Best Things to Do in Panama City: Canal Locks, Casco Antiguo, Biomuseo & Rainforests

Panama City offers a rare combination in the Americas: within a single day you can watch a 300-metre container vessel lifted toward the Continental Divide, walk through a seventeenth-century Spanish stone cathedral, and spot three-toed sloths and Geoffroy's tamarins inside a native rainforest canopy.

Six essential experiences in the capital

1. Watch vessels transit the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal: Stand on the tiered observation decks of the Miraflores Visitor Center as gravity-fed water from Gatun Lake raises and lowers ocean-going ships 16.5 metres across two lock chambers, paired with the 3D IMAX film on canal history.
2. Walk the four colonial plazas of Casco Antiguo: Trace the 1673 sea wall of Las Bóvedas at Plaza Francia, inspect the saved baroque Golden Altar inside San José Church, and visit the Interoceanic Canal Museum and the Mola Museum (MUMO) on our Casco Antiguo walking route.
3. Tour Frank Gehry's Biomuseo and cycle the Amador Causeway: Explore the eight Smithsonian-curated biodiversity galleries beneath Gehry's folded polychrome roofs, then rent a bicycle along the 6-kilometre rock breakwater linking Naos, Perico, and Flamenco islands.
4. Climb the 1519 Cathedral Tower at Panamá Viejo: Ascend the 30-metre stone watchtower of the oldest European settlement on the Pacific coast for views where 16th-century masonry meets 21st-century skyscrapers.
5. Spot sloths and tamarins at dawn in Metropolitan Natural Park: Hike the forest loops of Parque Natural Metropolitano to the 150-metre Cerro Cedro lookout just ten minutes from downtown.
6. Eat fresh corvina ceviche at the Mercado de Mariscos and sip Geisha coffee: Walk the Cinta Costera to the waterfront fish market for lime-cured sea bass, then sample floral Boquete Geisha pour-overs in San Felipe.

Crossing the Isthmus on day trips

Because the isthmus is only eighty kilometres wide here, you can swim in the Caribbean Sea before lunch and return to the Pacific for dinner. Top excursions include boat safaris across Gatun Lake, the 365 coral islands of San Blas (Guna Yala), the 16th-century Spanish forts of Portobelo, and the volcanic caldera of El Valle de Antón.