gnargel

FYI

Just received an email from Expedia. My flight from PTY-BAQ no longer departs at 11:34 AM and now departs at 9:36 PM. There goes my long weekend...

aza72

Uh oh. Looks like they changed that flight to be W, Th, Fri only.

I was also on an 11:34 flight on Sunday. No email from Expedia yet. Wondering what my options will be...

gnargel

Expedia was utterly useless, but Copa allowed me to change my destination to Cartagena as those flights had timings similar to my original booking.

Kudos to Copa!

dancingal

Has anyone flown this? I'm heading out over Labor Day weekend and would be interested to hear reports, particularly regarding experiences with the 7 hour layover in Panama City, and even more in taking the bus from Cartagena to the BAQ airport on the day of departure.

(I know there are other places on FT that talk about PTY layovers, but was interested to hear about experiences with this particular duration & later departure time)

nzussbla

I just did this last weekend (Aug 20-24) with my girlfriend. On the outbound we had a 3 hr. layover in Panama City, so just stayed in the airport, but on the return we had 10 hr. so we could see a little of Panama. In our case, we went out through immigration to the taxi queue and a man there got us a driver with decent English skills. One can barter the rate I am sure, but we were okay with the stated $20/hr. to go wherever. In about 5.5 hr., we were able to go to the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal, the top of Ancon Hill, out the Amador Causeway, take a walk around the historic Casco Viejo district, and get lunch. With a 7 hr. layover you may not be able to have such an extensive itinerary, but visiting the Canal and the historic district are definitely possible and worthwhile.

While in Colombia we also did the transit back and forth from Barranquilla to Cartagena. However, we didn't go directly from/to the BAQ airport in either direction, but had a hotel in Barranquilla at each end of the trip.
Getting between the cities, we didn't use the normal intercity buses, but instead made use of a so-called "puerta-a-puerta" shared taxi service, which our hotels were able to arrange. With this service, 30000 COP (~$10) gets one taken door-to-door from somewhere in one city to the other, and so there is not a need to make transfers between the intercity bus and city taxis.
I'm sure the "puerta-a-puerta" service could drop you off at BAQ airport, and would be more convenient than using a bus + taxi combination, but do make sure to leave yourself extra time, since it can take some time to drop everyone off at their intended specific destinations, and the airport would (probably) be one of the last drop-off points given that it is on the far side of Barranquilla from where Highway 90A enters from Cartagena.

Nirvana91

Thank you very much, and welcome to FlyerTalk! This is quite helpful as my wife and I are doing the exact same thing next weekend for a long Labor Day weekend (9/4-9/8). Our layover on the outbound in PTY is about 7 hours so we are hoping to get to the city for at least a few hours. Was the immigration/customs easy in PTY? How much time should we budget for leaving the airport and then re-clearing? On the way back we only have 90 minutes to connect in PTY back to ORD, I am pretty worried about making that connection as it is the last of the night...

Re: Colombia, we are also planning on going from Barranquilla to Cartagena. First night will be overnight in Barranquilla as we don't arrive until very late at night. I had heard of the "puerta a puerta" service but I was thinking if it is not too much more we might just do a regular taxi between cities. With the exchange rate being so good for the $, it might be worth paying extra so we don't have to deal with dropping people off at other spots. Heck, we are used to $40 taxi rates to/from ORD anyway...

Any recommendations for Cartagena? We already have a hotel lined up in the walled city but not too much else besides that. We are planning on putting together a high-level itinerary this week.

Nirvana91

duplicate post

nzussbla

Hello Nirvana91, and thanks for the welcome (I've been a lurker for a couple months now, and finally saw a place to be helpful).

Regarding Panama:
Customs going into Panama took about 20 minutes, but it appears to be fairly dependent upon how many planes have recently arrived. The process isn't difficult, but they will take your picture and digitally collect your fingerprints. You do need to make sure to have a customs declaration form filled out. The COPA FAs will come around and offer them before you land, often asking "is Panama your final destination?" Just saying "yes" and taking the form is easier than explaining, "no, but we have a long layover and plan to leave the airport, so we need the form anyway."
Customs leaving Panama seemed no different than going through domestic US security, except that the person checking your boarding pass needs to go and find the stamp added to your passport upon entry to Panama.
In our case, we were able to get from PTY to the Miraflores Locks in about 30 minutes, but I understand traffic in Panama City can vary significantly. I would recommend giving oneself a budget of an hour to return to the airport from anywhere around Panama City.
The 90 minute connection on the return shouldn't be too troubling based on our experience: both of our flights arriving to Panama City got in early (yes, even the little one from Barranquilla), there is no need to clear customs in Panama for a connection, and (if this is your first time flying COPA) you'll note they make a big deal about how efficient/effective/convenient their "Hub of the Americas" at PTY is at facilitating connections. The airport itself is also not that large, some 30-ish gates, so there won't be a need to run long distances through terminals.

Regarding Colombia:
First, although you didn't ask this, the customs into Colombia are a little more difficult than entering Panama. They may do a physical search of your bags, rather than just an X-ray scan, and the customs form is only in Spanish. As our Spanish was okay, but insufficient for reading the semi-legalese of a customs form, we sought help from our bilingual FA, who helped us after we had landed in Barranquilla. On exit from the airport, there is a board that gives the mandatory taxi rates from BAQ to various hotels in the city - depending on which you are staying at, be prepared to spend 20-30k COP ($7-10).

I suspect you probably could get a taxi from Barranquilla to Cartagena for about $40. This is based on us hiring a taxi for three hours to drive us to places in Barranquilla, and him suggesting a rate of 20k COP ($7) per hour. As it is about a 2 hr. drive from Barranquilla to Cartagena, and your driver may (probably?) charge for his time on to return, the fare would proportionally be near 80k COP ($28). There are however two toll booths of ~10k COP each on the highway between the two cities, which you probably have to pay at least going, and possibly for him to return. With those added, seems the bill would come to 100-120k COP ($33-40).

In Cartagena, I would highly recommend visiting the Castillo San Felipe (the largest Spanish colonial fortress in the New World). It is located just outside the walled city, and the audio tour they have available in English is quite good. Go as soon as they open though (8, I think), since it gets hot quickly, and there is only a little shade available on the structure (though there are some tunnel sections of the tour). You'll also want to take some time to walk along the walls themselves - this is a good activity for near sunset, as it gets a little cooler, and can be continued after dark as the walls are mostly lit by artificial lighting.
There are beaches just outside the walled city to the northeast, and a number of museums within the walls (e.g., Naval Museum, Inquisition Palace & museum). We didn't have time for these, but they did appear in the list of things that might be worth doing. There is also an emerald museum out on the Bocagrande (with a smaller one inside the walls), that we did visit. Calling these places museums is a bit of a stretch, since they're really more jewelry stores featuring a couple of display cases of rough emeralds and on emerald mining. It was still worth our stop while walking around the old city as there was A/C and while I looked through the "museum," the girlfriend found and negotiated over a pair of earrings.
You really should take some time to just walk around the inside of the walled city and admire the architecture. This can be done by day or into the evening, as the area inside the walled city (and probably out on the Bocagrande) is lit and well-trafficked by tourists even after dark. It's pretty easy to avoid getting lost as the old city is on a semi-grid pattern and your hotel should be able to give you a good walking map that the Cartagena hotel association publishes.

dancingal

Thank you nzussbla for your detailed report - very helpful.

Nirvana91, I have the same itinerary. If you're interested we could coordinate a taxi or day tour during the Panama layover. I've lived/worked in Latin America, am fluent in Spanish and a good negotiator. I'll send you a PM.

Nirvana91

Thanks again nzussbla!

nzussbla

dancingal, Nirvana91,
Glad I could help. Let me know if you have any additional questions and have a good trip!

As a note to anyone else planning to see Panama City during a layover, the Panama La Vieja ruins aren't open on Mondays. Since our long layover on Aug 24th was a Monday, this was the one thing we had wanted to see that we were not able to.

bsegreto

A big thank you from me as well. As a non spanish speaker I am extremely worried about getting a cab at midnight and the info about the hotel price board is reassuring!

PM'ed the other ORD-BAQ travelers!

Nirvana91

Thanks again to all that posted about this fare. My wife and I completed this itinerary and it was a great time. We met up with dancingal and bsegreto, our first time meeting up with fellow FlyerTalkers.

Overall, the post from nzussbla was indeed spot-on. My only additions would be:

1. bsegreto pre-arranged a PTY layover tour through the company "My Friend Mario," and we thoroughly enjoyed it (our layover was about 7 hours). We paid $50us per person to visit the canal, an old city walking tour, and dinner at the fish market.

2. In Colombia, if you are leaving from Cartagena and going straight to the BAQ airport on the same day, you may have to budget a lot of time, depending on what transport method you use. We chose a "puerta a puerta" shared van and with all the stops it actually took us 4.5 hours instead of the 2 hours it should have taken. Thankfully, we still made our flight.

3. Overall we felt pretty safe, although we did have two alarming situations. First, our taxi to the beach was pulled over by the military on a rural road - we were forced out and they searched the cab and briefly looked in some of our bags. Everything ended up ok but when military people with automatic guns order you out of your cab, that's never a good thing. Second, while walking in Cartagena late at night my wife and I were stopped by police. I was frisked and had to give them my wallet and show our passport copies. They did rifle through my wallet (and they took everything out of my wallet) but did not take any of my US or Colombian money. Our passport copies were in a hidden part of my money belt, so once they saw that they inspected the belt (and took the extra money out) extra closely. They eventually sent us on our way without taking anything, but again it was definitely scary, given the hour (it was after midnight), and the fact that there were not really any other people around. We probably should have taken a cab home instead of walking that late at night. They claimed they were looking for drugs. We were not sure if they would plant something on me, demand money, or something else. In the end, they let us go without further incident. The fact that we spoke Spanish (mine isn't great by my wife is fluent) definitely seemed to help this situation. I would not want this to deter anyone from going to Colombia, but you'd be wise to be prepared by keeping as little money, along with a copy (and not the original) of your passport, on your person at all times. And if it is truly late, you'd probably be best to spring for a taxi.

4. Language wise, I was glad I knew at least basic Spanish. There are a few people that tried to talk to me in English but I do feel like it would have been a big detriment to go to Colombia without knowing any Spanish at all.

5. bsegreto may have more thoughts on BAQ, but from my perspective I would suggest going to Cartagena, as it did seem that there were infinite more things to do there.

6. Overall, Cartagena was beautiful, and the people were generous and friendly. The current exchange rate makes it a very cheap visit for an American tourist. I think it is the best exchange rate for Colombia there has ever been for an American. I'm not sure we'd ever go back though, unless we can snag a similarly cheap fare. But in that case I'd prefer to fly to Cartagena instead, not BAQ. The transit from BAQ to Cartagena was simply too much of a hassle.

nzussbla

Nirvana91,

Thanks for giving your additional thoughts on your trip to BAQ & CTG. The encounters with the military/police definitely sound panic-inducing - glad they ended up alright and that we didn't have issues on our trip, since I'm sure our Spanish is certainly worse than yours.

On your point 6, I definitely agree that the transits between BAQ and CTG are not the most efficient, and for a short stay, can be really time-consuming.
I could still see BAQ as being useful to going somewhere east like Santa Marta, and its associated mountains/beaches (the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, rising to ~19k ft just ~20 miles from the coast are the world's highest coastal mountain range). I say this because it looks like SMR is a lot more expensive to fly to from the US than BAQ or CTG, and certainly has much fewer flight options than either of the larger cities as well.

aza72

I got this fare and spent my trip in Taganga just north of Santa Marta. BAQ and CTG have much lower fares than SMR, and it's only a $4, two hour bus ride from BAQ to SMR. I hear Minca is also gorgeous, but sadly did not make it up there.