by Case Lane
Spending a weekend in Panama City, Panama is an easygoing and delightful surprise. The capital of Panama is the literal bridge between two continents, a functional crossroads of the world. From your arrival, the small city punches weigh above its weight.
With a glittering glass and steel skyline that makes the city look like a mega world player, this Central American tropical urban setting presents a traveler with a few days to spare a cross-section of history, modernity and the unexpected.
If you have two or three days to visit and see the sites that made the city famous, here are suggestions:
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal represents the achievement first sought by the Vikings a thousand years ago. Those intrepid travelers sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean, and ran into a continent. For centuries to follow, Europeans coveted a shortcut through the Americas to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The vision was realized in 1914, and Panama gained its place on the world map.
Your weekend in Panama should include a trip to the Canal Zone. Visiting this engineering marvel brings a traveler’s understanding of the grandeur and demands of global trade into living reality.
To see the ships passing through the canal gates, there are two popular visitor centers, one on each end.
Panama Canal Railway
For a complete immersion, travel to the site as tens of thousands of workers once did, on the Panama Canal railway. The route of this one-hour long classic railway ride often follows the canal. You will see views of both untamed jungle and towering container ships. Thousands died in the construction years. The closeness of the unforgiving jungle foliage will remind you of their struggle for the promise of the canal’s construction.
Agua Clara Visitor Center
After the train ride, the destination is the Agua Clara Visitors Center, the official Atlantic-side welcome center for canal visitors. The center is at the new larger locks where you can sit in the bleacher-like stands, and watch ships pass through the three-chambered locks. There is also an audio-video presentation, cafe and gift shop.
Depending on your affinity for container ships and canal passages, time spent here is variable. But as an entrepreneur, taking a few moments to appreciate the logistics of global trade will add weight to your weekend in Panama. About 40 million tons worth of goods pass through the 80 kilometer route every month. And the numbers continue to grow.
Colón
The Panama Canal railway train travels in each direction only once a day. If you want to take the train back to Panama City, you have to wait until late afternoon. Or you can return at any time by taking a taxi to the city of Colón, and catching a long-distance bus back to Panama City.
Colón is city on the Atlantic-end of the canal zone, and there is little to see, but a reminder why Panama is still considered a developing country. The ultra-modern skyline may appear to promote Panama as the vanguard of a Central American renaissance. But crowded, dirty, noisy hustle around the city’s bus station will quickly remind you the story is a bit misleading.
However, you can reverse your opinion again, and be jolted back into the new Panama at the end of the bus trip. When you disembark at the Albrook bus station, you can take the clean and efficient metro back into the city. Once again you will feel as if you are in a modern city.
Miraflores Visitor Center
At the Pacific-end of the locks, closer to Panama City is the older Miraflores Visitor Center. Similar to Agua Clara, there are viewing areas where you can watch ships go through all day.
In addition, the center has a museum, information videos, cafe and gift shop.
However, since Miraflores is closer to the city, the center is typically the busier of the two locations.
Casco Viejo
Your weekend in Panama must also include the city’s charming historic old city, Casco Viejo or the San Felipe district. This area is full of preserved colonial buildings now turned over to shops, restaurants, bars and artists’ shops.
You can wander around and experience the lively streets, or stop at a rooftop bar and enjoy a drink and the view.
If you are not yet tired of all things canal, the Panama Canal museum is also in this neighborhood on the Plaza de la Independencia, diagonally across from the cathedral, at the district’s heart. If you continue to wander around, a few more charming plazas will be uncovered alongside delightful dining establishments that give the neighborhood an up-and-coming air.
Biomuseo
Across the water to the south of San Felipe is the Amador area and its quirky but gold-plated name attraction, the Biomuseo, designed by architect Frank Gehry. The colorful origami-piece roof immediately stands out, and signals Gehry’s signature even to novices of architectural design. Once you get past the photos on the outside, you can learn about Panama’s biodiversity inside.
This is the point you are reminded that Panama is a Central American country straddling two oceans with a dramatic impenetrable jungle, the Darién Gap, separating it from South America. The greenery extends to almost all of the country’s Atlantic coast. If you are a naturalist, your explorations would have to continue beyond the cities and the canal zone to parks and preserves further afield.
Where to stay: Beach or downtown
Downtown
The city’s skyscraper downtown will certainly surprise those who know the country has only four million people, and no commodity-based trading wealth. But the skyline does support the known, and somewhat questionable, understanding that the city has plenty of money.
From the water, the skyline makes the city look like a modern metropolis, but up close the downtown streets are narrow, congested and not welcoming for walking around. The city core is a pressed jumble. But if you have a chance to ride the modern metro, you also get a reprieve from the heat and crowds.
Stay downtown for access to the old city center and the restaurants.
Beaches
The isthmus of Panama is approximately 100 miles at its widest, leaving the entire population within a day’s drive of beaches on the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. While the country does not have the beach reputation of its island Caribbean neighbors, there are several spots where even a weekender may enjoy a break and a dip in the ocean.
Closest to the city is Playa Bonita, approximately ten miles from downtown, but a world away from the noise and traffic of city living. Directly offshore Taboga Island can be reached by ferry, and would be a day trip on its own for those who want to stay on the water.
Dining
As the crossroads of the world, Panamanian cuisine pulls from the north, south and east to fill its plate. If you know what to expect from the region, you will be happy to find ceviche and sancocho, tamales and plantains. Given the international audience there are solid restaurants to check for dining out nights, and quick bites to be had with the locals.
In sum, unhurried and manageable, Panama City is a fun and surprising weekend getaway. There is more to see and do than watch ships traverse the canal, and the modern feel in downtown presents its corners of comfort and amusement for a typical traveler. Given the stable economy, the city felt safe and flexible for getting around, and seeing the popular sites.
You can check out the Lonely Planet’s Panama guide in bookstores or at the Lonely Planet website for more detailed information.
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