- Jul 13, 2023

Can you Pay with Credit Card in the San Blas Islands?

Paying with credit is not possible. There are no banks or ATMs in San Blas and neither catamarans nor the few bars ashore have payment terminals.

Although you can pay for your yacht charter reservation in San Blas with your credit card, once on your catamaran cruise you will not be able to use it and will have to use USD cash instead.

If you're coming from the United States or anywhere with USD currency, you won't need to exchange money since the dollar is legal tender in Panamanian currency, it is used day-to-day,and therefore can be spent in San Blas.

No ATMS in sight... :)

It is not the same for the Euro and this currency is not accepted most of the times and if it is, then the 1 USD=1 Euro rate will be applied with a significant loss to you.

Changing other foreign currencies can be difficult in Panama. You can exchange money at the Banco Nacional which could possibly be out of your way or at de Panamá International airport of Tocumen.

Remember to bring cash to San Blas but do not bring too much. Entry tax is a one time fee of $20/person, some island fees are just a couple of dollars/person but some islands are free to enter.

Handcrafts, which you might want to bring back, are super nice and unique and each price of mola ranges from $5-$50 a piece depending on the quality. Bringing along $20-$30/person/day is more than enough.

Tip to the Crew, only if you consider they went that extra mile is 15-20% of the charter. You can either have that cash or use a bank wire to our US account/credit card payment/Paypal and we will make sure it gets to the crew at that very moment.