Homer15

We are renting a house near Farallon for a week. We are reasonably seasoned travelers (have driven rentals in Italy, eastern Europe, etc.) and so our plan has been to pick up a car at PTY when we land in the afternoon, drive to Farallon and have the car for a week, then drive back to Panama City for a day, and drop off the car at PTY the next morning.

However, I am starting to see internet posts suggesting that we should not take the chance of being on the road at night (which I guess could happen, especially if it took a couple hours to clear immigration and rent the car), and that driving in Panama City (even just to/from the hotel) is a bad idea.

I guess the alternative would be to pay for a transfer to/from the house, and then rent a car if/when we need one in Farallon, but before I go with that option (which seems more expensive and less convenient) I wanted to get some advice.

mrgom

I have driven several times within Panama City and through the countryside, traffic is a huge pain in the city. When outside of the city, be careful with your speed as there are several highway patrol cars with radar and they love to pull over and give tickets to foreigners. I live in NYC, so I would say the driving is similar within city limits. Outside of city is no issue. No issues for me driving in the day or night time. Felt safe either way.