Nov 11, 2023

San Blas Road Transfers Now Resumed: What You Need to Know

With border closures less frequent, getting to San Blas by road is now possible.

A couple of days ago we posted information on how local protests in Panama affected road transfers to San Blas. Road blocks included the ones leading to the Carti ports in the San Blas, causing major disruption on both incoming and outgoing road transfers. Our guests with road transfers scheduled had to be shifted to private flights using Corazon de Jesus in San Blas and Albrook local airport in Panama City.

As of November11th 2023 and with protests decreasing, road transfers have been reestablished, however, at this point we are unable to predict if there will be any more road blocks in the near future.

Details of road transfers to San Blas are as follows:

Cost of a shared 4x4 road ride to the catamaran is $70 per person each way total $140 round trip. Private road shuttles are $240 per way for up to 5 guests.

If you choose the road transfer, you will be picked up from your Panama City hotel by the 4x4 driver at 5:15 a.m. Boarding the catamaran after the water taxi is around 10:00 a.m.

Total transfer time from the lobby of your hotel to actually stepping on the catamaran is around 5 hours. This is the real fact.

Note that water taxis can be bumpy and wet and last up to an hour.

Flying to San Blas on a 40 minute flight instead of taking the road transfer Is a very interesting option. You will bypass all border chaos, skip the occasional road disturbances and land in the most incredible part of San Blas, a stone throw away from Cayo Coco Bandero and Cambombia area, far away from the road border and the islands filled with day tourists from Panama.