Panama · Panamá Province
Plan your Panama City trip
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
01Your itinerary
02Where to stay
Casco Viejo
Best for first-timers and short staysThe restored old town, and the only part of the city where you can genuinely live on foot. Colonial buildings converted into small design hotels, rooftop bars, plazas that fill up at dusk, and a restaurant density nowhere else in Panama matches. It is also the loudest option on a weekend night.
A restored colonial boutique hotel near Plaza Herrera
The western plazas are a block or two off the busiest bar streets, which is the difference between atmospheric and sleepless.
$$$An apartment with a balcony near Plaza Bolívar
Renting in the quieter northern half of the peninsula puts you near the Teatro Nacional and the sea wall with less late-night noise.
$$El Cangrejo
Best for eaters, longer stays and anyone using the MetroThe mid-century cosmopolitan quarter and the best-value base in the city. Walkable streets, the deepest concentration of good independent restaurants in Panama, proper coffee, and a Metro station, which no other appealing neighbourhood can claim.
A mid-range hotel off Vía Argentina
You trade colonial views for being able to walk to twenty good kitchens and ride the Metro to the old town in minutes.
$$An apartment near Vía España
The commercial spine is noisy but puts supermarkets, pharmacies and the Iglesia del Carmen Metro stop within a couple of blocks.
$Marbella & Bella Vista
Best for business trips and points redemptionsThe banking spine behind the Cinta Costera waterfront. High-rise, business-oriented and short on charm, but well stocked with reliable international hotels, easy ride-hailing in every direction, and bay views from the upper floors.
A high-floor international chain hotel on Avenida Balboa
Ask specifically for a bay-facing room above the tenth floor; the skyline-and-water view is most of what you are paying for here.
$$$A serviced apartment in Obarrio
A few blocks inland from the water, cheaper for the same square metres, and walkable to the Calle Uruguay restaurants.
$$Amador Causeway
Best for a calm final night or a family with young childrenOut on the spit built from Canal spoil, with sea on both sides, a marina, the Biomuseo and the best view back at the skyline. Quiet, breezy and low-rise, but genuinely cut off — everything beyond the causeway needs a car or a ride-hail.
A waterfront hotel near the marina
Worth it for the sunset and the ship-watching; less so if you plan to be in Casco Viejo every evening.
$$$Clayton & the former Canal Zone
Best for birders, families and repeat visitorsLeafy, spacious, low-density streets of American-era housing under huge trees, a short hop from the Metropolitan park and Miraflores. The most peaceful base in the city and the least like a city at all.
A converted Zone-era house near Clayton
Rainforest on the doorstep and Miraflores fifteen minutes away, at the cost of needing transport for absolutely everything else.
$$Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.
03Tickets & tours
Casco Viejo
The walled city built in 1673 after the original was burned, now a UNESCO-listed grid of Spanish colonial, French colonial and neoclassical facades.
Tip Walk it early, around seven or eight, when the light is low and the streets belong to residents rather than tour groups, then come back after dark for the rooftops.
Miraflores Locks
The Canal's Pacific-side locks and the standard place to watch a ship transit.
Tip Check the posted transit schedule before you commit to a time slot — vessels come through in clustered windows, mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and an unlucky arrival…
Panamá Viejo
The ruins of the 1519 original, the first European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, sacked and abandoned after Henry Morgan's raid in…
Tip The adjoining museum is what makes the stones legible — do it first, then walk the site, and climb the tower for the view of the ruins against the skyline behind them.
Parque Natural Metropolitano
Two hundred-odd hectares of tropical dry forest inside the city boundary, protected because the Canal watershed needed it.
Tip Go at opening, before seven if you can. The wildlife is active early, the trails are steep enough to punish a late start in the heat, and it empties out by mid-morning.
Cerro Ancón
The forested hill in the middle of the former Canal Zone, with an enormous Panamanian flag on top that was a deliberate statement of sovereignty.
Tip Walk up rather than driving — it takes about half an hour on a paved road through forest, and sightings of sloths and toucans on the climb are routine.
Biomuseo & the Amador Causeway
Frank Gehry's only building in Latin America, a riot of folded coloured metal on the causeway, telling the story of how the isthmus rose from the sea…
Tip Pair it with a bike along the causeway at sunset — the ships anchored offshore waiting for a transit slot are the best free view in the city.
Mercado de Mariscos
The working fish market on the edge of Casco Viejo, with a row of stalls out front selling ceviche by the cup for a couple of dollars and a plain…
Tip Come before noon when turnover is highest, and check the day — the market traditionally closes for cleaning at the start of the week.
Cinta Costera
The reclaimed waterfront park running several kilometres along Avenida Balboa, with cycle lanes, exercise equipment, basketball courts and an…
Tip Late afternoon is when the city actually uses it. Note the tide — at low water the bay drains to mudflat and the smell is real.
Day trips from Panama City
Isla Taboga
A half-hour ferry from the Amador Causeway to a steep volcanic island of flowering gardens, a church claimed to be among the oldest in the…
Day tripGamboa & Soberanía National Park
Forty-five minutes up the Canal to where the Chagres river meets it. Pipeline Road here is one of the most famous birding trails on earth, with day…
Day tripEl Valle de Antón
Two hours west and a thousand metres up, a small town sitting inside the crater of a dormant volcano.
Day tripPortobelo & the Caribbean coast
Ninety minutes across the isthmus to the ruined Spanish fortifications where the silver of Peru was once stockpiled for the treasure fleets.
Day tripEverything to do in Panama City
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.
04Getting there & around
Getting around
The single most useful fact: Panama City has a Metro, the first in Central America, and it is clean, air-conditioned, cheap and dramatically faster than the roads above it.
Flights
Compare fares into Panama City and pick dates that suit the days you planned.
Airport transfers
Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.
Car hire from Panama City
Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.
Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.