Nicaragua or Panama?

[WildBill]

Thinking of taking a few day sidetrip to either of these two during my next trip to change things up a bit. Any suggestions for either one, preferrably something not too far from the CR borders?

 

[HinesWard86]

Panama is much nicer than Nicaragua

 

[Tulsa]

Panama is great!! Just be careful, as you know. My wife and I spent two weeks in panama!! PLEASE, if you go there, go into the mountains and drive through and stay in one of the little hotels up there (there maybe only one or two!!!) Sparce population and BEAUTIFUL AND COOL day and night!!

In the cities of Panama and David...pretty sad and dangerous if away from main thru ways.

If you go....for my sake.....please go visit the upper regions where they grow the coffee beans. Go tour some of the coffee producers...they love good company! It was high, cool and wonderful!! I can still smell the eucalyptus!!tulsa

 

[Tulsa]

By the way...I've never been to Costa Rica...so I can't give you a fair viewpoint! tulsa

 

[wolfie_cr]

I can think of many more things to do in Panama than in Nicaragua, Panama is triyng to take the lead (well....Nicaragua to) in tourism, neither country cared about that until now and they are doing progress quite quickly.

 

[PHREAK]

How pretty are the women in both countries??

 

[WildBill]

Have heard good things about Boquete and mixed things about Bocas del Toro. I have also heard good things about Granada, so I am not sure which way to go. I went to Panama City once on business, but never to Nicaragua. Don't want to venture too far into either country, just looking for something different as this will be my fifth trip to CR.

 

[wolfie_cr]

well in Panama City you can go to


-the canal zone, you get a tour that shows how the canal works etc
-museum that has precolumbian gold artifacts, its probably not as good as the one in CR but I have seen different styles
-panama viejo, it shows the very original panama city, founded in 15XX, it was the first city on the Pacific coast, I have been there and it was quite cool
-casco antiguo (I didn't go there which was a shame) its the panama of the 1800's, you can see the "altar" of the church which is made out of gold
-I know that there are beaches nearby (perhaps 20 miles) aways from Panama City

Bocas del Toro is quite far away from Panama and I wonder if its easier to get there from Panama City or from Costa Rica!

Weather is going to be QUITE HOT but you being from vegas .......means you are more than used to that

there is something I wanted to do but I ran out of cash! which is take a cruise that takes you from the pacific into the canal half way through it and back, that must be fun

 

[kingbill]

Thanks for the list, I am going to Visit Panama City for 5 days in April. I had planned to see the Canal and shop in Colon maybe play a round of golf but beyond that was not sure what else. Casco antiguo and Panama Viejo would be interesting

http://www.visitpanama.com/

 

[WildBill]

Take the army with you if you are going to Colon. That place is scary. I had to go there for my trip. I heard all the warnings about how unsafe the place is, but it doesn't even prepare you. We saw some guy get his head smacked hard while driving through the small part of the city we went through. They say it isn't even safe to walk a block outside the free trade zone. What are you shopping for there anyways? Its all for wholesale buyers and has to be shipped in a special manner to keep its tax free status.

Not sure about now, but back then there were no cruises available through the canal. Best you can do is watch it from Miraflores. I saw the other sites. The Casco Antiguo is an interesting morning activity. Definitely go there with a lot of people or during the middle of a weekday. Lots of cops on bikes that speak pretty good English. Panama Viejo is in the middle of a bad neighborhood, just be careful not to stray from the three or four blocks where the historic sites are. They aren't even buildings really, just sort of a leftover wall here and there with lots of signs. For a good side trip take a boat for about an hour to an island just off the shore, Taboga, that has a nice beach and a small village. Its a good day out of the city.

Panama City is an interesting place for three days, but nothing that special and I have little desire to see it again. It is hot as hell and amazing when you see all these people wearing long-sleeve shirts and even sweaters at night. When I went I was dying, it was 31C, about 90F or so, and pretty humid. Seeing all these bankers with wool suits walking outside at lunchtime almost makes me sweat thinking about it.

 

[wolfie_cr]

Well you didn't say you have already been there did you ?

The cruise through the canal is like a 6 hours thing, you can have drinks on the boat ........then again if you already were in Miraflores then probably not very interesting

Other than Panama City (and also without going too far away from it) not sure that there is anything you can't see elsewhere in a much easier way

A few friends have been to Bocas del Toro, it is awesome for scuba diving but since I don't do that I didn't go with them, also they went driving south from CR through Limon

I, for one, don't have any desire to visit Nicaragua more than visiting Salvador or Honduras, I am definitively interested in going to Tikal in Guatemala but that would be the extend of my visit there.

 

[wolfie_cr]

There is an island which apparently is nice, never been there, its name is Contadora

But once you have seen a small island I supose you have seen them all

 

[JudgeWapner]

Have been to Panama and wasn't impressed. Want to visit Nicaragua soon. As for women, I am partial to Nicas.

 

[kingbill]

WildBill thanks for the heads up about Colon, I didn't realize it was for wholesalers, I'll stick to shopping in the city. I was looking to buy a watch, Tissot maybe, something nice. I haven't found what I want in CR.
When you say bad neighbourhood, better or worse than San Jose?

 

[wolfie_cr]

kingbill, are you from CR or from the States?

If you are from the States you are much better off shopping there, if you travel in an economy airline and take advantage of a good offer the price of the ticket is almost the same (or perhaps cheaper)

Not long ago (5 years ago to be exact) a plane ticket to Panama was more expensive than any major city of the US.

 

[kingbill]

I'm in Costa Rica, hence the trip to PC. Shopping wasn't the main reason for my trip, I just taking a short vacation.

 

[RapStar]

Nicaragua is better. Granada is a great time with a lot of history, great bars, disco's and isletas. Nicas are way better looking too and last I checked your money goes farther there. Some parts can get scary, but not much worse than what you encounter in San Jose's slums.

 

[JudgeWapner]

Rap, and the beaches???

 

[Katwoman]

if you go to panama, don't miss caso antiguo, is a must
I heard it's dangerous but I didn't have problems. Will be going there myself in July during the all star break again, wonderfull place

If you go to Colon and you walk and walk and ask around you might find a couple of places that are not only wholesalers, specially clothes and shoes, but it's not really worth it

 

[WildBill]

Judge, why don't you tell the little lady you have to take care of some gambling business with Wildbill and we can hit Granada? arty:

Wolfie you are right on about the flights to Panama. To fly from San Jose to Panama City is $296. My flight from Las Vegas to San Jose is $308. Amazing what competition does to airfares.

As for Colon, inside the gates it is fine. Outside it is scary. The tourbooks all say don't even walk two blocks there. What little we saw looked pretty bad and like I said we saw this guy in a fight and this other guy was getting in a couple of good shots to the head. We had a private car service driving us in there from Panama City so we felt pretty safe, but that was scary. Our driver said everyone in Panama thinks of Colon as its biggest ghetto. It definitely looked unsafer than say the area around the Coca Cola in San Jose, sort of rather grimy, few people on the streets and some scary looking dudes on a couple of street corners.