Guna Ayala Culture: San Blas Island Experience

14 Ratings

Panama City

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Immerse yourself in the authentic Guna Ayala culture on a day tour to an indigenous Guna village in the San Blas Islands. Experience their way of life, enjoy a beach day, snorkel in a natural swimming pool, and savor traditional food.

Duration: 14 hours

Cancellation: 24 hours

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Highlights

Panama San Blas Tours - Begin your adventure with a 5:20 am pickup from your hotel or Airbnb in Panama City. The driver will ensure your comfort in a shared 4x4 vehicle. Once everyone is on board, there will be a stop at the supermarket for snacks or drinks (wine, beer, water, etc.) and to withdraw cash from the ATM, as cards are not accepted in…

What's Included

English Speaking Local Guide (basic)
Tours as described
Traditional Lunch (Fresh fish with salad and rice)
Shared Boat transportation from Port to Islands and back
Snorkel MASK included
Shared transportation from Panama City to Port and back for 6 passengers
1 Complimentary Drink (Beer, Water, or Soda)

What's Not Included

Entrance fees

Additional Information

Experience the vibrant Guna Ayala culture and discover their way of life in the stunning Caribbean paradise of the San Blas Islands. Explore one of the largest communities there while enjoying a relaxing beach day on Perro Chico Island and the natural swimming pool.

Visit Island Pelicano (featured in Money Heist), Ina Island, a local community, and…

Visit Island Pelicano (featured in Money Heist), Ina Island, a local community, and snorkel in the natural swimming pool.
Savor traditional cuisine with the catch of the day, served with rice and salad.

Our commitment to supporting the local community is strong, as San Blas is an Indigenous protected area. All our staff, including those in transportation, boating, and food services, are local Gunas. This offers a unique opportunity to experience their lifestyle and learn about their culture. Escape the daily grind and enjoy quality time with friends or family.

We offer pick-up services from all hotels in Panama City.

Day tour return is at 3:30PM. You will arrive in Panama City between 6:30PM and 7:00PM.
PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO BRING YOUR ORGINAL PASSPORT. WITH OUT IT, YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO ENTER TO SAN BLAS.
Please notice San Blas is an Indian protected zone. All the services are basic and rustic, only kuna people are in charge of all tourist’s services such as food, ground and water transportation, lodging, etc, we work with them to support the local economy. Please take this into consideration, the services are not as in the city, the waiting time can be long, and kunas are more informal. We have provided hospitality train to them, but they are still working on it, their culture is different, they are never in a rush, this is part of the adventure to San Blas. Food is basic such as fresh fried fish with salad and rice.
The driver will make a stop in a super market where you can buy a disposable cooler, ice etc.
You are allowed to bring additional beverages.
In San Blas Islands there are no ATMs, only cash in received. You can buy drinks there, snacks, souvenirs etc.“+Movil” and “Digicel” are the cell phone companies which works in San Blas Islands.
We recommend you bring your personal hygiene items, towels, sunscreen, mosquito repellent. You can bring a cooler with your own drinks, potable water, snacks and beverages (fruit juice or alcohol) you can by on site or bring it yourself.
Departure time is at 5:20am in the reception of your hotel. Any delay will have an additional charge, or may imply not to go to SanBlas.
There is no power electricity in the huts, only light.
Check out from the island is at 3:30pm you should be back in Panama between 6-7pm.
The vehicle is 4x4 for 6 passengers plus the driver. Pick up time is between 5:20am to 6:00am depending on the route, you can be first ones of last ones. Please be ready at 5:00AM to avoid any delays to other passengers. No Show – or Mayor delays will incur in a penalty – cost of reservation fee. In case you will be pick up in Costa del este or near to the airport, pick up time is between 5:45 and 6:00am
Transport time is 2.5 hours way in and 2.5 back. Then 40 minutes to the island in boat. Real time in Islands is around 5 hours.
Dear client In order to confirm your reservation we will need complete names, passport number, nationality and age of all passengers. Also Covid-negative test results are needed to travel to san blas islands even if you are vaccinated with at least 3 days in advance. Thanks

Location

Panama San Blas Tours

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings

4.1

(14 Ratings)

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Pagys_13

Mar 14, 2025

Great cultural tour and visit to the Caribbean in one. - Tito led a very fun tour to the Blas Islands. The overland ride was amazing and we stopped at several overlooks and saw a baby sloth. The boat part of the tour was well run, the Caribbean was exceptional with fish, crab, pelicans, and sharks. This was a very relaxing day!

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Janet_s

Feb 10, 2024

Guna Yala village - Visiting the Guna Yala village. I bought a beautiful molle that was hard to choose, they were all beautiful. I read about the culture before the visit.

Review provided by Viator

Melissa_c

Dec 24, 2023

Excelent journey - The good manners of all the people who we dealt with and the beautiful scenery of the boat ride through the islands

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Carolyn_w

Jun 23, 2024

Fun in the sun - Getting to visit the different islands the day was great. Our driver was awesome it took it slow for my mother in law we got to see a sloth in the tree on our way back. The only negative is getting in and out of the boat.

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Brian_s

Mar 14, 2024

Beautiful tour, but some logistical issues - First off, I will start off by saying, this place is UNREAL and is probably the closest the average person will ever come to having a private island experience! This was my favorite place in Panama by far. The transfer from our vehicle to the boat went fairly smoothly, but our driver told us he would be in port with the car in the same place when we came back, but this wasn't the case. We walked across the whole parking lot looking for him, only to find out from our island guide, that he had gone. When he finally did come back, he was supposed to give a ride to us and two guys from our boat, then said we he was waiting for one more person and was gonna help another couple find their driver, then disappeared into the village for an entire hour. Everyone else had already left, by the time our driver came back with the other people. At the rest stop, or driver asked if we want to get into another car and get to our hotel faster. I have been on many tours and have never experienced anything like this before, where passengers were returning with different drivers than they arrived with. Now for the island tour itself, the boat ride was nowhere as bad as I feared and the islands were nowhere as crowded as I had feared. We briefly had some of the islands to ourselves, and even when there were other groups you weren't bothered by them. That being said, the schedule and logistics made no sense. Our first stop was Islas Carti to visit the indigenous village. The village was really neat, but I was disappointed that you aren't allowed to take pictures of the Guna. I would have loved to spend more time here and explore, but we basically just walked down one street and were given information about the tribe, and were told we can buy something if we wish. The other people in our group seemed uninterested in the village, and we were maybe there for only about 20 minutes. Our second stop was the island of Guasirdub. The island was small and didn't have a whole lot going on, but you had the option to kayak or paddle board, so I can understand the one hour stop here. However, the stop on the next island, Nugu Dup was way too long. This was supposed to be the snorkeling island, but all there was to see was a sea grass bed with a few fish, starfish and trash. This is where the lunch stop was, and we had a choice between chicken, fish and octopus. Lunch was delicious by the way. The 45 minute leisure time before lunch made sense to me, but what didn't make sense to me is why they kept us on this island for another hour and a half after lunch. While this was probably the most beautiful island, there was nothing to do there. If anything, THIS is where the kayaks should've been, as there are other islands next door you could visit. There was so reason to stay here for so long after lunch. We could've visited two, even three more islands in that time, which would have been a much better use of the time. The next stop was a starfish bed in the middle of the sea, which no one had interest in. And the last stop was the lagoon in the middle of the sea. This is where the best snorkeling was, and our boatman showed me some starfish and coral reefs, which was probably the highlight of my tour. All in all, I was extremely satisfied with this tour, but I only give it 4 stars instead of 5, because of how our transport back to the city was organized, and I also think they could've utilized our time better, and visited more islands with how small they are.

Review provided by Viator

Omarse8597oy

Oct 23, 2023

Beautiful island/very neglected community - They already fixed the road so elm amino is pretty good, just with some curves. Halfway there, the driver made a 30-minute stop to eat something and go to the bathroom. The driver told us a lot about the history of the place. The community is quite ugly, with a lot of garbage and you don't really interact with the population at all. In fact, they didn't let us enter the ceremony room "because they were talking." I found it depressing to see the community. Then we went to the small islands that are very beautiful and we were able to swim and snorkel. I really liked the food (especially the patacones)

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Anna_z

Mar 4, 2023

Great tour to remember forever - This tour was great , nice experience and something to remember forever. Our driver was the best in Panamá. We visited 3 Islands, Guna community and sand pool in the middle of the sea. What we don’t like? Weather wasn’t great, no sunshine but of course it’s nobody’s fault. We didn’t have English speaking guide and nobody there speak English, that’s we didn’t know exactly what going on. Guna community was very interesting but we just run around and couldn’t see much, and no one encouraged us to buy local products. Then we spent time on the beach where nobody was interested in swimming any more. Despite this we are very happy and we recommend this tour.

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Jennifer_c

May 26, 2025

If it wasn’t for that boat ride?! - I wanted to like this so much as the beaches are pretty. First the ride was like a roller coaster with no seat belt. To get through the San blas hills must be in a 4x4. Driver spoke little English so we missed some things but we had a translation app. Driver was very kind and accommodating. Offered to lend his xtra clothes when we were cold and wet. Boat ride was HORRIBLE , very choppy, entire family was drenched each ride to every island. More like waterboarded bc the high pressure salt water in our faces the entire time. Our eyes were burning we couldn’t see anything and was hard to breathe. We returned cold and soaking wet to ride back to hotel for 3 hrs. Avoid last 3-4 rows! Poncho won’t save your face and high pressure salt water into your eyes. Tour: very nice to see some of indigenous San blas village. English was very broken so we missed a lot and cellular service was not the greatest. Wish there were umbrellas for shade. Had the worst sunburn despite lots of sunblock. We were able to buy some molas and bracelets. Beaches are small. Food was delicious: Fish, pineapple, etc. Overall we enjoyed ourselves. ADVICE: bring a change of clothes and keep in bag up front. Sit in 1st-2nd row in front. They were the driest. Nowhere to really sit on the beaches. Bring a beach blanket and towels. Will need lots of sunblock or swim shirt.

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I1129qsbenjaming

Jul 5, 2023

Very good tour. Additional $25/person cost not afformentioned - Overall the trip was enjoyable and the San Blas islands were beautiful. They picked us up from our hotel and took us to boats to visit a few islands. The pricing was not very transparent, as they told us after booking/paying that we needed to (withdrawal) $25 cash per person to pass through a Guna border. This was not clear and I didn’t appreciate the extra charges and fees. We almost had a great English speaking guide for the drive down but they ended up switching us into a different vehicle for the long drive north. I am sure the guide was fine but it was only in Spanish, so I missed a lot of the history/explaination/meaning that I would have gotten from our original driver. After an enjoyable day of island stops, free time, and a good guided tour of one of the more-populated islands and some interactions with the Guna people, we began the trip back to Panama City. The terrain was very mountainous but our second driver was very erratic and I felt very sick on the return trip. Again, I enjoyed most aspects of the trip itself but had a couple concerns with transportation, translation, and lack of transparency in pricing. We chose this tour over cheaper options because they emphasized the cultural component, which we liked, but I didn’t appreciate having to pay more again out of pocket after booking.

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Peter_t