Logistics of Traveling to Panama

As Promised Here are the travel plans to visit us. We have hired these professional boat captains to sail you here from Florida, wind permitting. There is a one bag limit and be sure
to bring your sun screen.






Let us know if you have any questions.

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Alternatively here are the other possibilities:

Directions for flying to Panama

Since David, Panama is closer to Punta Pena, Bocas del Toro and Boquete the best way we have found to fly to our areas of Panama is to fly to San Jose, Costa Rica and then grab a short flight on Air Panama to David, Panama. If you want to fly to Panama City – American Airlines and Copa Airlines have direct flights from many hubs. The thing to remember is it is almost a 6 hour drive from Panama City to Boquete so for us it makes sense to fly through Costa Rica. Watch Spirit Airlines and even consider joining their $9 club for specials to Costa Rica. Get a flight that arrives into Costa Rica in the afternoon unless you want to do some site seeing in Costa Rica first. The reason for this is they only have one flight and only on M-W- F to David, Panama and it leaves at 11:00 AM Costa Rican time which is one hour behind Panama time. Panama is EST with no daylight savings. The challenge is you usually cannot catch a flight to arrive early enough to San Jose to be able to transfer and catch the flight to David.

Since the flight to David is also an “International” flight the same rules apply - arrive approximately 2 hrs early to the airport.

The airline you will use for this is : Air Panama @ www.flyairpanama.com/

There are many hotels around the San Jose Airport and most offer free shuttle service. One place we stayed at the Best Western Irazu - they are

online: http://www.crica.com/hotels/irazu.html

It’s a bit far from the airport but has a free shuttle, free happy hour, casino, pool, and restaurant with free breakfast - it was $100 when we stayed there. As a bonus we never had to even exchange money as they took dollars. If you want to explore a little in Costa Rica this is a great location to go from and they will exchange your money in the hotel.

The second time we stayed in Costa Rica the young woman at the information booth at the airport gave us the name of a place called Hotel Brilla Sol it is 5 minutes from the airport and also offers free shuttle. Their number is 506-442-5129 or 506-430-5878 rooms are decent with hot water and a nice little garden restaurant at the hotel. It has a casual and friendly atmosphere.

Important to note when planning the hotel is that San Jose is a great hub if you are planning to spend a day or 2 in Costa Rica but the airport is actually in Alajuela so if you are just stopping for the night then it is quicker and less expensive to lodge in Alajuela. The airport in Costa Rica has a great information booth and they are helpful with lots of brochures and info.

After you have arrived in Costa Rica from your carrier you will take the flight #691 on Air Panama leaving at 11:00 AM and arriving at David Panama at 12.55 PM (your lose an hour). On your return flight you will take Air Panama flight #690 to Costa Rica leaving at 10:30 AM arriving in Costa Rica at 10:30 AM. (you get your hour back).

It is easy to get to the airport in David in time to make the return trip in one day as long as you can book a flight out of San Jose any time after 12:00 noon.

You can usually get into Miami airport in time to miss rush hour traffic if all goes really well. As far as other international airports we haven't had the personal experience to advise at that end.

For our Florida friends: We also used a parking service close to the airport in Miami that was much more reasonable than the airport and safe and convenient. They are online or their number is: 954-584-1589 http://www.unitedairportparking.com/ Most large airports have a similar service that makes it affordable to park nearby which we always found comforting. Knowing your vehicle is waiting for you when you arrive is the next best thing to having a chauffeur.