Panama is located in Central America between the countries of Colombia and Costa Rica.
Connecting the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific to the south is the famous Panama Canal, which had its 100th anniversary in 2015 and was extremely expanded by 2016.From Germany and Europe, the best way to reach the country of Panamá is by plane. The Tocumen Airport (PTY) in Panama City is the largest international continental airport in the country.
As the flights from Germany to Panama are very long, there are only a few direct flights, e.g. with Lufthansa. For the very long flight time you have to plan at least 12 hours in the airplane. However, all modern planes are equipped with multimedia packages and even WiFi to make the flight time as pleasant as possible.
Roundtrip flights for 2 people are available from 1000 EUR, for a single person from 500 EUR. To get the cheapest flight tickets, you should book about 2 to 3 months before departure from Frankfurt to Panama City. Cheapest time of year to fly to Panama City from Frankfurt is June and May. Most expensive are March and December.
Feeder flights from Berlin to Madrid are available, for example, in cooperation with Iberia and AirBerlin. Many other flights are also available via Atlanta or Houston (USA)*. From Canada, there are direct flights with Sunwings Airline to Rio Hato, near the beach resort Playa Blanca in Coclé.
* For flights via the USA ESTA approval is required.
The international airport (PTY) at Tocumen is located about 24 km east of Panama City. Upon arrival in Panama, one immediately notices the tropical warmth as one exits the airport.
For the fastest route via the "Corredor Sur" it takes about 30 min to get to the city center. With a taxi you should plan about 30-40 dollars, which costs more than twice as much as a trip from Panama to David with an air-conditioned coach.
For a trip in the first hours of the morning you have to be very patient, because every day from the south-western direction many people drive to work in the city and the traffic jam lasts for several hours. For a return trip to the airport, the other direction is always congested in the afternoon from 4pm. Although a new mount system was introduced in June 2015 to allow for faster processing, the congestion is still unmissable every day during peak hours.
Many well-known car rental companies offer their cars directly at the airport, including of course the global players such as SIXT, AVIS, Budget and Hertz.
If you want to save money, you can take the metro bus into the city, but the stop is not directly at the airport and you actually need a metro card.
