Everything You Need To Know About Visiting The Untouched San Blas Islands (Guna Yala), Panama

Ever wondered what it’s like to live like Robinson Crusoe, to sleep on a deserted island and eat coconuts for lunch (well, and a few other things but you get the point)? If your answer is yes, then you need to visit The San Blas islands in Panama. The most incredible, untouched islands we have ever visited.

We spent 4 days crossing the open seas, visiting completely untouched, white-sand islands and swimming in crystal clear blue waters. Slept in hammocks and had no internet connection, no signal, very limited showers and bucket toilets. But, we made unforgettable memories, met some amazing people and drank cervezas under the palms until the sunset and then carried on.

The San Blas, Panama, is certainly a once in a lifetime experience not to be missed.

About the San Blas Islands

Located off of the Caribbean coast of Panama, the San Blas Islands are one of the must-see bucket list places to visit in Central America. This group of tiny islands makes a perfect island-hopping adventure!

The San Blas is made up of 365 islands between Panama and Colombia running alongside the Darien Gap, a notoriously dangerous part of the world filled with dense rainforest, jungle-covered mountains, swamps and poisonous snakes as well as drug traffickers, gangs and migrants trying to reach the US. But, don’t worry the San Blas islands are completely safe. The San Blas islands, known as the Guna Yala, are home to the indigenous people known as the Gunas. They are a small but proud community of around 300,000. Around 50,000 Kunas live on the 49 major islands of San Blas. With their main form of income varying from coconuts to plastic and nowadays, tourism!

To read more about our travels through Central America, click here.

When is the best time to visit the San Blas Islands? 

The San Blas Islands have a pretty long rainy season, from May to December. The dry season, spans from January to April, making this the ideal time to go. However, this does give you a pretty narrow window of time.

The good news is that the wet season doesn’t mean it’s going to rain all day every day much like anywhere tropical you will probably experience a heavy downpour that will last up to 2 hours but that will be it for the day.

The islands are also far quieter during the wet season.

October and November are the wettest months, so if you can then we would recommend avoiding these. No one likes sleeping in a soggy hammock!

We visited the San Blas islands, Panama during February and didn’t experience any rain, the islands also weren’t crowded at all as all of the ones that we visited only allow one tour group at a time.

Where is the best place to visit the San Blas Islands from? 

You can visit the San Blas islands from either Panama City or Cartagena, Colombia. Most tour companies don’t offer a return trip from Cartagena so if that’s what you’re looking for then it is best to leave for the San Blas from Panama. The tours around the San Blas islands will take you from Cartagena to the San Blas Islands and then continue on to Panama City, or vice versa.

However, if Cartagena is not on your travel itinerary, then there are plenty of tours that offer a return trip from Panama City.

Who did we travel with to the San Blas Islands?

There are many companies out there that offer tours to the San Blas islands, some from Panama to Colombia and vice versa. Some also travel around the islands and then back to their starting point and some offer a trip to one island for a few days. There is also the option to travel via speedboat or sailboat.

We opted to travel with San Blas Adventures, a speedboat option. We chose this as travelling via speedboat means you spend more time on the islands rather than on the sea, averaging 2-3 hours per day on the sea and the rest spent on the islands, including sleeping on them. We had an incredible time on this trip. We can’t compare it to other tours around the San Blas Panama. But, from our experience the tour and guides were amazing and we can’t recommend San Blas Adventures enough.

How much does a tour to the San Blas islands cost?

We paid 415 USD per person this was with a 10% discount for their New Year’s sale. This included all meals (3 a day), boats between each island and accommodation for the 3 nights.

We paid a $100 deposit and the rest was paid in cash during our briefing, the day before the tour departed. It’s also worth noting that you have to pay a $20 entrance fee to the Kuna Yala and $30 for the transport between Panama City and Carti. You could opt to do this yourself instead and stay in Carti the night before you depart, this would mean you wouldn’t have to be up so early for the pick-up (which is around 5 am). But, it would also mean you would miss the briefing and wouldn’t meet your group before the tour. There also isn’t much to see in Carti. We personally opted to get the $30 transport.

All of this is paid in cash before your tour guide so don’t forget to visit an ATM before heading to the briefing. We forgot and ended up running around finding cash points to withdraw enough cash with minimal fees.

What should I pack for my San Blas trip?

Minimal things! You won’t have access to your big backpack for your whole trip. This will be packed away at the front of the boat and wrapped in plastic bags to keep your valuables as dry as possible for the duration.

Instead, you need to pack up one or two small bags which you are able to carry on and off the boat with you each day full of the essentials.

Our San Blas tour packing list includes:

• Flip flops. Don’t pack or wear trainers, you’re going to be getting in and out of the boat into the water and walking on the sand the whole time
• At least 1 bikini/ swimming trunk. Chris brought 2 pairs and I took 4 bikinis (a tad excessive, but they’re only small and it’s good to have options in my eyes)
• A sarong. These have multiple uses; a blanket whilst you sleep in a hammock, something to lay on, on the beach, a dress/ skirt when you get out of the water etc.
• 4-6L or water. You can buy small bottles on the islands but you’ll be out in the sun all day and will also need to use this to brush your teeth etc.
• Sun cream
• T-shirts and shorts. You’ll mainly live in swimwear but a few options are great to have. Think 2-4 outfits
• Something warm for the evenings
• DryBag and black bin bags for your belongings
• Snacks, the food is great but you never know when you’ll get peckish. Especially if you’re like us and like to snack between meals, especially after a few drinks the night before
• Camera equipment or your phone to capture the incredible memories
• Battery pack. We didn’t actually end up using ours as it only charges our phones and we only mainly only took photos on our camera and as there’s no service or internet we didn’t use our phones. But, it’s still good to have as a backup!
• Toiletries – Just the essentials will do. Here’s not the place to do your deep conditioning treatment or a face mask. Save that for after.

How many islands will I visit in the San Blas?

During the San Blas Adventures tour, you visit 2 islands per day for 3 days and none on the last day. So, a total of 6 different islands. You generally visit a smaller one for lunch and a bigger, slightly more developed one to spend the night on.

Will I spend anything extra whilst on the islands?

On each of the islands, there are soft drinks including water, coca-cola and of course coconuts, plus, cold beers for sale. (On one island we even found a bottle of red wine! Which they seemed to search for, for quite a while so this was split between a few of us, whilst we watched the others play volleyball). Generally, these cold drinks average at about £2 per drink, so pretty reasonably priced considering your location.

On the last island, you can also buy some souvenirs which vary in price. We brought a couple of bracelets for about £3-£5 each, all handmade in the community and a lovely memento. San Blas recommends around £50 each per day, however, you’d have to try really hard to spend that much. If you decide you don’t want to spend a penny extra, then this is completely doable. However, realistically you’re going to want a few cold drinks and perhaps a few beers in the evening.

Where will I sleep?

The San Blas islands advertise that you will sleep hammock basically the whole time. However, in reality, you sleep in a hammock the first night in a large hut. There are 2 of these so you’re split into 2 groups with half sleeping in each hut. The second night we spelt in huge huts on a far more developed island, there were around 4 of these huts and we slept in the largest in a double bed. We shared this hut with 7 other people. It also had a running shower and flushing toilet, a big plus by this point! On the third night, we slept in a hostel within the local community.

Each couple were supposed to get a private double room. However, there wasn’t actually enough to go around. Instead, we slept in a bunk bed in our room. Still a treat after our first night in the hammocks.

What’s the toilet and shower situation on the San Blas islands?

Except for the second night’s accommodation, all toilets were bucket toilets. This is where the toilet doesn’t flush so there is a large bucket of water outside the toilet. You dip a smaller bucket in and pour it down the toilet. On a couple of the smaller islands, you have the world’s largest toilet…    the sea! The first night there is a bucket shower. This is exactly as it sounds, you grab a bucket of water and pour it over yourself. On the second night, there is a working shower and on the third night, actually, we don’t remember seeing any showers but I believe there is supposed to be running water again. We both chose to only shower on the second night and refreshed ourselves in the sea.

Where will my San Blas trip start and end?

Depending on which way round you choose to do your tour, you’ll either start in Carti, Panama and end in Carpurgana or vice versa. Carpurgana is just over the border in Colombia and you have to stay at least 1 night here as you have to get a boat across the water to travel on. These boats only run at 10 am each day and you must buy your ticket the day before.

The San Blas was one of the best things we have both done. There aren’t many places left in the world where you can see such untouched, ‘off the beaten track’, unspoilt islands. No, you won’t be able to check your Instagram or the latest football score daily. Yes, you most definitely will get absolutely drenched on the boats. Your hair may end up in slightly dryer condition than it was prior and you may end up looking like you’ve been deserted on a desert island for far longer than 4 days. (We didn’t look in a mirror for the whole time and the first one we saw was during our first stop in Colombia and boy, did we have a shock!)

But, as long as you go on the trip with a completely open mind and embrace it for what it is, you’ll have the best experience of your life and one you’ll never forget!