Panama City · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
A dollar economy with a 35-cent metro — Panama City is far cheaper than its skyline suggests.
El Cangrejo over Casco Viejo
Casco Viejo is prettier and dearer; El Cangrejo and Bella Vista have the cheaper hostels, the fondas and a metro station each.
What a day costs
Around $35–60: a dorm $14–22, a fonda lunch $4–7, metro and Metrobus rides 35 to 50 cents, and the canal locks about $20.
Metro and Metrobus
Two metro lines and the bus network run on one rechargeable card sold at stations. Albrook terminal, at the end of Line 1, has every regional bus.
Free by day
The Cinta Costera promenade, the plazas and sea wall of Casco Viejo, and the Amador Causeway out to the islands all cost nothing.
Plaza Herrera
The Casco's scruffier square, ringed by bars and hostel rooftops, is where travellers gather before the night moves to Calle 11.