Monkey Island Tour from Panama City

This tour exceeded our expectations and then some! Fantastic way to start a day and experience the amazing wildlife and natural beauty of Panama. It's key to go in the morning before it has gotten very hot and the monkeys haven't yet been overfed. The level of interaction and photos you'll get with the monkeys (we saw three different types up close) is amazing. You'll likely also get to experience with being out on Lake Gatun some of the giant vessels that cross the canal. I can't say enough good things about Mario, our tour guide. We watched him go above and beyond for other guests. I can't imagine visiting Panama City and not doing this tour with him. Book this tour now and then thank us later!”

Simple but pleasurable and entertaining excursion. Really enjoyed our guide, Mario, who we chose to do additional trips while in town.”

This tour is a unique experience. Up close and personal with Capuchin, Howler and Titi monkeys. Mario is brimming with personality and is full of information about Panama and it's biodiversity. You will literally have monkeys eating out of your hand. A very enjoyable tour. Be sure to book in advance to reserve your spot.”

SO MUCH FUN!!! Great day out! Mario was very knowlegeable about all things Panama and the rain forest. He spoke excellend English. He was punctual, the van and boat were vey clean. We saw three types of monkeys (including a baby monkey on her mamas back) and many different sloths as well. My sister and I had so much fun! Mario and Manny (the boat captain) made us laugh. Cant wait to go back!! DO NOT MISS OUT!! THIS IS A GREAT ADVENTURE!!”

Mario provided great customer service. Pickup was punctual and his knowledge of the wildlife seen provided for a great morning. He even pulled over and pointed out sloths along the way to and from the hotel. This was one of two tours of his I used during my vacation. I will use Mario's services the next time I'm in town.”

Would recommend. Mario was a great guide. We had so much fun and interacted with ALOT of monkeys!! A great time.”

The scenery along the Panama Canal was pretty, and the boat ride very pleasant. Our guide, Mario was friendly and knowledgeable. We were able to see several varieties of monkeys close enough to almost touch.”

The monkey island tour in Gamboa was a wonderful tour and I saw more than I expected. Our guide Mario was friendly, knowledgeable, and really worked hard to give us the full experience. The scenery on the boat ride was beautiful. I saw many birds, howler monkeys, Tamarins, and Capuchins. There were a few other tour boats along with ours that were feeding them. Mario prefers not to feed the monkeys, but it doesn't stop them from coming onto the boat! I have a camera full of great photos and a few videos of the monkeys close-up, along with the memories :). I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Panama City that wants to get away from the cityscape and see more of nature.”

Oscar, Juliette and the boat pilot were wonderful. Very knowledgeable, friendly and focused on making sure we had a great time. Great background info on Panama. We went to el Valle Anton based on Oscar’s recommendation. Bravo!”

Saw three varieties of monkey. White faced Capuchin, Geoffroy's tamarin and Howler all came on to the boat, the first two species for a while, Howler only fleetingly. Mario was very nice.”

My husband and I took our 2 sons, ages 11 and 14. We loved this trip! I normally get very seasick and I was nervous but I never got sick at all. We saw 3 different species of monkeys. The capuchins boarded our boat and took bananas and nuts from our hands. Highly recommend!”

We had soo much fun with the monkeys! Mario was very nice! I recommend this tour!”

Good tour, I loved how direct it was with no looming around. Mario was happy to answer any and all questions, saw so many monkeys!”

The tour was great, thanks to our guide we meet a lot of monkey in such a wonderfull place! So, thanks Viator, great experience, highly recommended”

This is the BEST tour we took in Panama City. The guides were exceptional. We had one guide who could even call the monkeys to our book. It was the highlight of our trip. VERY much worth the amount.”

The tour was amazing! We saw a bunch of monkeys and had a whole group come on the boat to take peanuts and bananas from us! They provided some peanuts, but bring your own bananas.”

This trip was fantastic! We were picked up right on time from our hotel in Panama City, and the tourguide shared a history/geography lesson about the development of Panama along the way to the riverboat. The boat ride was fast and adventurous, and our captain and tourguide patiently navigated the waters until we saw lots of monkeys! Tips for other travelers: be prepared for several hours w/o access to a restroom, and bring bananas.”

Fun tour! Our tour guide, Oscar, really made the trip special.”

This was a awesome trip, monkey's came right out of the jungle to eat out of our hands, do it, it's great!”

Definitely the highlight of our Panama trip! Mario picked us up in the van and we had just one other family with us on our Christmas afternoon tour. The drive to Gamboa was quick because there was zero traffic that day, and the boat ride under the bridge and into the Panama canal was fast and very smooth. My son and I had taken Dramamine beforehand but I don't think we needed to. Note that there are several other tours visiting the islands at the exact same time, so you may have to wait awhile to get close to the monkeys. Our captain managed to get to the stops ahead of everyone 3 out of 4 times, so we didn't wait long for the monkeys to show up. The capuchins are adorable and are very happy to walk right up and take food from your hands. even if they're closed. One even ate from my hand because both of his were already full of nuts : The next stop was for tamarins or mono titi in Spanish. They're smaller and more skittish with really long tails, but they still came right on the boat and ate the banana chucks we offered. Sometimes Mario would ask us to just take pictures instead of feeding them so they'd be willing to take food from the other boats, and I thought that was very considerate of him. He speaks fluent English and is a very thoughtful guide. We made one stop where there were howler monkeys and an iguana laying around, but they typically don't come out to the boats. One last stop was another capuchin area, which we had all to ourselves. All in all, it was about an hour on the water and less than an hour in the van each way. Absolutely a wonderful way to spend half a day! One thing the captain's wife said to me in Spanish at the end of trip was that the monkeys were more active that morning than they were on our afternoon trip. They seemed plenty active to me, but that's something to keep in mind if you have flexibility in your schedule.”

This was an amazing tour, saw and feed many monkeys and even stopped on the way back to watch some sloths in the trees. Tour ended earlier than planned but I had a great time and have even recommended others to take this trip and they loved it as well! Make sure to take several bananas, not provided”

Mario of My Friend Mario was a great guide and this short morning tour was well worth it. I was the only one to sign up on a certain day but Mario did his best to arrange the tour so we could still go by asking other tourists if they could go on the one morning that I was able to go before leaving Panama. He picked me up in time and then we picked up the other two people and headed in a comfortable van to the boat dock. It was a nice boat ride on the canal to see ships and wildlife, then we stopped at two different islands and two different types of monkeys jumped in the boat. We got to see them very closely and it was great!”

This tour was amazing!”

Best part of our trip! Our guides were wonderful and we basically ended up with a private tour! We saw crocodiles, sloths, howler monkeys and teetee monkeys up pretty close. Then of course, the capuchins jumped right on the boat to get bananas from our hands. Amazing!”