Panama City

At a glance · 5 reasons to go

Why Panama City.

1. 1

   The Panama Canal is the headline — the Miraflores Locks visitor centre lets you watch giant ships rise and fall on their journey between two oceans.

2. 2

   Casco Viejo, the UNESCO old town, balances ruined convents and rooftop bars against the gleaming Manhattan-style skyline across the bay.

3. 3

   Rainforest sits within the city limits — Soberanía National Park and the canal’s Gatun Lake teem with monkeys, sloths, and toucans.

4. 4

   It is the regional hub between the Americas, and the launch point for the off-grid San Blas Islands of the indigenous Guna people.

5. 5

   A modern, dollar-using, walkable capital that surprises first-timers with how cosmopolitan — and how green — it is.

Read this before you go

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