Colon Cristobal Pier

Colon has two cruise terminals:

1.The Cristobal Pier is located in Colon, Panama on the eastern side of the Panama Canal. This facility is now seldom used.

2.Colon 2000 Cruise Terminal - Colon, Panama The Colon 2000 cruise terminal is one of two cruise terminals in Colon and is located within the world's largest free zone and duty-free shopping area. The terminal building features lounge areas, an internet café, a kind of deserted duty-free mall, restaurants and native craft boutiques. Although Colon is home to this relatively new cruise terminal, Colon remains essentially an industrial area with few tourist attractions. The distance from the Colón 2000 cruise terminal to downtown Colón is approximately 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). It’s a short taxi ride or a short walk for those who prefer to…

For cruise passengers, you generally board shore excursions right outside the Colon 2000 terminal. If you take an organized tour, you will board your bus in the parking area just a few yards from the gangway. Otherwise, you have to walk past the parking lot perimeter into the terminal and across the overhead walkway to the shopping center.

Cruise calendar for Colon.

Cruise calendar for Cristobal.

A taxi ride to anywhere in the city of Colon costs around $3. The cathedral on Calle/Street 5 (open 2 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.) is an attractive building as is the restored Washington Hotel, which has a terrace where you can enjoy a drink or lunch while watching ships waiting to transit the Panama Canal. For the rest there just is not anything for the tourist in Colon, it's just a place you have to get through to go anywhere. Colon is not the safest town and it is not recommended to walk in the town.

The Colon railway was originally intended to carry freight, but was remodeled into a passenger train in 2001. The railway runs from Colon to the Comzal station near the Miraflores Locks. If you want to do the Panama Railway trip on your own, take one of the shuttle vans or hire a taxi to the station.

There is frequent bus service from the Albrook bus terminal on Avenida Bolivar, Colon, to Panama City, and one-hour trips to Portobelo, costing $2 and $3 one-way respectively. Taxi prices are fixed by the central desk in the Colon 2000 center. If you book through them, your details are taken so that they know where you are and in which taxi if there is any problem. You can secure lower prices by approaching the drivers directly, but then you lose that safety net. The tourism taxis are allowed into the port once the cruise tours have departed.

The ferry tour through the canal is very popular, but sells out rather quickly, especially when more cruise ships are in port.

There's a strip shopping center right across from the ship that contains a large grocery store, a subway sandwich shop, souvenir shops, and other things. On the back side of it are more shops. There's also a duty-free shop right when you get off the ship.

Panama uses the Balboa and the US Dollar as its currencies. The balboa is equivalent to the US dollar and has exactly the same value, but in reality the Balboas only exist as coins that are equivalent to the US coins.

Languages Spanish (official), English 14% note: many Panamanians are bilingual.

Shopping hours vary, but most of the stores and shops open from 9:00 am to 6:00 p.m. and some even up to 10:00 p.m. from Monday to Sunday.