Every film starts with an arrival. Yours opens on a rooftop in Casco Viejo, rum in hand, watching the skyline light up across the bay — and from there Panama keeps handing you new sets: a 350-year-old old town, the canal that redrew world trade, cloud forest where quetzals hide between coffee farms. You're not watching this one. You're in it.
BALCONIES · LOCK GATES · COFFEE MIST
Panama
Where ships climb over a continent through a staircase of locks, and the coffee alone is worth the flight.
Central America
Every trip tailor-made
THE FIRST MEMORY
Casco after sunset
Panama City's old quarter, rebuilt in 1673 and still warming up.
THE OLD CITY
Inside the old quarter
Casco Viejo has been setting scenes since 1673, when the city rebuilt here behind sea walls after Henry Morgan burned the first Panamá to the ground. UNESCO listed the district in 1997; the bougainvillea never got the memo and keeps climbing the balconies anyway.
Days here are plazas and gold-leaf altars, coffee tastings and paleta stands; evenings are rooftop bars where the rum list outruns the food menu. You stay inside the old town itself — ten minutes' walk from everything, a world from anywhere.
THE SECOND MEMORY
Dawn on the canal
Not the viewing platform. The water.
You transit it
Most visitors photograph the canal from a platform. You board before the heat with a narrator on deck, your ship enters the Miraflores locks and the water starts to rise — two chambers here, one more at Pedro Miguel — until you're floating 26 metres above the sea, then sliding through the Culebra Cut, the channel dynamited through the continental divide for the canal's 1914 opening.
Freighters pass close enough to read the hull names. It is the world's greatest shortcut, and the best seat is yours.
BETWEEN PLACES
Two oceans, one breath
THE ONE YOU'LL TELL FOR YEARS
Above the clouds
Boquete, where the mist makes rainbows and the coffee breaks records.
THE HIGHLANDS
Geisha country
Boquete sits at around 1,200 metres in the foothills of Volcán Barú, Panama's highest peak at 3,475 metres — high enough for the bajareque, the drifting mist that hangs rainbows over the valley through the dry months.
This is geisha country: coffee from these slopes has broken world auction records, and the growers will walk you through why over a cup you'll think about for years. Walk the Sendero Los Quetzales through the cloud forest, take breakfast above the clouds, and understand why nobody hurries up here.
YOU, IN PANAMA
Choose the memories you'll make
TEN NIGHTS
Old city, canal & coffee
Ten nights: Casco's balconies, a dawn canal transit and coffee-farm mornings in Boquete. Flight-inclusive from the UK, ATOL-protected, built around you.
THE CITY ESCAPE
Four nights, city and canal
Four nights in and around Casco Viejo with the canal on your doorstep. The natural second act to a Costa Rica trip.
THE SHARED ADVENTURE
Travel together
A fixed-date, small-group Panama we're building now. Tell us you're interested and help shape the departure.
Practical Information
Mid-December to April is the dry season and the classic window. The green season means short afternoon rains, greener hills and quieter trails — and humpback whales in the Gulf of Chiriquí from July to October.
Two coasts, one country
Panama is compact enough to combine in a single trip: the Canal and Casco Viejo in Panama City, a few unhurried nights out on the islands, and the cool cloud forests and coffee country of the Boquete highlands. We'll build the route, pace and hotels around your dates, tailor-made, ATOL protected, with a specialist who has actually been there.
Plan Your Panama Adventure
Our specialists can put together a Panama itinerary that combines the Canal, Caribbean islands, and highland cloud forests in a single trip. Every holiday is ATOL protected and designed around your interests and pace.
We typically respond within 24 hours
Photography courtesy of PROMTUR Panama / visitpanama.com
WHAT TO SEE
Panama highlights
Watch enormous ships transit the locks at the Miraflores Visitor Center on the Panama Canal
Explore the restored colonial streets, rooftop bars, and seafood stalls of Casco Viejo
Snorkel coral reefs and visit Starfish Beach in the Bocas del Toro archipelago
Hike the Los Quetzales Trail through cloud forest in search of the resplendent quetzal
Taste Geisha coffee at a highland plantation near Boquete, one of the world's most prized varieties
Walk the Amador Causeway for skyline views and visit Frank Gehry's Biomuseo
Real reviews
What our customers say
From travellers who visited Panama with us
“
We'd never considered Panama before Travelfab suggested it and we're so glad they did. Bocas del Toro was paradise, we kayaked through mangroves, snorkelled over coral reefs, and ate the freshest fish. The Biomuseo in Panama City was a lovely surprise. Everything ran smoothly from start to finish.
Linda & Keith R.
“
Spent a week in Panama and it packed in more variety than I expected. The cloud forests around Boquete were stunning, we did a coffee plantation tour and hiked part of the Quetzal Trail. The food scene in Panama City surprised us too, especially the ceviche at Mercado de Mariscos. Great value compared to Costa Rica.
David M.
“
Panama was a revelation. We spent three days in the San Blas Islands staying with the Guna people, absolutely pristine islands with crystal-clear water and not a soul around. Then the contrast of Panama City's skyscrapers and the old Casco Viejo quarter was brilliant. The canal locks at Miraflores were genuinely jaw-dropping; you just can't appreciate the scale until you're standing there watching a container ship slide past. Fabian sorted every detail including our domestic flights.
Sarah & James W.
Holidays in Panama
Travel Guides & Tips
Do You Need an ESTA to Transit the USA? How to Fly to Latin America Without One
Yes, even for a two-hour connection. What a US transit involves, who cannot get an ESTA, and how to reach Latin America from the UK without the USA.
Costa Rica and Panama Itinerary: Two Weeks from the UK
How to combine Costa Rica and Panama in one two-week trip from the UK: a night-by-night route, how to cross between the two, and when to fly instead.
Panama Canal Cruise: What to Do on Land
Booked a canal cruise? How to see the locks from land, what is worth your time in Panama City, and how many days to add before or after you sail.
Tailor-made · ATOL 10898
Plan your tailor-made Panama trip
Tell us when you want to travel, who with, and roughly what budget you have in mind. A Latin America specialist replies within one working day with a bespoke proposal.
Plan a tailor-made Panama trip