Panama City
Currency
USD
Language
Spanish
Timezone
Panama
Continent
North America
Discover Panama City
Panama City holds three cities in one, strung along fifteen kilometres of coast. San Felipe — the Casco Viejo — is the colonial town of 1673, on the World Heritage list, with its iron balconies, the Teatro Nacional and ruins left as they are among restored fronts. To the east, the Conjunto Monumental de Panama Viejo keeps the remains of the first city, burned by the pirate Henry Morgan in 1671. To the west, the Miraflores Locks are the reason for the trip: from a terrace you watch three-hundred-metre container ships rise twenty-six metres, and the Panama Canal Museum explains how. Frank Gehry's Biomuseo, under its coloured metal roofs, sits on the causeway that closes the bay.
When to go
December to April: the dry season, hot — thirty-one degrees all year — but without the daily downpours. From May to November it rains hard in the late afternoon, briefly, and the rest of the day is usable. There is no cool season: the temperature does not move across the year, only the humidity changes. Panama lies outside the hurricane belt.
Getting around
The metro, the first in Central America, has three lines and serves the centre for a few cents. The Miraflores Locks need a taxi or a tour, about forty minutes. The Casco Viejo is walked. Uber works and avoids haggling with taxis. The Cinta Costera runs several kilometres along the bay on foot or by bicycle, with the skyline opposite.
Where to eat
Sancocho, a chicken broth with yam and culantro, is the national comfort dish. Ceviche is eaten standing at the Mercado de Mariscos for almost nothing. Patacones, smashed and fried plantain, come with everything. Raspadura and the coffee of Boquete, grown at altitude in the west, are worth the detour. No halal address is listed.
Good to know
Panama has its own currency, the balboa, but it exists only as coins: the notes in circulation are US dollars, at par. Cards work in the centre, cash is useful elsewhere. The Casco Viejo is safe and patrolled, but the neighbouring quarters — El Chorrillo, Curundú — are not crossed on foot. And a canal transit is booked ahead: partial tours take half a day, the full crossing a whole one.
Where to Stay in Panama City
Top Activities in Panama City
landmarkSan Felipe
viewpointAncón Hill
Free
museumBiomuseo
landmarkTemplo de la Ciudad de Panamá
museumMuseo de Arte Contemporaneo
landmarkTeatro Nacional
museumPanama History Museum
landmarkMiraflores Locks
museumPanama Canal Museum
landmarkMonumento Goethals
museumMuseo Afroantillano
Miraflores Visitors Center
Panama Canal Railway Passenger Terminal
landmarkIglesia de Santa Ana
Conjunto Monumental de Panama Viejo
José Martí
Casa de la Municipalidad
parkMetropolitan Natural Park
Free
Parque La Gloria
Theatre Guild of Ancón
Palacio de Las Garzas [Presidencia De La República]
Garden of the Park of Biodiversity of Biomuseo
Free