Panama's Top Ten Destinations
1.PANAMA CANAL RAINFOREST
Just minutes from Panama City lies the lush rainforests of the Panama Canal Zone. These rainforests are part of Soberania National Park and protected from development because they serve as watershed for the 50 mile long Panama Canal. They are the most accessible prime rainforests in the world and are home to a number of outstanding ecotourism attractions. See our article Panama Canal Rainforest for details.
Where to Stay:
Since this area is close to Panama City, you can comfortably stay in a Panama City hotel and make day trips. Or stay in one of the fine lodging options: Gamboa Rainforest Resort, Melia Panama Canal Resort or upscale ecolodge Canopy Tower.
Panama City Hotels
Gamboa Rainforest Resort - a kind of ecotourism Disney World, a 5 star hotel in the rainforest with a wide variety of activitites from a rainforest aerial tram, night-time crocodile safaris, river kayaking, rainforest hikes and lake fishing.
Canopy Tower - Called by Audubon Magazine one of the top 10 nature lodges in the world, Canopy Tower offers an extraordinary close-to-nature experience and world-class birding.
Melia Panama Canal - An elegant, large 5 star hotel on the shore of Gatun Lake along the Panama Canal and surrounded by lush rainforest. Just 10 minutes from the Colon Free Zone and with a business center and ample conference facilities, this hotel is for both the business traveler and the Atlantic coast tourist.
Restaurants - If you can't stay overnight, a perfect day trip from Panama City is to have lunch at Los Lagartos Restaurant alongside Chagres River at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. As you dine, you'll see hug ships floating by in the Panama Canal.If you ask the waiters, they'll throw bread in the river below and you'll be treated to a tropical wildlife food fight -crocodiles, fish, turtles and colorful water birds all vying for the bread pieces. We won't tell you who always wins the fight.
Birding - Two of the world's best birding locations: Pipeline Road near Panama City and Achiote Road near Colon.
Fishing - Gatun Lake created as part of the Panama Canal and once the world's largest manmade lake offers excellent lake fishing- prepare to catch a minimum of 40 fish.
Kayaking - Kayak in the Panama Canal to the historic Camino de la Cruces, the original "path between the seas" first used by the Spanish conquistadores
Summit Botanical Gardens and Zoo - Founded by the Americans in 1923, these gardens are home to over 15,000 tropical plants and a zoo of animals and birds native to the tropics. A main attraction and worth the visit by itself, is the Harpy Eagle compound where you can see a Harpy Eagle, the world's largest predator bird. This magnificent bird, which lives only in Panama and is close to extinction, stands about three feet tall. A local branch of the Peregrine Foundation is successfully breeding the bird and hopes to save it from extinction.
2. PANAMA CITY
Panama City is by itself a tourism attraction. The historical ruins of Old Panama and 17th centure Casco Viejo section of the city are must sees. Most city tours will include a trip to Miraflores Locks to view the Panama Canal as well. The nightlife is lively, most major hotels have casinos and Panama City is famous for its excellent restaurants. The Amador Causeway offers sweeping bay and Panama Canal views, bicycling and strolling areas as well excellent restaurants. You can take a day trip to Colon on the Panama Canal Railway.
For details see our article What to Do and See in Panama City
3. PACIFIC COAST BEACHES NEAR PANAMA CITY
Along the Pacific Coast just an hour outside Panama City, begin a string of pretty beaches of white sand and sapphire blue waters. It is hard to think of any other metropolitan city with so many fine beaches nearby. This lovely coastal area of Panama has several full service resorts as well as villas, an RV park and simple beach front cabins for rent. It is the preferred location for the vacation homes of Panama’s wealthiest families and million dollar homes dot the coast. And it’s so easy to get there- an hour from Panama City on a modern four-lane highway.
The Pacific Coast beaches near Panama City are home to two major resorts. The new Royal Decameron at Playa Blanca is a beautiful all-inclusive resort with 600 rooms, six restaurants and a full gamut of activities and facilities. The Coronado Hotel and Resort is another beautiful five star hotel with an 18 hole seaside golf course designed by Tom Fazio, the only one of its kind in Central America.
In addition to these large resorts there are a number of smaller lodging options from beach front cabins, villas and an RV park.
Also, an increasing number of American snowbirds and retirees are choosing to purchase a home on these Pacific Coast beaches- so check out the excellent vacation/retirement communities in this area.
For more details see our article: Pacific Coast Beaches Near Panama City.
4.CRATER VALLEY- EL VALLE DE ANTON - Just two hours from Panama City lies a flower-filled village nestled in the second largest volcano crater in the world.
Highlights: lovely mountain scenery, a handicrafts market where you can buy directly from Panama's Indians, Canopy Adventure, a tropical zoo, hiking in nature-rich Gaital Monument Nature Preserve, attractive small hotels. For details see our article: Crater Valley-El Valle de Anton.
5.SAN BLAS ISLANDS - San Blas offers two major attractions-picture perfect Caribbean islands in a totally-away-from-it-all-setting and a chance to observe the fascinating colorful life of the Kuna Indians who exclusively inhabit these islands on the Atlantic coast. The snorkeling is fabulous. It is recommended you go with a travel operator-they offer excellent packages and are experienced in connecting you to the gentle Kunas. Don't forget to snap up a few "molas"- Panama's most famous handicraft- a colorful reverse applique embroidery which we can buy directly from the islands' women artisans. Great photo ops on these enchanted isles-the results will delight friends and family at home.
See Tour Operators.
For more details see our article: San Blas Islands
6. BOCAS DEL TORO - Next to Costa Rica in West Panama, the archipelago of Bocas del Toro offers several unbeatable attractions: numerous idyllic Caribbean islands with lovely beaches and scenery fringed by lush nature-rich rainforest, an historic laid back town with friendly folk and a lively nightlife and numerous lodging options from 5 star to backpack specials.
For details, see our article: Bocas del Toro
7. BOQUETE - In the Chiriqui highlands, Boquete is a destination in itself. Called by Modern Maturity one of the top four best places to live outside the United States, Boquete is a picturesque mountain town offering beautiful mountain views, gourmet coffee farms, world-class birdwatching, international flower and orchid fairs, a near perfect climate and one of the best retirement/vacation communities in the world.
For details see our article: Boquete-Panama's Mountain Paradise.
8.CHIRIQUI HIGHLANDS - In West Panama,near the Costan Rican border, nestled at the foot of an 11,000 ft. high extinct volcano are a series of lovely mountain villages- Volcan, Cerro Punta and Guadalupe. Here you will find cloud forests, world-class birding, trekking and hiking and several fine ecolodges.
Places to Stay:
Los Quetzales
Bambito Mountain Resort
9.COLON/PORTOBELO AREA/ISLA GRANDE - Caribbean Beauty So Nearby
Nearby Panama City, less than 2 hours by car on a good highway, is the extraordinary Colon Province. On the Atlantic Caribbean sea, the province has a wide variety of attractions-beautiful beaches and island, fascinating historical sites, the largest Free Trade Zone outside Hong Kong, a state-of-the-art cruise port, world-class bird watching, diving and snorkeling and a spectacular 5 star hotel/convention center on the Panama Canal. For more details see our page on the Colon province: Destination page.
10. COIBA ISLAND NATIONAL MARINE PARK - Coiba Marine park consists of one huge and eight smaller islands off the Pacific Coast in West Panama. An unusual set of circumstances make Coiba one of the most virgin nature preserves in the Americas... for nearly a century it was the home to a Devil's Island kind of penal colony- no one dared set foot to hunt or farm. Today the colony is winding down- the few prisoners that remain are under heavy guard and far away from the places tourists frequent. What's left is a fabulous, untouched nature reserve for diving, snorkeling birding, nature observation and sport fishing.
Coiba is home to the second largest coral reef in the Eastern Pacific and one of the best diving spots in the world- the best diving "to be found along the Pacific Coast from Columbia to Mexico" according to Lonely Planet.
The abundant and unique marine and terrestial flora is a delight to nature lovers. Scarlet macaws nest here and humpback whales are seen frequently.
For more about this remarkable nature reserve, read our article by Dr. Tod Capson of the Smithsonian Institute of Tropical Research in Panama.
Diving: Scuba Panama offers diving excursions.
Nature Tours: Ancon Expeditions
Ecocircuitos
11. DARIEN NATIONAL PARK
The Darien National Park is Panama's most spectacular national park- rainforest so thick and wild that it is the only place they could not cut through the Panamamerican highway-heaven for adventurers and nature lovers. The only"roads" here are rivers.
Highlights:
Birding and Nature: Lonely Planet says the birding is among the world's finest and that "There are places you can sit back and watch four species of macaws fly by with outstanding frequency."
Recently, a few Harpy Eagle nests have been located. The Harpy Eagle, a magnificent bird which is almost extinct, is the world's largest predator bird, standing over three feet tall. For the first time ever it is possible to view the chicks and parents of this rare bird with some certainty.
Tour Operators: Ancon Expeditions specializes in birding and nature treks in the Darien, including the Harpy Eagle opportunity.
Exotics Adventures specializes in Darien tours offering authentic contact with nature, living indian cultures and the tropical rainforest. You will live in the villages of the Embera and Wounaan Indians of the Darien experiencing their culture, artcrafts and vast knowledge of their rainforest habitat. They are also specialists in Darien cross-isthmus treks, including the ultimate adventure- a 3 days, coast to coast journey- that´s right, they take you from from the Caribbean Sea ( San Blas ) to the Pacific Ocean on foot and by kayak. Their tours have been featured in Marianne, Trek and Terre Sauvage magazines. Exotics Adventures
Ecocircuitos offers birding and nature treks.
