Colón

Introduction

Colón is a port city in the north of Panama. The city is in poor condition and notorious for its high crime rate, but it is worth driving around to look at the culture, people and architecture.

Sights and Activities

• Parks and Statues, most are by the shore area. The most notable is the one you see coming into Colón on Central Ave.
• Christ Church by the Sea
• Colón 2000, Paseo Gorgas (Far Northeast End of City). If tourists or businessmen for some reason have to stay overnight in Colón and need a SAFE place to eat, use an ATM machine, stock up on supplies, etc., their best best would be to go to the shopping plaza/cruise ship port Colón 2000. There are two restaurants there (Café Iguana and a Subway), a Super 99 grocery store, a Western Union branch, and an internet café. The main thing to emphasize is that it's 100% safe as long as you stay within the plaza area, there are both private guards and actual Panamanian police watching over it. Also in the back there are some halfway-decent souvenir shops and you can watch boats go by. How dangerous the city itself is so well-known there isn't much I could add to that, but Colón 2000 is at least one area you can breathe easy in and get some errands run if you need to.
• Columbus Cathedral. Beautiful Catholic church that's worth a picture. Unfortunately the area isn't cared for. There is a lot of garbage in the streets.
• Gatún Locks, Panama Canal, 10km south of Colón. Not as impressive as the Miraflores Locks near Panama City, but if you want to see where the ships enter and leave on the Caribbean side as opposed to the Pacific side, here it is. Not bad really, there's a souvenir shop here as well.
• List of Monuments Not to Miss - Christopher Columbus statue, Christ statue and Virgin Mary statue (both near the Seawall), Shell Monument, Aspinwall Monument, and Monument of the Students' Revolution. Luckily pictures of these can be taken relatively easily, you can even leave your taxi briefly.

Getting There

A luxury train connects Colón with Panama City and the ride along the canal is very beautiful. Colón is also a stop for many cruise ships.

Regular buses connect the city with the capital as well and the drive is straightforward by rental car or taxi if you share costs.

Sleep

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafes can be found in cities and most major towns. Wifi is on the rise though with many hotels, restaurants and bars offering this services, especially in the major tourist areas like Panama City, Bocas del Toro and Boquete. Some mountainous or off the beaten track areas might not have any internet services at all.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Panama's country code is 507. All cellular numbers start with the number 6 and have 8 digits. Land line phone numbers have 7 digits. 911 is the general emergency phone number.

Calls to the USA and Europe are between 4 and 10 cents a minute. The best way to make international calls from Panama is to buy prepaid telephone cards that are sold at every corner. The most popular is the TeleChip card. If you bring your cellphone, you can choose to buy a local simcard, instead of paying high charges for internet use through your home provider.

Post

Correos y Telegrafos is the national postal company of Panama. It provides a wide range of services though you usually have to use the post offices for both sending and receiving mail and packages, including buying stamps. Post offices can be found in many cities and towns and are open from 6:30am to 5:45pm Monday to Friday and 7:00am to 5:00pm on Saturday. Domestic mail takes several days but to the USA and Europe for example it can take anywhere from 5 to over 10 days depending on the country. For sending larger packages, you might also consider using companies like FedEx, TNT, UPS or DHL, as they offer fast, reliable and competitively priced services as well.