Private Panama Itineraries: From The Canal to Portobelo
The colonial sea wall at Casco Viejo faces the cargo ships entering the Panama Canal. Hike to the Cerro Mono Titi viewpoint inside Metropolitan Natural Park for a view of the city skyscrapers standing against the jungle skyline. On the Caribbean, you can explore the ruined royal customs house in Portobelo, where Spanish trading ships once loaded silver.
Mayan Gateway
Panama’s Islands and Beaches
Guna communities govern the San Blas Islands, where visitors sleep in built cane cabins on the edge of the Caribbean reefs. Near the Costa Rican border, paddle a kayak through the mangrove bays of Bocas del Toro to find wooden overwater restaurants and remote surf breaks. In the Pacific Ocean, step onto the white sand of Granito de Oro, a tiny volcanic island inside Coiba National Park that borders the largest coral reef in the eastern Pacific.
Journeys Guided by Panamanian Experts
We design private trips from the colonial neighborhoods of Panama City to the neighboring indigenous territories. Board a motorized canoe to reach the Embera Quera community along the Chagres River. Here, local families share their botanical medicine practices and woven palm crafts inside open-air wooden houses.
7 Days in Panama: The Canal, Gatun River and Rainforest Center
Your vessel transits the Panama Canal locks from the Gaillard Cut into the Pacific Ocean, docking at Flamenco Marina. Ride a canoe up the Gatun River toward the raised homes of Embera. The spiral staircase of the Rainforest Discovery Center observation tower looks out over the jungle canopy toward the distant Panama City skyline.
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9 Days in Panama: Soberania, Volcano Baru and Bastimentos
The Pipeline Road inside Soberania National Park is a dirt road built during World War II that runs through the lowland forest. In the Chiriqui province, hike to the summit of Volcano Baru to see both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Snorkelers swim alongside parrotfish at the shallow reefs of Cayo Zapatilla inside the Bastimentos Island marine reserve.
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10 Days in Panama and Costa Rica: Lake Gatun, Miraflores and La Fortuna
The observation deck at the Miraflores Locks stands above the rising water levels of the canal. Motorboats pass over the submerged railway lines hidden beneath the small, forested islands of Lake Gatun. Across the Costa Rican border, descend the canyon steps to reach the base of the La Fortuna waterfall.
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25 Days in Central America: Panama to Guatemala
Ride a bike along the Amador Causeway, a two-mile breakwater made of excavated canal rock that connects four small islands in the Bay of Panama. In El Salvador, the national palace and the Metropolitan Cathedral line the downtown plazas of San Salvador. In Honduras, the Rosalila tunnels beneath the Copan ruins lead to the intact stucco masks of a Maya temple buried inside a newer pyramid.
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Mayan Gateway
Panama Canal, the Bridge of the World
Millions of gallons of fresh water from the Chagres River fill the Miraflores, Pedro Miguel, and Gatun locks to lift vessels 85 feet to the elevation of Gatun Lake. Watch container ships squeeze through the Gaillard Cut, an artificial nine-mile valley dug through the continental divide. Overhead, the arches of the Bridge of the Americas, Centennial Bridge, and Atlantic Bridge span the waterway to link the road systems of North and South America.
Panama’s Canals, Archipelagos And Rainforests
THE PANAMA CANAL
A system of artificial lakes and freshwater locks lifts cargo vessels over the continental divide between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
CARIBBEAN ATOLLS
This chain of 365 palm-covered sandbars stretches for over 200 miles. Residents live on fewer than fifty of them, leaving the rest completely free of roads or hotels.
URBAN RAINFORESTS
A 573-acre tropical forest grows inside Panama City, where monkeys and armadillos live next to the downtown. Walk to the top of Ancon Hill to look down at the skyline and Casco Viejo.
MARINE PARKS
Coiba National Park has the largest island in Central America. The historical isolation of this former prison camp preserved the dense jungle covering the interior landscape.
