Travel Itinerary: 14 days in Panama and Costa Rica

I travelled to Panama & Costa Rica from Feb 29-March 14 2024. I took a cruise out of Panama City that let us off in Puerto Caldera Costa Rica. I'm including the cruise stops in the itinerary below, but I did no research ahead of time and selected the ship excursions that seemed interesting to me.

We chose this cruise because it went through the Panama Canal, which we wanted to experience. Other than that, most choices for itinerary and cruise ship excursions were to optimize for neat nature experiences and viewing wildlife.

We packed a lot into our 14 day trip, and I think it mostly worked well. I'm happy to have had the experience of sailing through the Panama Canal, although I generally prefer to be a bit more in control of what I can do during my time away than cruises allow.

Day 0 Travel to Panama City: we took a cab from the airport, checked into our hotel and did a bit of last minute investigation for our next day plans.

Day 1 Panama City: We took a cab to Metropolitan Natural Park where we saw a wide variety of birds, small mammals, turtles, a sloth and a troupe of monkeys. We spent about 3 hours there before coming back to the hotel for a massage and to meet with friends who were arriving that day. The Park was amazing, and teeming with wildlife. I'd strongly recommend it if you find yourself with a half day or more in Panama City. It was very hot and humid, so bring water and dress for the heat if you do visit.

Day 2 Travel to Colón for Cruise: We took cruise arranged travel to the port in Colón, boarded the ship and got settled in while waiting to set sail the next morning.

Day 3 Cruise through the Panama Canal: The cruise set off on the journey through the Panama Canal. This was a really neat experience and both the highlight of the cruise and the reason we selected this cruise.

Day 4 Balboa, Panama City & Miraflores Locks Excursion: This was an excursion to visit the Miraflores Locks from land as well as a walking tour of Panama City. While it was neat to see the Miraflores Locks from land, I would have preferred to just get a cab and handle this on my own and have time to just explore the old city without a tour.

Day 5 At Sea: Nothing too exciting, although a Brown Booby did decide catch a ride on the ships mast for a bit.

Day 6 Island Hopping with Snorkel: When we selected this excursion from the ship, I'd forgotten that I don't really like to snorkel. There were a few turtles in the water and a few Parrot Fish, and other tropical fish as well. But this didn't really compare to the best snorkeling I'll probably ever experience on the Great Barrier Reef. I believe I would have enjoyed a different excursion more.

Day 7 Concierge Collection, Sloth Walking Trails: Another ship excursion took us to La Perica Sloth Garden. This was a wonderful experience where we saw many sloths, some bats, and quite a few different birds. The guides were great and lined up their scopes to see creatures that were out of our view.

Day 8 Concierge Collection: Rainforest Extravaganza: This ship excursion took us to Esquipulas Bird Paradise. Along the route we saw monkeys and birds and got a bit of history of Costa Rica. At the reserve, we mostly saw hummingbirds and butterflies in the gardens. It was a very hot day and we visited in the middle of the day, meaning that other wildlife was a bit less active during our visit. I still enjoyed it and had lots of fun taking photos of the creatures we did see.

Day 9 Disembark in Puerto Caldera, Travel to Monteverde: After leaving the cruise we visited Monteverde to see spend time in the cloud forest. We stayed at Hotel Belmar which was beautiful and comfortable.

Day 10 Coffee and Night Tours: We started our first morning in Monteverde with a coffee and chocolate tour at Don Juan. This tour was fun, hands on and informative. During the day we walked around the hotel grounds and visited the nearby downtown area. In the evening we took a night tour, which I wouldn't recommend.

Day 11 Selvatura Adventure Park: We took a guided tour through the Selvatura Hanging Bridges, our guide helped us find and identify many different birds including the Resplendent Quetzal. We then visited the Selvatura Sloth Sanctuary and Butterfly Garden. Finally we left Selvatura and spent some time with hummingbirds at the Hummingbird Cafe near the Monteverde Biological Reserve.

Day 12 Savia Bird Tour and Travel to Tamarindo: Prior to departing Tamarindo we signed up for an early bird tour which took us to Savia, Hotel Belmar's private reserve. We also visited Finca Ecológica San Luis with lots of bird feeders and natural habitat that got us close to many different bird species. We then left the coolness of the coolness of Monteverde to head down to the Tamarindo.

Day 13 Palo Verde bird tour: From Tamarindo we took a tour to Palo Verde, an area I didn't want to miss while in Costa Rica. We saw a huge variety of birds while there. Despite the long round trip, I'm still very happy to have taken this tour.

Day 14 Tamarindo Estuary Tour: This tour had some overlap with the Palo Verde tour, but I'm happy we did it. It was also very close and easy to do in the morning giving us plenty of time to relax and enjoy Tamarindo after the tour.