Costa Rica/Panama Border Crossing

Puerto Viejo to Bocas Border Run Map — It’s about 40 miles from Puerto Viejo Costa Rica to Bocas del Toro Panama so IF you could fly it would take ten or fifteen minutes…instead traveling overland and water it took about six and a half hours.

Costa Rica Departure Tax

The $7 departure tax when leaving Costa Rica by land is considerably less than the $29 exit tax charged if you are departing by air. It can be just as painful however.

Costa Rica Land Departure Tax — Paying the Costa Rica departure tax is supposed to be simple using automated machines sort of like ATMs

Costa Rica Land Departure Tax Office — When the machines are unable to connect to the central database, try the office accross the pedestrian bridge for a manual payment

Costa Rica Land Departure Tax Forms — Pens are provided and even a pair of reading glasses are tied to the desk in case you need them for the fine print on the immigration forms

Departure Gift? – I asked why they sold condoms along with the exit tax but since there was a woman in the room all the men were too embarrassed to even admit that’s what was in the packages let alone explain how they were connected to leaving the country…

Theoretically paying the departure tax should be a breeze at machines similar to ATMs near the border. Unfortunately, they go down regularly for hours or even days at a time and it is “absolutely impossible” to pay the tax any other way in Sixaola.

Fortunately, our expediter/driver knew how to make the impossible possible. It turns out that for an extra few bucks there’s a guy in the office behind the machine that can record your tax by hand in a book and put the money in the machine later… As soon as we walked out of the office with our tax stamps we were surrounded by other travelers who had been waiting all morning for the machine to reboot. Within minutes there was a line stretching across the street waiting to pay manually.

Of course it’s a scam but we just wanted to get on with it and get to Bocas. If you’re on a really tight budget and don’t want to pay the “convenience fee” then you can pay in advance at a bank…as long as you aren’t in Sixaola yet.

Bancredito does not have a branch bank in Sixaola there are offices all over Costa Rica where you can pay the tax in advance at any teller window and acquire the appropriate stamp. You can do it almost anywhere, except at the border.

border control office Costa Rica — The border control office on the Costa Rica side at Sixaola

Costa Rica Border — After paying the exit tax head for the bridge over the Sixaola river

Sixaola Bridge Panama, Costa Rica Border — Crossing the bridge into Panama. Pedestrians share the single narrow lane with semi trucks and other vehicles

Squeeze past the truck on the Panama border — Tight squeeze and the Costa Rican border guard waiting at the back of the truck.

Complete the Entire Maze

It would have been quite easy to miss one of the stops along the way and just wander into Panama without the proper stamps or documentation. There were no fences or gates and there didn’t seem to actually be any border guards to speak of after the Costa Rican officials on the bridge.

Panama Fake Tax Office — There’s a small office just after you cross the bridge into Panama where they collect a “voluntary” entry fee of $3 that is used for the betterment of the community.

Panama Immigration and Customs — The official immigration and customs offices are sort of down an alley off to the left (east) as you enter Panama…I didn’t see any signs anywhere and we had to ask a couple of times to find them.

Taxis on the Panama Border — There were taxis waiting immediately after the bridge and didn’t seem to be anything to prevent travelers from just hopping in one an skipping Panamanian immigration and customs…of course that might cause problems when there was no visa stamped in their passport if someone looked later…

Once we walked off the bridge there were half a dozen taxi drivers trying to snatch our luggage and toss it in their truck before we had even seen a Panamanian official.

We had to seek out the tax, customs and immigration officials in their air conditioned enclaves. A number of guys (especially taxi drivers and pickpockets) who seemed to drift freely back and forth from one country to the other.

Ridiculous Requirements

As best we can discern what we describe below is actually official policy and if you cannot produce the requisite documentation you cannot legally enter Panama.

Not only were we required to show proof that we had a paid onward ticket to leave Panama in less than 90 days but we were further required to show that after we returned to Costa Rica we had another ticket to leave there. Apparently you are required to have fully paid reservations to return to the country which issued your passport or you will be denied entry.

Fortunately we had a flight from Bocas back to San José and then a few days later reservations to return to Colorado with the electronic confirmations downloaded to our phones – remember you may or may not have signal or data available to retrieve them from e-mail or elsewhere in the ether.

We asked a few people in Bocas now they dealt with the requirement since many of them were obviously long term travelers and didn’t have a ticket all the way home. We heard variously that crying a lot, a $50 “fine” (cash only no receipt), or a fake ticket or reservation all worked. Apparently they do not have the capability to check actual flight manifests.

We have been told by frequent border crossers that you may also be required to produce two xerox copies of the photo page of your passport, $500 in U.S. cash and/or a valid credit card with a statement from the issuing bank that the available balance is greater than $500.

Pay Attention to the Visa Stamp

Costa Rica Visa Stamps — Passport visa stamps for Costa Rica and Panama. Typically a tourist visa is valid for 90 days but sometimes it’s for ~@ß§ as seen written in on the green entry stamp from 2014 at center left of the image

We have had immigration officials make several errors including

neglecting to stamp the visa into the passport
stamping the incorrect date (off by 5 months!)
writing a completely illegible squiggle in for the duration of the visa (should say “90”)

Any of these could cause serious and expensive (immigration fines) problems while you’re traveling around Costa Rica, when you try to depart, or if you make a return visit.

Summary of the Costa Rica/Panama Border Crossing

After clearing immigration and customs we hopped in a cab that took us to a boat, that took us to another boat that took us to Bastimiento and our amazing accommodations at Punta Rica Villa. Highly recommended and well worth the trip!

Just under seven hours after leaving Puerto Viejo Costa Rica we slipped into the lagoon at Isla Bastimiento Bocas del Toro Panama to do some snorkeling. We’d averaged 5.7 miles per hour covering the 40 mile distance (as measured in a straight line which we obviously didn’t follow) – just a little slower than our normal trail running pace through the mountains…

Costa Rica Departure tax – $7 using the machine at the border or at Bancredito Bank (Bank option not available at the border…only in advance in Limón, San José etc.)
Bribe to get Departure tax recorded manually – $20
Panama arrival tax or entry fee – $3 – this doesn’t seem to be an official fee and the little sticker it buys doesn’t seem to be required for anything but they are quite persistent and adamant so we just paid it.

Total – $30 and about an hour and a half at the border. Without the scams the total could be as low as $7 – your choice…time or money.

Leaving Panama

NOTE: June 10 2019 – the Costa Rican legislature announced a new ARRIVAL tax of $15 for land or sea border crossings. It has not been implemented (probably never will be) and would not apply to air or cruise ship passengers.

We hoped that the fact that we were flying from Bocas back to San José would simplify things and maybe speed them up a little. Even though the 45 minute flight saved us about 12 hours versus driving and probably 16-18 hours compared to the bus it still took a total of about six hours.

There was an hour consumed by paying the $15 Panamanian departure tax and passing through customs and immigration on our way out.

We were unfortunate enough to land at Juan Santamaría airport outside San José just after four jumbo jets from the U.S. so immigration and customs there took a record setting 3 hours (we’re used to 20 minutes). By then it was rush hour so the 18 km drive to our downtown hotel took another hour and a half.

So much for a 56 minute flight.

Costa Rica Guide