Panama City Destination Guide

Casco Viejo is the symbol of the city's colonial heritage. Narrow streets, beautiful colonial plazas, and magnificent churches evoke Panama City's historical past, while impressive views over the modern city, the Causeway and the "Puente de las Americas" remind you of how modern a city Panama City has become. Do not miss the Plaza Bolivar and the National Theater; Plaza de Independencia, the San Jose Church, Paseo las Bovedas and Plaza de Francia.

Casco Viejo is definitely a center of the nightlife scene with live salsa and jazz music, art galleries, museums, lounges, and trendy restaurants.

Your visit to Casco Viejo will not be complete without including a visit to the Panama Canal Museum. The museum offers an excellent exhibit of the historical and political contexts around the design and the execution of this marvel of modern engineering and it is worth visiting it before going to the Panama Canal. The building by itself is of historical interest, as it was the headquarters for the French canal company.

Opening hours: Tue-Sun 9.30am-5.30pm

Designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, Panama City's Museum of Biodiversity is currently under construction and is scheduled to be completed in 2010. This museum will showcase the rich biodiversity of Panama and advocate for the need to preserve the wonders of the region's extraordinary biodiversity for future generations. Frank Gerhy is well known for his architectural masterpieces such as the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao.

Located at the foot of Ancon Hill, Mi Pueblito Tourist Center is a tribute to Panama's three main ethnic groups (Hispanic, Native American and African).

Located not far from the city limits, this large, 265-hectare swath of virgin and secondary rainforest offers spectacular views of the Panama canal, the Puente Centenario, and the Panama City skyline. The park teems with a variety of animal and bird species. With over 200 types of tropical birds, this is a birdwatcher's paradise - toucans, egrets, hummingbirds, motmots and more.

The park is opened from 6 am to 5 pm every day.

Views of the Panama Canal can be enjoyed from several key vantage points; stop first at Amador (also called the Causeway) where you will be able to see the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal and huge vessels waiting for authorization to proceed, and then continue your trip to one of the Canal's three locks (Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatun). The closest lock from Panama City is the one called Miraflores, also the most popular among tourists, thanks to its amenities.

The Panama-Gamboa tourist route encompasses a diverse array of tourism attractions -the Miraflores and the Pedro Miguel locks, the Summit golf course, the National Soberania Park and its hiking trails, the Pipeline Road with its 500 different species of birds, and the Gamboa Rainforest Resort which provides a broad selection of day-tours especially for those interested in wildlife-watching, hiking and birding. The Gamboa Rainforest Resort has changed the small town of Gamboa into an ecotourism destination..Gamboa and its surroundings are home to diverse species of birds and reptiles, including iguanas, crocodiles and caymans. From Gamboa, you can take a day-tour to Monumento Nacional Isla Barro Colorado and the Fundacion Avifauna Eugene Eisenmann Canopy Tower.

Once owned by Hollywood star John Wayne, Isla Taborcillo (John Wayne Island) is located off the Panama coast. A resort hotel and a theme park on the island make it a favoured holiday destination for European and American tourists.

East of Panama City is Isla Chepillo, an island in Panama Bay. Access to the island is by boat. The enormous waves and strong swells in the sea here make the island a perfect destination for surfers. Other attractions are diving, fishing or simply chilling out in a hammock. Isla Chepillo is home to a variety of wildlife.

Calidonia: Follows the city's main access road and busy shopping streets. This region is also known as La Cuchilla de Calidonia.

La Expocision: This area houses most of the lower budget hotels. The area preserves part of the original culture of Panama and the enormous cultural diversity of its population, making it an interesting place to stay and explore.

Santa Ana: From Central Avenue to Parque Santa Ana. This is the one of the liveliest and most popular shopping districts in the city. You can buy cheap clothing, household goods and electronics.

San Felipe: Also known as Casco Antiguo. For centuries this was the centre of the city's social and political life, and is still home to the presidential palace. Restaurants and cafes are plentiful in this region, which still preserves the architectural style of the colonial era. Thus, Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Neoclassical buildings now stand side by side in Casco Viejo.

Panama Viejo: On the coast, about 6 km east of the new city, stand the ruins of Panama Viejo (Old Panama). The original Panama City was strategically located, making it a required point of passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific.

Balboa: Part of the former Canal Zone is the town of Balboa, administered by the United States from 1903 to 1979, when the Torrijos-Carter treaty was signed. Balboa still conserves many of the distinctive aspects of a US provincial town.

Amador: Situated to the south, this fort was constructed during the US military administration, and is currently being transformed into a massive tourism development.

Causeway: Stretching 6km from Amador into the Panama bay and the canal entrance, linking the islands of Naos, Perico and Flamenco, is a long Causeway, a place for relaxing, walking, riding a bicycle, or just taking pictures of the bay or the ships passing by.

Bella Vista: Bella Vista was the seat of the country's well-to-do families which, sometime after 1915, abandoned their century-old colonial mansions along the narrow streets of San Felipe and settled between the neighborhood of La Exposicion and Playa Peña Prieta, a popular beach that is now known as Avenida Balboa. Bella Vista became a corregimiento (one of the city's main districts), and extends to El Cangrejo and Campo Alegre, which currently include the city's financial district. Bella Vista also has its share of activities, with many fashionable restaurants along Via España.

Visitors will find the trendy nightlife sector located between Calle Uruguay and Calle 50. Major Panama City hotels and restaurants tend to be open from 7:00 a.m to 12:00 a.m., 7 days a week.