I"m air freighting my motorbike into Panama City. Does anyone have suggestions for suitable hotel for a couple of days whilst bike clears customs? Somewhere that's convenient with motorcycle parking? Thanks.

As you are airfreighting your bike into Panama's Tocumen Airport it would seem logical and desirable to get set up for a few days in a hotel close to that airport . That way you could be within minutes of the customs clearing offices and save a lot of time and money over taxi rides from the city center 20km to the west
I did investigate the hotels along the Pan-American highway in the area where it flows along the west and north of that airport , but that was more than ten years ago . There were indeed a number of suitable hotels in that stretch .
If you go on google maps and search for Tocumen>hotels you will get a handful of hits for hotels plus some B&Bs . Click on them and you will get some current pricing and special deals .
Of course it is not difficult to catch a big name hotel at a high price but there are others with quite reasonable pricing .
To wit , the Express Inn PTY Aeropuerto springs out . This hotel would be close to ideal as it stands just north of the main terminals area along side Calle Enrique Malek , the street skirting the west side of the airport .

Other hotels are right along the Pan-Am #1 highway or a few blocks off it . Along Highway 1 are number of modern commercial plazas and enough restaurants and some banks.

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http://advrider.com/index.php?thread....207964/page-5 then scroll down to post #93

Sjoerd,
You are the MX/CA guru!

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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
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Yes, that's the place I stayed, and they had a thriving business with parked cars and bikes waiting for their owners' return. The reason I didn't chime in on this thread is that the cargo area at Tocumen is several miles away on the other side of the runways. I'd think about looking for a hotel out that way rather than near the passenger side where you'd need to take taxis to the cargo (and customs) side.

I'll also note that I doubt it will take "a couple of days" for your bike to clear customs. Once it arrives, a couple of hours should suffice unless there's some sort of snafu (in which case you might need to go to the main customs office, which is somewhere in the central city--my venture there took about a half-day).

Hope that's helpful.

About a week ago I stayed at the Riande Hotel near Tocumen Airport. It was a typical big airport hotel near the passenger terminals. Okay rooms, WiFi and restaurant and close to plenty of shopping to prep bike and car rentals. I'm not sure the distance to the freight operations are but they're only an Uber away. The cost was $88US/night, pretty spendy for us travelers but it was convenient.

I stayed at Hotel Mar Bella in Panama City last December; is about 30-45 mins by Uber to the Airport. Good clean hotel with access to food. Most importantly, has a secure parking
Price was decent also, like $50 or so
if it helps