Panama City

Panama City trip ideas

Panama Canal Partial Transit

Panama City, Panama

7 hours
Pickup offered
Offered in: English

Explore our promoted experiences

Panama City, Panama

Panama Canal Partial Tour - Southbound Direction

301

from $145.00

Likely to Sell Out

Panama City, Panama

Panama Canal Full Transit Tour

219

from $195.00

Panama City, Panama

City Tour in Panama Scale from the airport 6 Hours

from $125.00

Price varies by group size

Viator earns higher commissions on experiences featured here

Overview

Take a partial transit cruise on the Panama Canal and journey through the Miraflores Locks. Marvel at this incredible feat of engineering as your ship is raised up to 54 feet (16 meters), enabling Pedro Miguel's lake to fill the chambers where the vessel is locked. On this half-day trip, enjoy Panama City sights and travel along Amador Causeway during the drive from your hotel.

Panama Canal partial sightseeing cruise
Enjoy the opportunity to cruise down the Panama Canal
Travel through the famous Miraflores Locks
Great tour for history and engineering buffs
Hotel pickup and drop-off included

What's Included

Guided sightseeing cruise
Hotel pickup and drop off
Lunch
Non-alcoholic beverages

Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

Panama City, Panamá Province, Panama
We pick up passengers from any hotel in Panama City. Passengers from other locations may go to a Panama City Hotel or to the check in point, at La Playita de Amador, Causeway or Gamboa Port.

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.

Opening hours

11/1/2022 - 5/4/2025
Saturday : 05:00 AM - 08:00 AM
Sunday : 09:00 AM - 11:00 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

We pick up from Panama City hotels, Pick-up time will be confirmed the day before the tour.

What To Expect

This partial transit cruise through the Miraflores Locks takes you into one of three lock systems used along the Panama Canal—an experience not to be missed! The canal’s construction is considered one of the largest and most challenging engineering projects ever undertaken before it was opened in 1914, enabling efficient passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

After hotel pickup in the morning, travel toward La Playita pier on a drive through Panama City. Journey along the Amador Causeway (Calzada de Amador), a man-made network of four small islands near the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Enjoy breathtaking views of the canal and Panama City skyline before boarding your vessel.

Cruise along the Panama Canal until reaching the Miraflores Locks. Depending on the number of boats present on your date of travel, you most likely have to wait a short while before it’s your ship’s turn inside the locks, but the scene before you is worth it. Enjoy great photo ops as you watch vessels traveling through Miraflores.

Be amazed as your ship is raised up to 54 feet in a two-step process while water from the lake fills the lock’s chambers. Once the process is finished, continue cruising to the Pedro Miguel Locks before arriving at the Gamboa pier.

Here, disembark to re-board the coach for the return transfer to your Panama City hotel.

Please note: A minimum of two people per booking is required.

Panama Canal

6 hours • Admission Ticket Included

The Beach House at La Playita Resort & Marina

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Miraflores Visitor's Center

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Pedro Miguel Locks

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Gatun Lake Construction

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation

Infants must sit on laps
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 200 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Jann_P

This is a smooth running machine and worth every penny. Exceptional tour guide the entire time. Food was good for cruise food. The canal and history is just off the hook. This is a really great company. Excellent boat, very efficient hotel pickup in a very nice van. A very good experience if you want to see the canal. Staff is the best!

Reviews

4.0

417 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 417 reviews

Great tour

Gregory, Apr 2024

Violet and the tour guide on the boat were both great. Bus arrived at my hotel right on time. Good communication before pick up. Well worth the time and money.

Driver who picked us up and dropped us off was on phone while driving and that is a safety concern

bhavnalathia, Apr 2024

Canal experience was good, I would have preferred later time of the day because we were on vacation and we woke up at 3.45 for pick up of 5 am

Great experience!!

Aveni_P, Mar 2024

We loved this experience and going through the Panamá canal. The boat was not packed so we had plenty of space which we loved unlike many other boats we saw. The communication was great before and during the experience and everything was timely.

Nice experience

caridad_h, Mar 2024

Everything was good.The staff was very nice, very responsible.The breakfast and lunch on time.The drivers was on time to pickup at the hotel.

Informative trip!

Charles_P, Feb 2024

Traveling down the Panama Canal and experiencing the drop down through the locks to sea level is an incredible experience.

Canal Trek

Maryjo_S, Feb 2024

Enjoyed the history of the canal and experiencing the locks. The only negative was not stopping at the Mira Flores visitor center.

Fun time

Jeanne_P, Feb 2024

Excellent views of both the new expanded canal and the smaller older canal which we took. The highlights were pointed out by the trip tour guide. Plus it was extremely fun. I have people boarding the flight.

An interesting but uncomfortable tour

Erin_G, Jan 2024

I love that I had an opportunity to do a partial crossing of the Panama Canal. Many aspects of the trip were worthwhile and proved to be a good learning experience. Watching the other boats in the canal with us was quite fun, as well. I also enjoyed a tasty lunch that pleased both my husband and me. Chicken, rice, plantains...delicious. But... there were some lowlights too. The boat was old and the cushions were uncomfortable. The air conditioners were not functioning on many parts of the boat so the hot humid conditions were quite exhausting. It was also difficult to understand the guide, as the PA system was unclear and garbled. I returned to my hotel with a bit of heat exhaustion and took a cool shower that helped for sure. My advice is to take the trip if it is a dream to see the workings of the Panama canal close up. Otherwise, a trip to Old Town might be more fun.

On time except for drop...

Ar_P, Jan 2024

On time except for drop off . Too much confusion as to who will pick up . No one gave any info . Better to get some o r speaking English along with Spanish

Unforgettable trip through the locks - a MUST do while in Panama! (skip the Visitor Center for this tour instead)

Leah_W, Jan 2024

This was such a memorable experience! My great grandparents worked on the Panama Canal locks, so finally seeing it in person was very surreal. I am SO glad we opted to take a tour through the locks instead of just watching from the observation deck at Miraflores Visitor Center. The people up there looked cramped and hot while watching our boat go through the locks, and it definitely seemed preferable to see how the locks work up close and personal — especially being able to watch how the water level changed as we waited for the lock gates to open. I don't think it would have had the same effect from up above at the visitor center. Having a large oil rigger right behind us in the locks was the icing on the cake! Our guide was knowledgable and personable and was able to answer any questions we had, even pointing out the specific construction site one of my grandparents worked on back when the canal was being built. There was a slight miscommunication mishap amongst the operator's employees before we were picked up at our hotel which created some extra anxiety not knowing whether or not we were going to be picked up and if we would make it to the boat on time, so my ONLY suggestion would be that communication with clients day of could be improved slightly...but in the end, the tour waited on us, we didn't miss anything, and the coordinator was VERY apologetic, so I hesitate to even include this in my review. Overall, we seriously loved this tour, the lunch provided was tasty, there were Balboa beers on board (our favorite), and we learned a lot! I would recommend this to anyone visiting Panama to get the full experience of the canal, and if I ever visited again, I would probably even take this tour a second time!

Less crowded boat than...

Glenn_A, Jan 2024

Less crowded boat than the competitors. Good lunch, free drinks. Nice knowledgeable guide guy. Everything went smooth.

Perfect way to experience the canal.

Betsy_G, Dec 2023

Amazing experience going through 3 locks. Our guide Edwin was exceptional. He expertly explains what’s happening and the history of the canal in English and Spanish with a perfect mix of humor to keep it entertaining. The crew and staff were all friendly and helpful. It is 7 hours on the boat, but plenty of seating and shade. I highly recommend it. I usually get motion sick and had no problem on this trip. I did use ginger chews and ginger ale - the ginger ale was included in the package (beverages). Never felt sick.

Very enjoyable. Please consider keeping vegetarian lunch items

Sandhya_S, Dec 2023

The tour guide, Mr. Edwin’s commentary made the tour very enjoyable & informative. Pick up and drop off was awesome. For vegetarians lunch option is limited. Take hat and sunscreen as we got stuck behind a cruise ship for a long time on the canal and it got very hot.. Had a great time watching how the canal operates… highly recommend

Nice Tour

Freddie_W, Dec 2023

I met nice people. Company did not email the QR Code for the ticket. Web site did not forward my pickup location to the company.

Just use a different operator

Grace_K, Nov 2023

Touring the canal is great. However, I would definitely recommend a different operator. Our driver was nice but had a very hard time communicating in English. Our van had no your operator or guide traveling with us. We were the only group that did not had any boat bracelets issued by the time we arrived. We waited over one hour to get our bracelets and we were the last ones to do so after several buses and vans came in with passengers ready to board the boat (way later than us by the way). Of course no space to sit when we got there unless you were in the inside dinning area.

Must see experience

Reinaldo_W, Nov 2023

This is to inform you that it was a unbelievable experience of a life time. I strongly recommend this tour.

Exactly what we expected

Kegan_T, Oct 2023

The tour was very informative, his English was amazing and the lunch was to be expected. We had to wait awhile on the transport bus but overall no problems. It would have been a shame to visit Panama and not see the canal in action.

October Panama 2023

Brance_S, Oct 2023

This was beyond my exception and worth everything put Into it. The guide was fantastic, food, staff and the entire experience. Would do it again in a heart beat. Did it in October and it was sunny the entire time!

Wow - I'm Glad I Went!

John_I, Oct 2023

Hotel pickup was 5:00am and the ship departed at 6:30am -- but that was necessary because we were the next-to-last ship to enter from the Pacific side before they started openings from the Caribbean side -- and it was okay because the ship offered free breakfast and free lunch. It was a great experience! Everything was ideal. I am glad I went. Thanks to all the crew of the Pacific Queen.

Great experience

tcollins971, Oct 2023

The trip through the locks was AMAZING. Up close and personal view of the process. Great experience, Panamanian style lunch was very good. Guide Eduardo was very knowledgeable and explained the process as we went through. Worth every penny-I would highly recommend this trip.

...