BootsnAll Travel Community

Does anyone know if it's possible and somewhat safe to go from Colombia to Panama overland? I heard you can go to Turbo and get a boat to a town near the border on the Caribbean coast, then cross the border into Panama by road. From there, it would be necessary to fly to Panama city.

I know you're going to tell me that it's crazy because of the Darien Gap, but that's on the Pacific coast if I'm not mistaken. But I still want to get more info before attempting the crossing.

I'm one of those which recommend to tread cautiously in this area. Interesting Outside Mag article on the Gap. I know it's a pain to bike, ruthless to hike, but possible by boat. Just exercise loads of common sense when you broker a deal with a barge in that area. I have heard it's like the Bermuda Triangle for backpackers Be sure to tell us what happens!!

It´s possible. You need to skirt the coast from Turbo to Sapzurró in Colombia, and then catch a panga (quite possibly laden with a few bundles of Colombia´s number one export) to Puerto Obaldía on the Panamanian side. From there, overland travel is pretty much impossible - you´ll need to catch one of the infrequent flights on to Panama City. You can do the requisite immigration formalities in Puerto Obaldía, but don´t forget to get stamped out of Colombia before you leave Turbo. I don´t think there are any officials capable of doing that in Sapzurró.

No it's not that crazy - quite a few travellers do the route. From Capurgana in Colombia, I believe there's a border crossing into Panama, from where you can catch a flight to Panama City. Alternatively ,again from Capurgana (on the Caribbean coast), catch a boat to the San Blas islands which are in Panama - it's only two hours away.

Good luck!

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Colombia Travel Guide

I made it safely and here's how it went...

1. Bus from Medellín to Turbo, 10 hours $25, rough roads.

2. Boat to Capurganá, 2.5 hours $25, choppy waters. There's one boat per day at 8:30 AM. They won't stamp your passport in Turbo anymore though. That needs to be done in Capurganá.

3. Boat to Sapzurro, 10 minutes, $3, they'll at least leave a couple times a day, but there's no schedule. It's also easy to get a direct boat to Puerto Olbaldía, but I found the extra steps more interesting.

4. Walk across the border to La Miel, 30 minutes. There's a guard post with one guy from each country at the top of the hill to check your passport, but no immigration formalities are done there. There's a small monument right on the border with plaques from each country.

5. Boat to Puerto Olbaldía, 10 minutes, went with the police so I didn't get charged. Boats are infrequent from La Miel, so you might have to walk back to Colombia to get one.

6. Fly to Panama City, 1 hour, $70. You need to get stamped into Panama from Puerto Olbaldía, but you still need to do customs at Panama City. There's one flight per day on Friday, Sunday, and Wednesday. The plane only holds about 20 passengers so sometimes it's full, but you can only sign up for the flight once you get to Puerto Olbaldía.

The towns were all very safe and controlled by the military, but I wasn't allowed to meander outside because of the lawlessness. There were hotels for $5 and shops with basic food supplies at all of the towns. The trip wasn't as interesting as I was hoping, but I spend about $125 vs $350 for the yacht from Cartagena to Colon.

djperry - tried and failed at the darien gap (early december)! Rrrrr! my back up plan was to go the route you did, but from panama. the flights to puerto obaldia from pan city were all booked till christmas though, so couldn't even do that! the adventure gods were against me, but ended up meeting 5 truley amazing people and now have a bigger family because of it.... good trade!