How [not] to do a Gatun Locks day trip from Panama City

A day trip to the Panama Canal Gatun Locks and Portobelo sounds simple enough on paper. Both are relatively close to Panama City, and the famous Panama Canal Railway even connects the capital with Colón on the other side of the canal.

Because of that, me and a few fellow travelers decided to skip an organized tour and try to do the Gatun Locks day trip from Panama City by ourselves.

That turned out to be a much more complicated (and frustrating) experience than expected.

Recommended way to visit Gatun Locks & Portobelo

While it is technically possible to visit the Gatun Locks and Portobelo independently, most travelers will have a much smoother experience by joining an organized tour or hiring a pre-arranged driver from Panama City or Colón.

This avoids the hassle of negotiating taxis in Colón, navigating limited transport options, and trying to time everything between the Gatun Locks and Portobelo in one day.

You can book a guided day trip here (transport included).

If you prefer more flexibility, private drivers from Panama City are also available and can often be arranged for a full-day itinerary covering both stops.

Is a Gatun Locks and Portobelo day trip worth it?

In theory, this is a great combination: you get to see part of the Panama Canal system and one of the oldest colonial towns on the Caribbean coast.

In practice, doing both in one day without a fixed tour is where things can get complicated, mainly because of transport logistics and timing between locations.

Our experience visiting the Panama Canal and Portobello

Me and some fellow travelers I met decided to go on a Gatun Locks day trip from Panama City and do everything ourselves.

As none of us were big fans of organized tours, we figured it should be easy enough to figure out on the go.

The Panama Canal Railway takes you from Panama City all along the canal to Colón, a notorious city located on the other side of the canal. Tourists are not recommended to walk around in Colón. Apparently even walking 10 minutes from the train station to the bus station can be risky.

Either way, how bad could it be? If the famous Panama Canal Railway, which is quite a touristy ride, goes there, surely there must be a safe way to continue to the Gatun Locks from Colón.

So we got on the 7:15 AM train from Panama City to Colón.

A beautiful old train with panoramic windows all the way up to the roof. The $25 train ride included coffee, water, and some basic snacks. The ride itself was actually one of the highlights of the day, with great views over the canal.

After about an hour we arrived in Colón, and things went downhill from there.and excited to tell you everything about the canal.

Arriving in Colón

The Panama Canal Railway station in Colón is basically just a platform and parking lot, surrounded by a high fence and security guards.

All tourists were quickly guided towards tour buses, while we were immediately surrounded by taxi drivers.

The only company allowed inside the station is SET Taxi, and they all operate like unofficial tour guides.

After more than 30 minutes of bargaining, we agreed on $100 for four people, which included:

Transport to Gatun Locks (including waiting time)
Transfer to Portobelo and waiting there for about 2 hours
Drop-off in Sabanitas for the bus back to Panama City

It still felt expensive (this was back in 2016), but after a long negotiation we just accepted it.

Looking back, arranging a private driver from Panama City would have been a much better option.

Panama Canal Gatun Locks

Gatun Locks (Panama Canal)

Once we arrived at the Gatun Locks, we spent about an hour watching a ship passing through, listening to the staff explaining the canal, and visiting the information center.

The Gatun Locks are part of the expanded Panama Canal system (opened in 2016) and are even larger than the Miraflores Locks in Panama City.

The visitor center itself is actually very well done, with professional staff and great explanations of how the canal operates.

Things start going wrong

Our driver, or “guide” as he preferred to call himself, kept following us around and constantly telling us to hurry.

“Traffic!” “Rain!” “This is a tour, you must follow me!”

At this point it already felt clear that having a fixed driver for the entire day wasn’t ideal.

The problem is: Gatun Locks is quite remote, and there are not many taxis available to simply replace your driver.

The place we had lunch at in Portobelo.

Portobelo

From Gatun Locks we continued to Portobelo, a historic coastal town with forts, ruins, and a small harbor.

On the way, our driver made an unnecessary stop at a supermarket and insisted we wait in the car. We went inside anyway to grab food, which somehow caused even more frustration on his side.

Once in Portobelo, we stopped for lunch at a small bakery in the village.

While we were eating, our driver sat at the table behind us and constantly interrupted conversations or tried to “guide” our choices.

After lunch we walked through town to see the church, ruins, and waterfront.

The reaction from our driver:

“No, you cannot walk there.”
“This is a tour.”
“I will drive you.”

He literally drove us about 100 meters.

Wrapping up the day

After about 1.5 hours in Portobelo, we decided to wrap things up and head back.

From Portobelo we were dropped off in Sabanitas and took a local bus back to Panama City.

At that point, even a packed public bus felt like an upgrade compared to the taxi situation earlier that day.

Local chicken bus bus from Portobelo to Sabanitas

Final thoughts: how to do this better

If you’re planning a Gatun Locks day trip from Panama City, I would strongly recommend either:

Booking an organized tour
Or arranging a private driver for the full day

Of course, not every driver will be like ours, but the logistics of this route make independent travel more complicated than expected.

If you’re only going to Portobelo, you can take a bus from Albrook to Colón and continue locally from there. But combining both Gatun Locks and Portobelo in one day is much easier with transport pre-arranged.

Visited: December 2016

Travel Story

Panama Canal Gatun Locks & Portobelo Day Trip (How Not to Do It Yourself)