How many days do you need in Panama?

Nine to fourteen days suits most first trips: enough to combine the Canal and Panama City, a few nights on the islands, and the Boquete highlands without rushing. Shorter trips of around a week work well if you focus on two regions.

Is this a private tour or a group coach tour?

Entirely private and tailor-made. You travel on your own dates with private guides and transfers, at your own pace — not a fixed-departure coach tour. Everything is designed around you.

When is the best time to visit Panama?

The dry season from mid-December to April is the classic window for sunshine and easy island-hopping. The greener May–November months bring afternoon showers but fewer crowds and lush highlands; the Caribbean coast keeps its own rhythm and is worth checking when we plan your dates.

Do UK travellers need a visa, and what about money?

UK passport holders do not need a visa for tourist stays in Panama (always reconfirm before travel). The currency is the US Dollar, which keeps spending simple, and direct flights connect London with Panama City.

Is Panama safe, and is it good for first-timers?

Panama is one of the more relaxed, welcoming countries in the region, with short internal distances and easy logistics. With private guides and drivers and our in-destination support, it is a comfortable choice for first-time Latin America travellers and families alike.

Can I combine Panama with Costa Rica?

Yes — they neighbour each other and pair beautifully into a two-country Central America trip. We can build a combined route, balancing Panama’s Canal, islands and highlands with Costa Rica’s rainforests and volcanoes.

Aerial view of a turquoise cove, white-sand beach and forested island with a small boat, Panama

CANAL · ISLANDS · CLOUD FOREST

Tailor-Made Panama

Name: Panama — Tailor-Made
Brand: Travelfab
Rating: 4.7 (3 reviews)

A private, tailor-made journey through a country where two oceans nearly touch — the Canal and old-world Casco Viejo, the Caribbean islands of Bocas del Toro and San Blas, and the cool cloud forests of Boquete. Built entirely around your dates, your pace and you.

PanamaTailor-MadeTailor-made · 9–14 daysFlights OptionalPrice on enquiryATOL 10898

Panama is one of the most underrated trips in the Americas — and one of the easiest. A small, friendly country where the US Dollar is the currency and direct flights link London to Panama City, it folds the Canal, two coastlines, world-class islands and highland cloud forest into distances you can cross in a morning. Our Panama holidays are private and tailor-made: no fixed coach-tour itinerary and no off-the-shelf package — we build the route, pace and hotels around your dates, with a Latin America specialist who has actually been there.

Most trips weave together three very different faces of the country: the Canal and the restored colonial quarter of Casco Viejo in Panama City, a few unhurried nights out on the Caribbean islands, and the coffee farms and quetzal-filled cloud forests of the Boquete highlands. How long you give each is entirely up to you.

WHAT YOUR TRIP CAN INCLUDE

A country of three distinct faces

Large container ship passing through the Panama Canal locks

Where two oceans meet

Watching a container ship squeeze through the locks of the Panama Canal is oddly mesmerising — around 14,000 transit each year, and the Miraflores visitor centre, twenty minutes from downtown, puts you right above them. Back in the city, Casco Viejo is the historic heart: a restored grid of colonial streets, rooftop bars and some of Central America’s best seafood, with the Amador Causeway and Frank Gehry’s Biomuseo close by. Stand above the Canal in the morning and be ankle-deep in island sand by the afternoon — that is the defining quality of Panama.

Misty cloud forest canopy in the Chiriqui Highlands, Panama

Coffee country and cloud forest

Boquete sits at around 1,200 metres in the Chiriquí Highlands, ringed by cloud forest, coffee estates and the slopes of Volcán Barú — Panama’s highest peak. The air is cooler and smells of damp earth and flowers; it is a place for hiking, birdwatching and slow mornings on a veranda. The Los Quetzales Trail offers a real chance of the resplendent quetzal, and the estates here grow Geisha, a coffee that fetches hundreds of dollars a kilo at auction. Cool, green and quiet, the highlands are the natural counterweight to the city and the islands.

TAILOR-MADE, YOUR WAY

How your tailor-made trip comes together

There is no off-the-shelf brochure to book here. You tell us your dates, your party and what you most want from Panama — the Canal and city, island time, the highlands, or all three — and we design the route, choose the hotels and arrange the private guides and transfers around you. Panama is compact enough to combine comfortably in a single trip, and many travellers pair it with neighbouring Costa Rica for a two-country Central America journey. If you plan to bring a camera drone, read our practical guide to the drone rules in Panama first.

Trips typically run nine to fourteen days, though we’ll shape the length to suit you. Because every Panama trip is built from scratch, we quote each one individually — share your dates and party size and we’ll prepare a precise, ATOL-protected quote with flights.

What a tailor-made Panama trip typically includes

Private guides and drivers for your touring, with English-speaking specialists
Hand-picked, characterful hotels and lodges chosen for their settings
All internal transfers, domestic flights and boat transfers between regions
Canal, city, island and highland experiences as agreed in your itinerary
Daily breakfast, with other meals included where it makes sense
Airport meet-and-greet and 24/7 in-destination support
Full ATOL financial protection (10898)

Usually quoted separately

International flights (we arrange these for you, ATOL protected)
Travel insurance (a condition of travel)
Tips, drinks and any experiences not listed in your itinerary

Frequently Asked Questions

Because every trip is built from scratch — your dates, regions, pace and hotels — we quote each one individually rather than advertise a fixed price. As a guide, mid-market private tailor-made trips usually work out competitive with comparable Costa Rica itineraries. Tell us your party size and dates and we’ll prepare a precise, ATOL-protected quote with flights.

Start planning your Panama journey

Tell us your dates and party size and our Latin America specialists will tailor a Panama trip to you — Canal, islands, highlands or all three — and prepare a precise, ATOL-protected quote with flights.

Make an Enquiry

We typically respond within 24 hours

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL

Panama highlights

The Panama Canal and the Miraflores locks — one of the modern world’s great engineering feats

Casco Viejo, Panama City’s restored colonial old town, with rooftop bars and seafood

Bocas del Toro — a Caribbean archipelago of stilt-house towns, coral reefs and Starfish Beach

San Blas (Guna Yala) — palm-dot islands run by the indigenous Guna, barely touched by development

Boquete’s cloud forests, the resplendent quetzal and world-famous Geisha coffee

Compact distances, the US Dollar and direct UK flights — simple, hassle-free logistics

Private guides, private transfers and characterful hotels chosen for their settings

ATOL protected (10898), with UK flights arranged for you

Tailor-Made Holiday

Price on enquiry

tailored to your tripATOL protected (10898)

Flights Optional

Private holiday

Flexible dates

Tailor-made · 9–14 days (suggested)

Fully customisable

No commitment — we respond within 24 hours

Call us

Tailor-Made Holiday

Price on enquiry

tailored to your tripATOL protected (10898)

Flights Optional

Private holiday

Flexible dates

Tailor-made · 9–14 days (suggested)

Fully customisable

No commitment — we respond within 24 hours

Call us

Real reviews

What our customers say

From travellers who visited Panama with us

“

We'd never considered Panama before Travelfab suggested it and we're so glad they did. Bocas del Toro was paradise — we kayaked through mangroves, snorkelled over coral reefs, and ate the freshest fish. The Biomuseo in Panama City was a lovely surprise. Everything ran smoothly from start to finish.

Linda & Keith R.

“

Spent a week in Panama and it packed in more variety than I expected. The cloud forests around Boquete were stunning — we did a coffee plantation tour and hiked part of the Quetzal Trail. The food scene in Panama City surprised us too, especially the ceviche at Mercado de Mariscos. Great value compared to Costa Rica.

David M.

“

Panama was a revelation. We spent three days in the San Blas Islands staying with the Guna people — absolutely pristine islands with crystal-clear water and not a soul around. Then the contrast of Panama City's skyscrapers and the old Casco Viejo quarter was brilliant. The canal locks at Miraflores were genuinely jaw-dropping; you just can't appreciate the scale until you're standing there watching a container ship slide past. Fabian sorted every detail including our domestic flights.

Sarah & James W.

Costa Rica

Tailor-made · ATOL 10898

Want to customise this trip?

Every Travelfab holiday is tailor-made — extend a leg, swap a hotel, combine with another country. Tell us the shape you want and a specialist will redesign it around you.

Customise this trip with a specialist

Price on enquiry

ATOL 10898

Tailor-Made Panama

A country of three distinct faces

Where two oceans meet

Coffee country and cloud forest

How your tailor-made trip comes together

What a tailor-made Panama trip typically includes

Usually quoted separately

Frequently Asked Questions

Start planning your Panama journey

Panama highlights

What our customers say

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Want to customise this trip?