With its pristine, quiet beaches, Panama is one of South America’s best-kept secrets. According to Gadling, only about a million tourists visited last year. However, as word gets out about everything the country has to offer tourists, that may soon change.

In fact, according to the New York Times, more and more Americans are even relocating to Panama to start their own businesses.

Despite the recent good press, for the time being Gadling says that “There’s just enough tourist infrastructure here to keep vacationers occupied — white water rafting, zipline excursions and fishing expeditions abound — but you’ll bypass the glut of chain restaurants, overpopulated coastlines and horrific traffic (outside of Panama City, of course) that typify so many other tropical destinations.”

Want to see Panama while it’s still relatively quiet? Depending on your travel plans, you might need to acquire a Panama visa beforehand. US citizens flying into Panama do not need a visa. Instead, they can purchase a tourist card at the airport. Fees for the card may be included as part of your airfare, so check with the airline. Cruise ship passengers only need a tourist card if they plan to get off the boat. In that case, the tourist card would be provided by the cruise line.

However, if you’re arriving by land, you’ll definitely need to apply for a Panama visa before you leave the states. Also, if your travel plans call for you to enter and exit the country more than once, you may choose to apply for your visa in advance so that you can get a multiple-entry visa issued.

Here’s what you need to get a Panama tourist visa:

• A valid US passport
• 1 completed Panama visa application
• 1 passport photo
• A copy of your itinerary.
• A copy of your plane tickets (if you’re flying in)
• A letter if invitation or a copy of your hotel reservation.
• A copy of your bank statement.

RushMyTravelVisa can help you get your Panama visa, as well as any other visas you’ll need for your trip. We can research your itinerary and help you with the paperwork, expediting your application so it can be processed as soon as possible.

Apply for your Panama visa today!

Tags: Panama, Panama visa

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 21st, 2010 at 1:13 am and is filed under Country-Specific Visas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.