Colon Shore Excursion: Panama City and Canal Private Tour

My friend and I booked this tour in February, 2019. All of the tours that we would have taken through our cruise ship were already booked. We decided that for a little money more, we'd get a private tour. They opened up more groups on the shore excursions, but we stuck with our decision to go through Viator. Our tour guide was Nicholas Guerrero. He was excellent. He gave us the history of Panama City, the canal and some of the cultures of the people while driving. His English was excellent. He answered all of our questions thoroughly. We did a walking tour of the old city. Nicholas also found shops for particular souvenirs that we were looking for. After an authentic Panamanian lunch, we drove to a nature center. Nicholas used to work there and was a naturalist guide, so we learned about the animals and got great pictures of the sloths. Afterwards we toured the Miraflores visitor center to see and understand the workings of the canal. Watching the ships in the locks was fantastic. When we were finished, Nicholas took us back to our ship. The next day we sailed through the canal. It was exciting to observe the things we had seen the day before from the comfort of the balcony in our stateroom. I highly recommend this tour and Nicholas as a guide!

This was an amazing tour! Gonzo was so informative and personable. He picked us up at the port. His English was perfect as if he grew up in US but he was born and raised in Panama and provided tons of great information about growing up in Panama. We drove through a rainforest and heard the history of panama canal. The locks were so cool to see from above and we watched a few ships pass through while we toured the museum. We saw some great views of panama city and stopped at an animal reserve area to see turtles, frogs, lizards, fish, etc. We saw a number of sloths sleeping and on the way out saw a very active sloth. Yes ACTIVE. Crawling through branches, eating leaves, etc. That was a super highlight. More views then we parked in Panama City. Gonzo took us on a very informative walking tour. We had a great lunch at local restaurant. Did some shopping for local crafts. He then took us to our hotel by airport. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND this tour and ask for Gonzo! You will not be disappointed. Hope to be back sometime soon.

Juan provided a great tour. He provided the history of Panama, Panama City and Colon. He also provided information related to standard of living in Panama. We were able to eat at a local restaurant - the food was excellent. We spent time at the canal, old town and new town and many other areas. We were on a cruise and Juan's tour covered two tours that were provided by the cruise line. He provided history of the canal and gave us a tour of the previous US base. The van was good as well. Very clean. We would highly recommend this tour.