Great! THanks for your feedback. I would love to see the market in El Valle. oh, i can't wait!

ojoy

Don't know about that partial transit of the Canal. From other posts it sounds really long and somewhat boring. Think you'd be better off just touring the exhibit at the Miraflores locks, which is really quite interesting and well done. I think you'd like a rainforest trek on Barro Colorado Island run by the Smithsonian, but it takes up much of a day (like the partial transit). It was definately one of the highlights of our trip (and even our teenage kids agreed). The tour includes a 1-1/2 hour ferry ride through the Canal, a guided rainforest hike, lunch, a short slide show and a beautiful vista of the Canal from their observation tower. I think to miss out on a rainforest experience while in Panama would be a real shame.

By the way, if you miss the El Valle market on Sunday, there's a wonderful craft market right behind the old YMCA in Balboa that open almost every day and has a huge selection of art and crafts for comparable prices (and negotiable). Also, while in Balboa, drive out to the end of the Amador Causeway and you have a fantastic view of the Bridge of the Americas spanning the entrance to the Canal on one side and a beautiful panoramic view of Panama City on the other. Smithsonian also has a nice Marine Exhibition Center there.

JeanH

We did a full transit of the canal last month. An incredibly long day. I think a partial transit would have been perfect. I can't imagine you'd get the same feeling from the visitor center at Miraflores as you get being on a boat and watching the water go up (and down). Fascinating. Jean

cmcfong

I grew up in Panama and would like to add my vote to those suggesting a partial transit only. It can be a very long day to do a full transit. Have fun doing the sail and kayak trips.
On my last visit I stayed at Contadora resort and did not like it at all. Terrible food and not particularly nice rooms. My brother just returned from a week in Panama last night. He is raving about how wonderful a cottage he rented for $90 a night at Santa Clara was. Said he could do day trips (including a run to El Valle) and come back in plenty of time to enjoy fresh corbina and a beautiful sunset. During the week Santa Clara beaches are practically empty...not so on weekends! Enjoy your trip, it is a beautiful country.
If you decide to

travel88

We just did some of this trip last year.

Boquette: stay at Hotel Panamonte or Villa Marita (if you have a car).

Make sure you do the Kotowa Coffee plantation tour. There is a 6'5" Dutch guide, whose name i forget, who does the tour and also bird watching.

Panama City, take a cab to Restarante Jimmy if like seafood. Bad view, good food.

Skip San Blas Sailing, questionable outfit, trust me.

Go to Canopy Tower Hotel outside Panama city...if you like birds.

The basic tour of Miraflores Locks was great. Spend 1/2 a day there.