Border Crossing Costa Rica and Panama

The thought of crossing the border had me nervous all weekend. It would be a lie to say I was too nervous to have fun in Puerto Viejo, but nonetheless “the crossing” was definitely on my mind. Turns out, it’s not so hard as I had imagined. Plus, there were a handful of other tourists doing the very same (and it was low season).

There is one small ticket stand in downtown Puerto Viejo. Here, the smarter and wealthier traveler would probably purchase tickets from Interbus, a company that will take you directly to Bocas non-stop (departs at 6:30 am). However, we decided to ride the local bus which costs about $3 bucks. Our bus was supposed to leave at 8:30, but was half an hour late and a trip that might take 30 minutes took us about an hour and a half.

During the ride many quick stops were made, and with each one nearing the border, the demographic slowly changed from a more Costa Rican looking population, to an indigenous shorter and darker appearance.  Finally the bus pulled into a dirt parking lot area in the border town of Sixaola, where passengers disembarked and were approached by guides who offered to help direct us to a bridge.  In reality, all you have to do is follow the crowd and you’ll find the bridge.  It’s to the right of the parking lot and up a small hill.  Once here, all tourists must go to the border office before crossing the bridge and present their passport and fill out a customs form.  Bags are not checked and there is no formal search, which is not the case when leaving Panama via the border.  Passports get stamped and then you are free to walk across the bridge. Beware, the bridge is quite perilous and missing planks in various places!

We walked with a guide across the bridge who then waited for us as we paid a $5 dollar fee to enter Panama at the border office on the Guabito, Panama side of the border.  The fee is for U.S. and Canadian citizens only.  Next, we walked down a flight of steps with our guide who showed us to a small mini van that we took to reach Bocas del Toro.  The 45 minute mini van ride cost $10 dollars per person, and took us to a water taxi that cost an additional $4 dollars.  In total the entire trip from Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica to Bocas del Toro, Panama should cost around $20-25 bucks.

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Filed under: News on May 28th, 2008