TravelPulse Canada on Location: What to See and Do in Panama

With WestJet’s inaugural non-stop flight from Calgary to Panama City, Panama, taking to the skies on Dec. 14, 2025,  it’s an ideal time to suggest your clients visit this verdant narrow isthmus connecting North and South America and two oceans.

The tiny country boasts more than 1,400 islands and cays and almost 3,000 kilometres of Pacific and Caribbean coastline, is home to the world-famous Panama Canal, and is a haven for biodiversity in its rainforests, cloud forests, mountains and oceans.

Tropical flora, abundant wildlife, outdoor adventures and beaches galore await your clients, as does big city life, thriving multi-racial cultures (including seven Indigenous groups), centuries of history, renowned handicrafts and duty-free shopping. Panama City, the capital, is both contemporary and colonial.

Travelling the 78,000-square kilometre country is easy; it doesn't take long to get from one destination to the next. In one trip a visitor can see several places — it’s so diverse, it’s like exploring multiple countries.

My visit allowed me to experience many things for which Panama is known: Panama City, outdoor adventures near the city and the fabled Panama Canal.

To help you sell this more easily accessible destination, here is a sampling of what your clients can see and do. 

Panama City: UNESCO World Heritage & Creative City of Gastronomy

The colourful Biomuseo on Panama City's Amador Causeway was designed by Frank Gehry. (Photo Credit: Theresa Storm)

In Panama City, new startlingly juxtaposes with old. I did not expect the modernity and wealth of this booming Central American capital’s new districts, chock-a-block with oceanfront glass skyscrapers. It's easy to see why the city has been named one of the top trending destinations for 2026.

Related: The 10 Places Poised to Dominate Travel in 2026

But it was the city’s easily walkable 0.3-square-kilometre Casco Viejo (also called Casco Antiguo), the 16th Century fortressed old city jutting into the southern end of Panama Bay, that drew me back. On a free walking tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, we strolled its charismatic plazas and cobbled streets lined with street art and colonial buildings (tell clients good walking shoes are a must).

Must-do sites include the Metropolitan Cathedral; MUMO, the Mola Museum (these reverse-appliquéd vivid cotton panels handcrafted by indigenous Guna women each tell a unique story); the storied Café Coca-Cola, the city’s oldest dating to 1875; and the Geisha Experience Panama, part museum/part coffee shop, where your clients can try Geisha coffee, the world’s most expensive, served in a wine glass. The historic, five-star Central Hotel Panama on the Plaza de la Independencia is ideally located.

Nearby, the six-kilometre-long Amador Causeway connecting the mainland to three small islands is great for strolling, biking and dining. Attractions include Biomuseo, Punta Culebra Nature Center and the Panama sign.

Designated a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, Panama City has a vibrant multicultural food scene. Casco Antiguo is a foodie hub; pop into Pedro Mandinga Rum Bar for drinks, then hit a popular restaurant like Aya La Vida or Fonda Lo Que Hay, for dinner.

Adventures Near Panama City

Crossing Lake Alajuela in a dugout boat. (Photo Credit: Theresa Storm)

Leaving bustling urbanity for jungle adventures, we headed to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, less than an hour drive northwest of the city.

Fronting the Chagres River, the 136-hectare upscale nature resort lies in the center of the Panamanian Isthmus, just 27 kilometres from the Pacific Ocean and Panama City, and 40 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean. Its location in the heart of Soberania National Park is perfect for exploring the natural and manmade wonders of central Panama, the most visited region.

Boarding a motorboat for a wildlife safari with a resort naturalist, we are whisked downstream into freshwater Gatun Lake, manmade by damming the Chagres, the main water source for the Panama Canal’s operations.

On isolated Monkey Island, the antics of a family of white-faced capuchin monkeys, whom we later revisited by kayak, had us in stitches. Behind, massive cargo ships transited the canal.

Back on terra firma, we joined guests and day-trippers at Gamboa’s onsite aerial tram to reach an observation tower high above the rainforest canopy, with views of the canal’s Chagres and Gaillard Cut, the narrowest but most excavated section through the shale of the Continental Divide.

To experience the country’s wild side, Gamboa offers guided activities like sport fishing, birdwatching and trekking, plus zoological and botanical exhibits.

Christian Strassnig, founder of Cultour Panama, shows us the route for our hike on the Camino. (Photo Credit: Theresa Storm)

Another day, we joined Christian Strassnig of Cultour Panama to hike a moderate segment of the historic Camino Real. The precursor of the Panama Canal, it was used in the 1500s by Spanish conquistadores and pirates alike to transport Inca gold and silver by mule caravan from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Reclaimed by the jungle for centuries, in 2008 Strassnig rediscovered the route.

We began by piling into dugout boats in Chagres National Park to cross Lake Alajuela, which also connects to the canal, then hiked about three kilometres on the trail’s original cobblestones to reach rural Quebrada Ancha, deep in the rainforest.

There we talked with local community members about ecotourism and conservation, enjoyed a simple hot lunch and watched traditional dances. (A two-day and a four-day Camino Real ocean to ocean hike are also offered.)

Panama Canal

The Miraflores Locks opening, after lowering our boat 16 metres to the Pacific Ocean sea level. (Photo Credit: Theresa Storm)

There are several ways to see the manmade marvel of engineering connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Miraflores Visitors Center, within 30 minutes of the city, is a vital introduction for first-time visitors.

Here, metres away from the viewing platform, vessels transit the canal through two sets of locks. Inside, watch the 45-minute IMAX 3D movie about the canal’s history, construction, operation and importance, narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Even better, to experience crossing the locks, book clients on a half-day partial boat transit (Saturdays and Sundays) through Ancon Expeditions, a full-service DMC, tour operator and the Virtuoso On-Site.

The Pacific Queen, a passenger day cruiser, that ferries visitors on half- or full-day transits of the Panama Canal. (Photo Credit: Theresa Storm)

I boarded the Pacific Queen, a passenger day cruiser in Gamboa. While we slowly journeyed downriver to Pedro Miguel Lock (which lowers nine metres to Miraflores Lake) and then the Miraflores Locks (which lowers 16 metres to Pacific sea level), our guide shared entertaining stories about the canal’s engineering and construction challenges. (You can also book a full-day ocean to ocean transit.)

Panama Essentials

WestJet just launched a seasonal flight between Calgary International (YYC) and Panama City, Tocumen International Airport (PTY). Canadians can also fly direct from Montreal and Toronto aboard Copa Airlines and Air Transat to Panama, with flights to PTY, and from Montreal to Rio Hato Scarlett Martinez International Airport (RIH). Learn more about this fascinating destination in our TravelPulse Canada Panama Destination Guide.

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