Chichime Cays, San Blas
Coco Bandero Cays, San Blas
Isla Contadora, Pearl Islands
Isla Iguana
Bocas del Toro Archipelago
Snorkel the reefs of the San Blas Islands with a Guna guide
Transit or watch a ship pass through the Panama Canal at Miraflores Locks
Dive with sharks at Coiba National Park
Hike Soberania National Park along the canal
Kayak the mangrove channels of Bocas del Toro
Panama City’s Casco Viejo
Miraflores Locks
Portobelo
Isla Contadora
Bocas del Toro Town
Panama’s dry season, roughly mid-December through April, brings the calmest conditions on the Pacific side, including around the Pearl Islands and Coiba. The Caribbean side, home to the San Blas Islands, stays more consistently warm and settled year-round, though its own driest, least windy stretch usually falls between February and April as well. Rain is common most afternoons outside the dry season, but it rarely lasts long enough to disrupt a day’s sailing.
Tocumen International Airport (PTY) in Panama City is the country’s principal gateway and a major hub for flights across Latin America. Guests heading straight to Bocas del Toro can connect onward to its own small international airport, while access to the San Blas Islands is usually by short domestic flight or overland transfer from Panama City rather than through Tocumen directly. The Pearl Islands, including Contadora, are close enough to Panama City for a short flight or boat transfer.
The Chichime and Coco Bandero Cays are among the most photographed, a scatter of tiny, palm-covered islets surrounded by shallow turquoise water and coral. Further east, the Cayos Holandeses offer slightly deeper anchorages with good snorkelling and fewer visiting boats. Most itineraries move between several cays over a few days, since each offers only a handful of moorings before the anchorage starts to feel crowded.
A week is enough to explore the San Blas Islands at an easy pace, moving between two or three cay clusters with time to snorkel and go ashore. Combining both oceans in one trip, with a canal transit and a run out to the Pearl Islands or Coiba, generally needs closer to two weeks given the distances involved. Bocas del Toro, near Costa Rica, works well either as a standalone week or an extension to a San Blas itinerary.
Yes. The Guna General Congress charges a cruising permit of around 20 US dollars per person and per boat, per month, collected at their office in El Porvenir or by officials visiting the boat. Many individual islands add their own small anchoring fee, typically 10 to 20 dollars for up to 30 days, paid directly to that island’s community. These fees fund the Guna Yala comarca directly, a rare example of an indigenous territory keeping full control of its own tourism revenue.
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