Private Tour Layover in Panama
Recommended by 94% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Panama City, Panama
- 5 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Don’t pass up the opportunity to visit the Panama Canal during your layover at Tocumen International Airport. This half-day tour with a private guide provides you with flexibility to explore the sights at your own pace. Stroll past Spanish-colonial architecture on the narrow streets of Casco Antiguo (Old Quarter) and also see the modern side of the city.
- 4-hour Panama City layover tour from Tocumen International Airport
- Learn about the locks of the Panama Canal
- See views of Panama Bay from the Amador Causeway
- Stroll around Casco Antiguo with a private guide
What's Included
- Round-trip private transfer
- Bottled water
- Driver/guide
- Entrance tickets for Panama Canal Visitors Center (USD$17.22 adult, $7.22 child), this is optional
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
Pick up from Tocumen International Airport or hotels nearby airport
Arranged start time
Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.
Select your preferred tour option to see hours.
Itinerary
1
Panama Canal
1 hour • Admission Ticket Not Included
2
Casco Viejo
2 hours • Admission Ticket Free
3
Amador Causeway (Calzada de Amador)
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Panama Metro (Pass By)
Cinta Costera (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Stroller accessible
- Infants must sit on laps
- Most travelers can participate
- Participants coming from Brasil are required to bring their International Vaccination Certificate against yellow fever in order to be able to leave the airport.
- It is required by Migrations in Panama a minimum of 7 hours between flights in order to be able to leave the airport.
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 145 reviews
Stacy_P, Apr 2026
Dan was a great guide!! He was waiting for me at the airport as I came out of customs. He was informative, knowledgeable and friendly. He knew the ship schedule and aranged our day so I would see a ship pass through the canal. I even saw a sloth. A great overview of Panama.
Jeffrey_A, Apr 2026
You get to see the Panama Canal and much of the city. He showed us a lot of great places. The Panama Canal was quite crowded during our visit.
Wanda_L, Mar 2026
This tour is an excellent way to spend a long layover in Panama City or to even plan a long layover to experience.
My tour guide, Javier, was extremely professional, knowledgeable and kind. As a solo female traveler, safety is always top of mind, and I felt very safe the entire tour. I would highly recommend this service to anyone.
Kim_L, Jan 2026
This was such a great way to learn about the Panama Canal and old town Panama City. The guide was extremely friendly and knowledgeable and made the whole experience so very enjoyable.
Trivikram_D, Dec 2025
My tour guide did a fantastic job of showing me around Panama City. His knowledge about the city was great.
Cesar_V, Oct 2025
The tour was well organized, you can see everything important in Panama. On Sunday you have to walk in the city center, no cars allowed. The driver is a very intelligent guy.
LaTrice_T, Jul 2025
He was prompt and the tour was friendly, fun, and knowledgable. We should have hired him for the whole time.
Chris_J, Apr 2025
This was an enjoyable, free flowing visit to the Canal and to old Panama City. I was completely out of it after a red eye from Chile, but Ricardo was very engaging and knowledgeable and I had a good time.
James_T, Feb 2025
Ricardo was the best. Very informative, great knowledge of the city and country. Explained the canal operation in detail. Pointed out all the great places in the city. Curious and polite. A gentleman in every way.
opiate13, Jan 2025
Great way to see the city if you have a long layover in Panama. Lots of information and sites in a few hours
Daniel_A, Jan 2025
Terrible experience Viator never passed along any of the information.I discussed with erica in the chat.Therefore, the vendor was not prepared to meet our expectations.The trip was cancelled and no altermative was offered. Book this directly at the cruise porter airport.And do not trust these third party sites
Shanie_B, Dec 2024
Very prompt, responsive, and informative tour. I learned a lot about Panama City in the half day tour I took. Definitely recommend!
Robert_F, Nov 2024
Great experience. Easy pick up and return to the airport. Enjoyed both old town and the canal! Fun tine
Philip_W, Oct 2024
Thank you so much. this was a very great experience. Highly recommended and informative. I would happily recommend this tour.
Christina_N, Jul 2024
The driver came bro airport to pick us up and so on. We saw the canal and came back to airport it was great
Ingrid_H, Jul 2024
Highly recommend! A MUST do! My tour guide was Kelly Cedeño. He was very accommodating and knowledgeable. Very reliable company and very professional. The office contacted me as well as Kelly to assist in finding each other (I went to the wrong terminal). Though my flight was delayed, it did not deter the valuable experience. Kelly still toured me around Panama and the highlights of the tour well after the designated return time. Please do remember to carry cash for gratuities as they do not take Zelle/Venmo or anymother digital form of payment for gratuities.
Keith_M, Jun 2024
First, before posting this review, I have been in touch with the owner of the travel company that was used. He was polite, and apologized, but really chalked up my bad experience to a miscommunication that went bad. . . .
To sum it up, his driver (my guide) went to use the restroom in the arrivals hall at the airport, and gave the sign with my name on it to a friend of his in case I arrived. I did. So I saw my name and approached him. Turns out that man holding the sign was also waiting for HIS client, a visitor to a foreign embassy, he thought I was that man, and took me to his car. What followed was an immense amount of him intensely talking into his phone in Spanish and largely ignoring me, the paying client who had booked an English-language tour. To cut to the chase, we were all across town when he realized I was not his client. . . .
But it was still rough. This man told me my real driver would meet me at the canal visitors center, but at first refused to give me my luggage back out of his car as he wanted me to go inside. I had to get quite firm to get my and demand possession of my own property!
Finally, the true driver (the one who had used the restroom at the arrivals hall and handed my sign off to his friend) arrived. We continued the tour, but I was nerve-wracked throughout, even causing me to notice a mechanical malfunction warning on his dashboard and me fear we would break down (we didn't break down, as he kept his engine running even during our short sightseeing stops). . . .
When the travel company owner wrote me last night to apologize, he did point out that I was finally able to see the sights I had paid to see. Yes, but I actually asked to return to the airport a tad earlier than he was offering to continue, because I was so frazzled. . . .
So, the owner can say it was all a big misunderstanding -- and it was, but the point is his own driver should not have given that sign to a friend who handled the situation so badly, and caused me so much stress.
Response from Host, Jun 2024
We had the guide Kelly prepared for the tour who has had very good reviews and his level of english is not native but enough for a tour (actually he was a guide in the Panama Canal Visitors Center in the past). Kelly asked his colleague to hold the sign with your name while he went quickly to the bathroom, at that moment you came out and you pointed to the name of another person the colleague was waiting for and that is why you ended up taking the wrong vehicle while your guide was still waiting for you at the airport. We did not have a substitute driver for you so evaluating the quality of the service, attitude or level of english of that person is pointless.
We do not want our customers to have an experience like that in our tours. This was the result of a misunderstanding after pointing the name of another person and not the sign with your own name, still the tour was provided as planned once you met our guide.
TobiasLange_M, Mar 2024
Had an 8 hour layover at PTY and booker this 5 hour tour. Very friendly guide with good knowledge. Recomend the old town and Miraflores Visitor Center for the Panama canal.
Patrick_S, Mar 2024
Ricardo was a wonderful tour guide! And his recommendations for stops, and lunch were wonderful. We would recommend this tour for a great overview of Panama City.
Christina_Z, Mar 2024
Dan was amazing. He took us all around town, showed us the best spots, and was so friendly. He was full of historical information, knowledge and shared that with us every step of the way. I would 100% do this tour with him again, even though we've already done it! If you have a layover and want to get a highlights reel of Panama City, do this tour!
GaryDomond, Jan 2024
Amazing time. We had a 12 hour layover in Panama and can I say we had a great time and we were able to see highlights of the city. Louis our driver and your guide was waiting for us outside of immigration. We hit the ground running and took us to see old Panama which was amazing. We took lots of pictures. We even arrived at the Panama Canal with a ship going through it which was amazing. The only downside, there was so much traffic that we didn’t have time to have lunch at an authentic restaurant. Overall it was a great tour and it was the best way for us to spend our layover. I would recommend 1000%.
Valerio_G, Jan 2024
I had a brief, 7 hour layover in Panama City and booked this tour on a whim. In a matter of four hours, I got to see a lot thanks to my awesome and knowledgeable guide Fernando. Thank you!
Debbie_T, Jan 2024
We really enjoyed the tour of the old city. The feel of the old city was very charming; it almost felt like walking the streets of Europe. The most memorable part of the tour were the old cathedrals that we visited. Just exquisite. We finished by getting some Panamanian street food, which was also fun. Esteban and Jesus were a lot of fun, well-informed, and did their best to work within our time frame. Highly recommend.
Benjamin_S, Nov 2023
Esteban was amazing. Great great English. He has been working in Tourism since he was 16. 32 now as of this post. I hope they give him more tours to guide for English tours. very upbeat, very friendly, very great in what he does. Amazing tour! Promote Esteban!
Claudia_L, Nov 2023
We had such a great time on our Panama layover tour. We enjoyed the tour of the new and old cities and the islands. Lunch was at a fantastic local spot and we picked up many cute souvenirs. Dan was a great tour guide.
Nabina_P, Nov 2023
Great private tour. The old town was beautiful. Panama Canal and the movie were awesome. The best idea during a transit.
Remy_G, Nov 2023
We had an excellent time with Esteban. He was knowledgeable and took us to some very nice places in the 7 hours we had for our layover.
AnnMarie_B, Nov 2023
This was one of the best layover experience everrr. Dan was on time, polite, very knowledgeable about the history, current situations and all the right places to be at the right time. I highly recommend him as a guide and I would definitely be back again.
Thanks for making this experience an absolute fun and employable time.
Genevieve_D, Sep 2023
Dimitri was extremely courteous, on time and knowledgeable about his city, his country and its history.
We took the Panama Layover tour and it was great to be able to get out of the airport with a safe and friendly guide for a few hours and visit the Panama Canal, the Casco Viejo neighborhood and the Amador Causeway.
We had to take the tour in English because my teenage son is only a beginner speaker in Spanish and our guide’s English was excellent and fluent and we could discuss advanced topics without any problems.
We enjoyed our tour and this company will be recommended to friends and family visiting Panama albeit for a few hours en route to somewhere else like us or for a longer stay.
Muchas gracîas !
Angela_D, Sep 2023
Had a great trip with Dan. Wish we had more time but it was a great way to see the city and not spend 5 hours in the airport!
From $85.00
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Private Tour Layover in Panama
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