Traveling from Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica to Bocas Del Toro, Panama
When we decided to visit the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, we started doing our research on Puerto Viejo. The information we found included beaches, national parks and...a visit to Bocas Del Toro, Panama! Bocas is located in the northeast part of Panama and only a couple of hours away from Puerto Viejo. Bocas Del Toro is an Archipelago that consists of a group of islands on the Caribbean Sea. We started looking at pictures and we were sold! A visit to these amazing islands was on our list. Now...how do we get there from Puerto Viejo?
Shuttles - Puerto Viejo to Bocas
When walking around Puerto Viejo, we noticed shuttles being offered to Bocas at the cost of $25-$35 (USD) one way or $45 (USD) for roundtrip. We thought it was a fair price, but we also found out there was a local bus that can easily take you there for a fraction of the price...here we come Bocas!
Bus - Puerto Viejo to Sixaola
Sixaola is the border town of Costa Rica which you need to get to in order to cross over to Panama. There is a bus that takes you from Puerto Viejo to Sixaola that cost CRC 1,700 ($3USD) per person. The bus runs every hour and you can purchase your tickets right across from the Puerto Viejo bus stop. Ask any local and they will be able to point you there. You can also find the bus schedule there. The buses in Costa Rica were very punctual so make sure you are there on time to make sure you don't miss it. The ride to Sixaola varies, but it should take a total of about an hour or so. The bus will park at the bus terminal in Sixaola and the border crossing adventure begins!
Costa Rica Exit Fee
After you get off at the bus terminal, you will be directed to the main road which leads you to a store to pay the Costa Rica exit fee. You will find someone directing you to pay the exit fee. The building is nothing more than a regular store selling clothes, but it is from this store that they administer the country exit fees. The building is located to the left of the Pharmacy (see below). The cost of the exit fee is normally $7 if you pay with a credit card at the immigration office, but since their machine was broken we had to pay $8 at this store and pay with cash. The additional $1 is for this store and covers processing fees. Maybe by the time you visit this machine will be fixed since we were made aware it had been broken for months. After the exit fee is paid at the store, keep your receipt and walk up the path with narrow steps. These steps will take you toward the Costa Rica immigration office.
Immigration Process
After following the narrow steps, we found the immigration office. It is a small white/blue building on our right side before the large bridge. The immigration officer took our passports and receipts, stamped them and we were off. Start walking towards the bridge and don't stop... eventually you will.
Keep walking until you are able to turn left. There should be a street with many white shuttles parked on the left and a Duty Free store to your right. Walk down that road and you will find an immigration sign. This is the Panama immigration office. Once you are there, they will get your passport, scan your fingerprints, take your picture and you are off. There was no fee to enter Panama. We had heard there were fees before, but we did not experience this. We also heard of people getting asked for onward travel (your ticket to exit Central America), but we didn't get asked for that either. We were prepared with our onward flight out of Costa Rica just in case. We would highly recommend you do the same since we've heard of people having to buy tickets on the spot if they wanted to enter Panama. Also have proof of it via your mobile device or paper copy just in case.
Shuttle to Almirante
Once you get past the immigration process in Panama you have to get to the town of Almirante in order to catch a boat to Bocas Del Toro. You may take public buses to get to Almirate, but the cost savings is not substantial. Instead we decided to haggle with the shuttle vans, which are ready to take you to the boats. We met two German girls at the immigration line and decided to haggle as a group of four. The first guy that approached us offered shuttle service at $10 per person. After a couple of minutes, he went down to $7.50 if we bought boat tickets from him too. Thinking it was still a high price, I started negotiating with a couple of different guys and finally one of them caught my eye and told me $20 for all 4. Not bad... $5 per person and we were off to Almirante!
Boat Ride to Bocas
The shuttle van took us right to the front door of the boat transportation. We entered the building, completed a form and paid $6 each for the one way transportation. It took about 20-30 minutes to arrive in Bocas Town.
TIP: The dollar is heavily used in Panama. Actually, the U.S. Dollar started circulating in 1904. Everything we bought was paid in dollars. One time we received a couple of Balboas back, but it’s not an issue as they have the same value as the dollar. All in all, you can definitely do the trip down to Bocas from Puerto Viejo or San Jose with no issues.
Total Transportation Cost:
$3(Bus ride to Sixaola) + $5(Shuttle to Almirante) + $6(Boat to Bocas) = $14 per person.
Traveling from Bocas Del Toro, Panama to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
You can easily do the same route backwards and travel from Bocas Del Toro to Puerto Viejo:
Boat from Bocas Town to Almirante: $6 per person
Shuttle from Almirante to border of Panama/Costa Rica: $5 per person (This could be more if you don't have people to share the cost with)
Bus - Sixaola to Puerto Viejo: $3 (Ask the locals for departure times to Puerto Viejo as they may change)
Total Transportation Cost:
$6(Boat to Almirante) + $5(Shuttle from Almirante to Panama/Costa Rica border) + $3(Bus from Sixaola to Puerto Viejo) = $14 per person.
Traveling from Bocas Del Toro, Panama to San Jose, Costa Rica
If your travels are bringing you north from Bocas Del Toro to San Jose this is also a fairly straight journey:
Boat from Bocas Town to Almirante: $6 per person
Shuttle from Almirante to border of Panama/Costa Rica: $5 per person (This could be more if you don't have people to share the cost with)
Bus - Sixaola to San Jose: $11 per person (Ask the locals for departure times to San Jose as they may change)
The potential cost from Bocas Del Toro to San Jose can be $22 per person. This takes into consideration each person paying $5 for the shuttle transportation to the border.
Total Transportation Cost:
$6(Boat to Almirante) + $5(Shuttle from Almirante to Panama/Costa Rica border) + $11(Bus from Sixaola to San Jose) = $22 per person.
TIP: If you are doing this journey, you will have to leave Bocas really early to make sure you catch the bus to San Jose from Sixaola. There are only a couple of buses that go to San Jose each day with the bus company MEPES.
After further consideration, we decided to book our tranportation from Bocas to San Jose with a transportation agency. They charged us $27 per person and we didn’t have to worry about negotiating or looking for any kind of transportation. We had to haggle with the agency, but they gave us a decent price. The other thing to keep in mind is since we had to leave Bocas very early (maybe 6am) we could of arrived to Almirante and had to pay full price for the shuttle to the border. It was only the two of us and we might of had to pay $20 for the shuttle if we didn’t find other travelers to share the cost. At that point, we would of paid $27 each. The same cost as the agency and with some headaches along the way!
The trip to Bocas Del Toro is very worth it and the hassle is minimal compared to the beautiful paradise you will find! Make sure to check out our favorite beaches in Bocas Del Toro! We felt perfectly safe traveling on our own from Puerto Viejo to Bocas Del Toro. Save some money and give it a shot!