We spent a week in Panama, splitting our time between the capital, Panama City and the Caribbean islands of Bocas del Toro. The highlight of our visit was, of course, a trip on the Panama Canal. It is usually only possible to do the canal trip at weekends, so our itinerary was built around this.
Note: We flew from Panama City to Bocas del Toro and back again. Our original itinerary, which had to be shortened when I contracted Covid, involved continuing from Bocas del Toro up the east coast of Panama by ferry and bus.
| Day 1 | Panama City Flight to Panama City Accommodation – Plaza Paitilla Inn Cinta Costera Photo Parador Cinta Costera 3 Dinner at Nomada Eatery |
| Day 2 | Panama City to Bocas del Toro Miraflores Visitor Centre Flight to Bocas del Toro Lunch at El Pirata Accommodation |
| Day 3 | Bocas del Toro Isla Colon Isla Bastimentos Drinks at Skully’s Dinner from Ciao Pizza |
| Day 4 | Bocas del Toro |
| Day 5 | Bocas del Toro to Panama City Isla Carenero Lunch at Bibi’s on the Beach Flight to Panama City |
| Day 6 | Panama Canal Lake Gatún Culebra Cut Centennial Bridge Pedro Miguel Lock Miraflores Locks Bridge of the Americas Amador Causeway |
| Day 7 | Panama City – Casco Viejo Iglesia de San José Metropolitan Cathedral Arco Chato Paseo las Bovédas Plaza de Francia Canal Administration Building |
Panama Day 1 – Panama City
Today, four days later than planned, due to my Covid quarantine, we are finally leaving Costa Rica for Panama City. I can remember learning about the building of the Panama Canal at school many years ago, so am very excited to finally be visiting this Engineering Wonder of the World.
Flight to Panama City
It feels so good to be checking out of my ‘isolation hotel’ and getting on the move again, even if the majority of the day consists of taxi-airport-plane-airport -taxi. As we come in to land over Panama, we have a spectacular view of all the ships queuing up to enter the Canal.
Accommodation – Plaza Paitilla Inn
Everything runs smoothly; the plane lands early, there is no queue at immigration, the bags arrive quickly and half an hour after we were due to land, we are sitting in our 17th floor glass-fronted hotel room in the Plaza Paitilla Inn admiring the view. It’s easy to admire the view, as there is a button next to the bed which opens and shuts the curtains!
We are staying in the city centre – our original hotel in the Canal Zone was full on our rescheduled dates – so we are further away from the old town than we’d hoped. But it’s a lovely hotel with a great view across the bay and a pool, so overall, not too disappointing.
Cinta Costera
Once we’ve settled in and I’m over my fascination with the electric curtains, we go for a walk along the promenade, or Cinta Costera (coastal beltway) as they call it here.
The Cinta Costera is a 4.3 mile long public recreation area that runs along Panama Bay from Paitilla to the Casco Viejo. It has a foot path, a bike lane, gardens, sports facilities, lookouts and public art.
We walk the length (around 4 miles) of the Cinta Costera, from our hotel in Punta Paitilla to the Casco Viejo in the heat. It is very picturesque with excellent views across the bay, but by far my longest post-Covid exertion and I’m extremely hot and tired by the time we reach our ultimate destination.
Photo Parador
For that iconic Insta worthy shot, the Photo Parador is located around half way along the coastal stretch of the pathway.
Cinta Costera 3
The final part of the pathway, the Cinta Costera 3, consists of a pretty spectacular 1.5 mile long bridge, which runs round the bay around the Casco Viejo. You can walk the length of the bridge, which has three viewpoints along the way.
Dinner at Nomada Eatery
So we find somewhere to rest and have dinner; Nomada Eatery. The food is great. And it’s happy hour – so a couple of medicinal frozen margaritas (passion fruit and strawberry) help to cool me down!
Then, we take an Uber back to the hotel to watch the sunset from our bed in the sky.
Panama Day 2 – Panama City to Bocas del Toro
Today we’re (kind of) back on track with our original itinerary. We’re taking our originally booked flight to Bocas del Toro; a group of Caribbean islands just off the Panamanian coast. We had originally planned to continue from there by bus along the coast. But as we have only spent one night in Panama City, we will now fly back at the weekend to explore the capital further and for our rescheduled canal trip.
Miraflores Visitor Centre
Our flight isn’t until 1 pm, so we have sufficient time to visit the Miraflores Visitor Centre first. This consists of a museum with a viewing platform over the Miraflores Locks. There’s also an IMAX film about the history of the canal.
We’ve timed it completely wrong; just before we arrive, a cruise ship turns up and nearly all its passengers disembark to watch their ship pass through the lock from the Visitor Centre,. So we end up behind a queue of hundreds of elderly Americans and have to wait ages to be let in.
Eventually, the cruise ship is through the lock, the elderly Americans are bused back to rejoin it, and it’s our turn to access the viewing platform. We get to watch a couple of ships pass through the lock, complete with a running commentary, which is very interesting.
It’s a crazy idea – a canal between two oceans, passing over a mountain, slicing a country (a continent even) in two! Apparently, the first attempt (by the French) was to build a level canal by cutting a hole through the mountain, but that failed because the engineer only visited Panama in the (short) dry season and once it started raining, 22,000 workers died mainly from drowning but also from being bitten by snakes/spiders.
The Visitor Centre is open daily from 8 am until 6 pm. But it’s best to check the Transit Schedule to seen when maritime traffic will be at its heaviest (ships usually start passing through Miraflores around 8.45 am and 1.45 pm). Tickets for foreign adults cost $17.22.
Flight to Bocas del Toro
Even though it’s ages until our domestic flight and the airport is only 3 miles away, the old man is worrying about the possibility of not being able to find a taxi/problems at check in etc. So we set off. Our Uber takes 3 minutes to arrive, check in takes about the same amount of time and we are sitting at the gate 90 minutes prior to departure. Some time later, we board the tiny plane for the 45 minute flight to Bocas del Toro. On the way, we get a great view of the ships sailing along the canal and queuing in the lake for the next set of locks.
We land in Bocas. The runway runs parallel with a mangrove swamps, which is filled with the most litter I’ve ever seen outside of an actual rubbish tip. We disembark and enter the terminal building, where an airport employee welcomes us to paradise. I like to think of paradise as being significantly less strewn with crap.
Lunch at El Pirata
We walk into town and have lunch and a beer in a waterfront bar; El Pirata. Then we attempt to catch a taxi.
Accommodation
In Bocas, taxis are not exclusive. Hence there are already people in the taxi headed in the opposite direction who we must drop off first. And we stop to pick up more passengers along the way. Eventually, it’s our turn to be dropped off. We are staying at the Villa Sevilla. As the old man’s Spanish accent isn’t great, the driver sets off for the Selina. Luckily, the mistake is quickly rectified and we set off for the correct destination.
After a couple of miles on the main (only) road, the driver suddenly turns onto a dirt track, drives a few hundred metres and stops in the middle of nowhere. At first I assume we’re being mugged. But then I see a sign on the gate – we have arrived at the Villa Sevilla.
It’s a lot more remote than I’d anticipated – had I known, I wouldn’t have turned up at 3 pm without having purchased provisions. However, the owners are very hospitable and even offer to run us in to town to the supermarket.
The accommodation consists of the owners’ house plus four cabins in a garden with a pool in a clearing in the rainforest. We settle in to our home for the next three nights. Only one of the other cabins are occupied – so it’s like our own private accommodation. There’s even a bar (which consists of a fridge full of drinks and an honesty box) and we can sit and drink beer and eat dinner on our veranda, whilst watching the wild life (monkeys, hummingbirds, bats and even a sloth. We paid $20 to see a sloth in Costa Rica and now there’s one just hanging there in front of our bedroom!
Note: Since our visit, the villa has been rebranded as The Monkey Bowl. It still has the cabins and the pool. In addition, it also boasts its own skate bowl and a drum kit. So maybe somewhat less peaceful than on our visit…
Panama Day 3 – Bocas del Toro
We wake up at – who knows? My iPhone is struggling to work out where the f*** we are and keeps randomly swapping between Panamanian and Costa Rican time. My watch is Bluetoothed to my phone, so the only way of finding out the time is googling ‘What time is it in Panama’? No matter, it’s impossible to sleep past dawn when the howler monkeys wake up anyway.
So I get up and sit on the veranda and watch the monkeys, who are in the tree above the bar, until breakfast is served. It’s a very civilised affair – the owner lays the table on our veranda and brings pancakes with banana and chocolate, followed by eggs and toast. The old man is in seventh heaven. The fact that the pancakes are covered in Nutella, which I’m allergic to, means he gets two platefuls. He swaps these for a couple of pieces of his toast. Not the best deal I’ve ever made!
Isla Colon
The combination of two full days of travel, plus sightseeing, on top of my recent illness have left me totally wiped out. So while the old man goes island hopping, I retire to a little cabin by the pool complete with daybed with a book. I’ve run out of books of my own, and the only English language book I can find here is Death and the Penguin: “In today’s Ukraine, all that stands between one man and murder by the mafia is a penguin”.
My relaxing day the pool is interrupted by more guests checking in. They’re German. And religious. She comes over to introduce herself and tell me she’s here for the animals – she thanks God for the animals! I resist the urge to bury myself in my Ukrainian mafia v penguin novel and offer to show her where the sloth hangs out.
The old man returns around 4 pm. I have finally decided to move my arse and take a walk along the track to the main (only) road, which runs along the coast and I find him being dropped off by a taxi at the junction. The walk along the beach is very picturesque, but there is a lot of sewage discharging itself into the sea, which puts me off somewhat.
Rather ironically, we’re on Isla Colon, surrounded by the contents of our own colons. I read that 95% of the island’s income comes from tourism, so it’s sad that so little effort is put in to keeping the island clean.
Isla Bastimentos
After the old man has told me about his day – island hopping wasn’t as straightforward as my guide book made it sound. In theory, water taxis run to the neighbouring islands. In reality, he was the only person who wanted a taxi and they refused to make the journey for just one person. After a 30 minute wait, the driver agreed to take him to his chosen island, Isla Bastimentos (Provisions Island – thus named as Columbus stopped here for provisions in 1502). The agreed price for the 10 minute boat ride is $10, plus another $10 to come and pick him up again later.. The old man visited his island, paid a further $5 to walk on the beach, then met his boat for the return journey, to be told the price has gone up to $20!
Drinks at Skully’s
We walk to the nearest restaurant, Skully’s, for dinner overlooking the sea and select a table. The table is dirty and obviously hasn’t been cleaned since the previous occupants left. A waitress appears. I assume she’s going to clean the table, but she dumps a couple of menus in the sticky mess and departs. While we’re perusing the menus and I’m wondering if they have a similar approach to cleanliness in the kitchen, it starts to rain. Luckily, the waitress hasn’t bothered coming to take our order, so we leave.
Dinner from Ciao Pizza
Across the road is a tiny pizzeria, Ciao Pizza, where they make fresh pizza with home made sourdough in a wood fired oven. I order the vegetarian, which comes topped with an array of vegetables, including aubergine. I wouldn’t think to put aubergine on a pizza, but it works. The rest of the evening is spent on the veranda eating delicious pizza and drinking beer.
Panama Day 4 – Bocas del Toro
We have breakfast and the old man departs for a boat trip which he has booked. I opt to stay by the pool with my book. I think I’ve made the right decision, as it rains pretty much all day (lord only knows what it’s like in the wet season!) and I am able to take shelter in the little poolside cabin, complete with day bed and fairy lights.
And that’s how I spend pretty much all of my day. In the afternoon, I take a nap and the earth really does move – an earthquake in Costa Rica! Then I go for a swim with my new BFFs (the religious Germans). He tells me about the highlight of his day – finding a huge boa constrictor which wrapped itself around his arm!
The old man finally reappears from his trip. We eat dinner on the veranda where we are joined by a huge, flappy moth which causes me to scream so loud the owner comes out to check no-one’s died.
Panama Day 5 – Bocas del Toro to Panama City
Isla Carenero
Today is our last day on Bocas del Toro. We take a bus into town, and from there, a water taxi to another island; Isla Carenero (Careening Island – thus named as Columbus’ ships were careened – had their sails repaired – here in 1502).
We agree a pick up time of 3 pm with the driver. I attempt to disembark onto the jetty. First, my rucksack (bearing in mind, we have checked out, so this contains our passports, money, medication…). Just as the rucksack is hovering over the jetty and I am about to let go, the old man leaps out of the boat. The force created by 20 stones of pensioner lunging forwards causes the boat to lurch violently backwards. I just about manage to rescue the rucksack and all my worldly goods from going swimming with the fishes!
Isla Carenero is an island of two parts; around the edges are tourist cabins and bars built on stilts overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Inland, the islanders live in much less pleasant conditions. The old man is in ‘aimless wander’ mode and so we set off along a trail through a slum where children play football in the dust while the adults mostly sit around drinking beer. One man appears to be getting his kicks from abusing a chicken.
Lunch at Bibi’s on the Beach
We head to one of the aforementioned bars on stilts – Bibi’s on the Beach – for lunch. The old man orders a whole fish. The only vegetarian option contains nuts, so I opt for fish goujons & chips.
Finally, after a long wait, our food comes. It’s not that great; when you bite into each goujon, a stream of hot fat gushes out. But the chips are good and the view is pretty spectacular.
We return to the jetty shortly before the prearranged meeting time. There is, in fact, a succession of boats, all of which we turn down because it seems rude not to wait for the driver we’d arranged to meet. 3 pm comes and goes with no sign of Lorenzo. So we take the next boat which claims to be returning to Bocas. I hate boats. I had thought this trip would be fine, as it only takes a few minutes on the calm water between two islands close together. When I climb aboard the boat, I assume we are going straight back. However, the driver is keen to find more passengers. Hence, he sets off instead around the island towards the windward side, over the coral, into big waves breaking over the reef, in search of passengers on the surfer beach. I don’t do waves and have a total meltdown, screaming at him to stop! At this point, in a bid to stop my screaming, the driver turns towards Bocas. We return without adding to our passenger tally and a I stumble shakily off the boat.
Flight to Panama City
Once my legs no longer feel like jelly, we walk to the airport and check in for our flight. Back in Panama City, we catch a taxi back to our hotel, the Plaza Paitilla Inn, where we are reunited with our suitcase and our room in the sky.
Panama Day 6 – Panama Canal
Today is the highlight of my trip and it doesn’t disappoint; we are undertaking a partial transit of the Panama Canal. We booked our tour with Panama Marine Adventures. The partial transit takes around 5-6 hours and costs $155. If you want to opt for the full transit, this will take approximately 12 hours and cost $210.
It’s a southbound transit – in general, ships travel northbound through the locks in the morning and south in the afternoon. So, we are picked up by a minibus around midday and taken to roughly half way along the canal in order to sail back to Panama City.
Lake Gatún
We are driven 20 miles to Lake Gatún; an elevated artificial lake created by damming the Río Chagres and flooding a valley. Here, we board our boat – the Pacific Queen, and set sail for the Pacific Ocean.
Culebra Cut
We pass through the huge Lake Gatún and into the Culebra Cut; a 7.9 mile long artificial trough blasted through the Continental Divide.
Centennial Bridge
After passing under Centennial Bridge, where the Pan American Highway crosses the canal, we reach our first lock; Pedro Miguel.
Pedro Miguel Lock
To economise on time and water as we pass through Pedro Miguel Lock, we must buddy up with a bigger ship – out buddy is a container ship, the New Century 2. Once we are in position, which is fairly easy as we’re only small, it’s time for the huge container ship to be manoeuvred into place. Ships pass through the locks under their own power, tethered to locomotives on either side which keep them centred. With only around a 45 cm margin for error, it’s a slow and extremely skilful job.
Once the ship is in place, the lock gates close and we drop 9 metres to reach the height of the next lake; Miraflores. The process takes around 10 minutes and displaces over a million litres of water.
Time for a quick bite to eat during a lull in the action; a packed lunch and soft drinks are included in the tour. As is the very informative bilingual commentary, hence all the nerdy facts…
Miraflores Locks
Sandwiches dealt with, we head back on deck for Miraflores Locks. Here, there is a double lock with two sets of 9 metre locks to negotiate. This time, we are buddied up with an oil tanker – the Elka Hercules. The same routine, only times two; we get into position, wait for the container ship to be manoeuvred into place by the tugs and locomotives, water displaced, lock gates open, move forward and repeat. By the final lock, there is less jostling for position at the bow (most of the Americans have retired to the air conditioned bar) and I can actually get a better view of the process.
We are sailing through one of the two original sets of locks which measure 320 metres x 33 metres; to our right is the third set which form the canal expansion deal with even larger ships. We pass alongside two enormous fluorescent pink cargo ships (the One Motivator and One Maxim) which can carry 14,000 containers each.
Bridge of the Americas
After the locks, we continue under the Bridge of the Americas (when it was built, it was the only thing linking the American continents) towards the ocean, sailing parallel to the Amador Causeway.
Amador Causeway
The 3.7 mile long Amador Causeway joins three former islands to the mainland and was created with spoils from the digging of the canal. Nestled between the Islands are marinas and a cruise terminal. There are also restaurants, trails, viewpoints and a shopping centre. At the top end of the Causeway, you will find the Biomuseo in a unique building designed by Frank Gehry.
Amador Causeway and Biomuseo
At the Amador Causeway, our five hour canal journey is over and we disembark (with a quick photographic interlude) into the minibus waiting to take us back to our hotel.
Dinner at Papa John’s Pizza
It’s been an exciting but tiring day. So no exciting dinner plans tonight, just a pizza and a couple of beers from a branch of Papa John’s Pizza before retiring for the night.
Panama Day 7 – Panama City
Planning a trip to Panama City was a bit like doing a jigsaw; you can only do the canal trip at weekends and many tourist attractions are closed on Mondays. So putting together an itinerary which incorporated everything I wanted to do was fiddly. Then I caught Covid and we had to change all our plans. The result – our only full day for sightseeing is a Monday, when most touristy things are closed, so we spend much of the day wandering around looking at the outsides of things.
Casco Viejo
Our first stop (after the breakfast buffet) is the Casco Viejo – the old town. Or to be more precise, the old new town. The original site of the town (Panama Viejo) was a few miles to the northeast. After it was sacked by Henry Morgan in 1671, the city was rebuilt in its new location, hence Casco Viejo is the old new town or is it the new old town?
We consult my guide book and plot a route, starting at Palacio de las Garzas. My guide book helpfully informs me that this is the residence of the President of Panama. It omits to mention that the area is heavily guarded, so getting anywhere near it is impossible. Our Uber drops us as close as it is permitted, and we set off for out next destination on foot.
To be honest, it’s such a picturesque neighbourhood with interesting buildings and plazas up every little street, so we switch to the old man’s favourite mode, aimless wander, and just pootle around taking photos, sitting on a bench in the shade from time to time as it’s too hot to walk for any length of time.
The Casco Viejo contains an eclectic mix of buildings – from embassies and fancy boutique hotels to slums and ruins. And several churches. The most interesting church is the Iglesia de San José.
Iglesia de San José
My guide book tells me that Iglesia de San José contains a golden altar removed from Panama Viejo. Rumour has it, that shortly before the pirates arrived, the priest concealed the altar. When infamous pirate Henry Morgan asked where it was, the priest replied that it needed repairing and asked for a donation. Henry allegedly replied that he thought the priest was a bigger pirate than him! My guide book has omitted to mention that taking up most of the crypt, is the biggest, tackiest nativity scene I’ve ever seen.
Metropolitan Cathedral
Equally as grand, but without the tacky nativity scene is the 17th Century Metropolitan Cathedral.
Arco Chato
Amidst the ruins of the 17th Century Santo Domingo Convent, you will find the Arco Chato. This ancient arc is remarkable for being unsupported and yet having survived for hundreds of years.
Paseo las Bovédas
We continue to the furthest point of the Casco Viejo; Paseo las Bóvedas – a picturesque flower covered walkway with views over the ocean and canal, which leads to Plaza de Francia.
Plaza de Francia
In the Plaza de Francia, you will find a monumental cock which pays homage to the French attempt to build a canal. Which could probably best be described as a monumental cock up!
Canal Administration Building
From the Casco Viejo, we take an Uber to the Canal Zone and the Canal Administration Building; this contains a set of murals depicting the building of the canal. I have double checked the opening times on the website. However, when we arrive, a security guard informs us that the murals cannot be viewed.
We walk down the hill to McDonalds so we can connect to wifi and order an Uber back to the hotel. They don’t have wifi, so we make do with a McFlurry instead. We hail a regular taxi and return to our hotel. One last dip in the pool before our trip to Panama is at an end.
- Trip taken: February 2022
- Updated: September 2025
I hope you found the above information useful. For guides to more destinations in the 50+ countries we have visited, check out my full list of Independent Travel Itineraries here.
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