A Girls Trip to Panamá City

Girls Trip 2024: We wanted to go somewhere international but not across the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere interesting, but not a bland resort made for American tourists so Central America seemed like a good place to start looking. Between avoiding the hurricane belt and finding less expensive flights, we settled on Panamá — specifically Panamá City — because we still wanted to be somewhere that was a bit tourist-focused since none of us spoke Spanish fluently beyond elementary school level.

It was between Belize and Panamá and the flights to Panamá cost a good chunk less, so we booked everything and eagerly awaited Nov. 6. We chose to go between (but not on) election day and Thanksgiving and we joked that we might just stay pending the results of the election.

Where To Stay in Panamá City, Panamá

We opted to stay in the Casco Viejo area because it's the "old city" and very tourist-oriented, plus extremely walkable. We only left the area by car three times — for the canal tour, for the beach boat trip, and to go to the airport to leave. What was unexpected but cool is how the area is laid out. The streets are all well-laid brick made for cars to only come or go one direction, with small sidewalks that go right up to buildings on either side. There were some grassy, planted areas, but overall it was like this — very clean and laid out for foot traffic first, and car traffic second.

For all of these reasons, I do recommend the Casco Viejo area. We felt very safe at all times, but obviously kept our eyes open and didn't walk around in unsafe situations. We stayed at one of the farthest edges, near France Square, named so for the French Embassy being right there.

We stayed at this four-story Airbnb which was perfect for three ladies. The buildings in Panamá are build solidly so we didn't worry about sound traveling through the walls or floors. In fact, we each had our own floor in this place! I've never enjoyed staying at an Airbnb more for this alone.

This was our private rooftop pool, 4 floors up! The views were incredible.

Of course, there's much more to Panamá City than just Casco Viejo, but for a first-time visitor, this is a great part of the city to begin with.

What We Ate In Panamá City

Since we stayed in Casco Viejo, most of our eats were centralized there. I didn't include every single thing we had, just some standouts.

On the first night we went to Diablo Panama since it was very close to our apartment. I got the pollo con arroz and a Panamá lager, very needed after a day of travel.

The next day we stopped for a midday bite at Hotel Central, and had these colorfully delicious vegan empanadas.

We had dinner at Madre twice, it was that good.

I made everyone go to Casa Casco, a trendy multi-level restaurant and night club for dinner one night since we walked past it and I realized how nearby it was. This is the vegan chayote squash ceviche which I am 100% going to attempt to recreate at home. Look out for that recipe here soon.

We also had a great French dinner at 1739, a restaurant attached to the Hotel Compania on Ave A.

And of course, there were many tasty drinks!

Day Trips From Casco Viejo

Taboga Island — Panamá's Only Beach

Fun fact: Panamá City doesn't have any beaches on the mainland. Tourists and locals alike must book a trip on a ferry to take a 30 minute ride to Taboga Island if they want to enjoy the sun and the sand. We took the Taboga Express which is a $24 round trip from Flamenco Marina. We did this one day and I got to swim in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life, on my 39 and a half birthday, which was pretty great.

Once you're on the island, you can sit at a beach bar, pay to sit on a beach chair under am umbrella, or you can just sit on the sand. We set up camp at some little open air bar and kept buying beers, one Balboa or pina colada at a time. I went and swam a few times while my friends stayed at the table.

There's not a lot of variety of food here, mostly seafood and chicken. I got a plate of fries and rice, but did try a little tiny bite of fried fish.

The Panamá Canal — So Hot Right Now

The other day trip we took was a Panamá Canal Tour! This absolutely needs to be booked in advance and in fact, only happens during certain days of the week, so you may need to adjust your trip times around this if you want to do it. The partial tour is absolutely enough, the full day would have been far too long — just my opinion though. We found out why it is like this on the tour. This is the Bridge of the Americas.

Once again, it leaves from Flamenco Marina but this boat is much larger than the Taboga ferry. It certainly feels small when you're right next to the enormous ocean cargo ships though.

So you start out by going straight into the Pacific Ocean, and pass by idling cargo ships waiting their turn to get through the canal. You pass under the Bridge of the Americas, and by the massive Port of Balboa. We had to idle for a while right outside of the port, waiting for our buddy ship. The multiple canal locks take a lot of water and energy to operate so they don't want one piddly little boat in it at a time. That's why there are canal partner boats that are scheduled to go in together to make it worth the while. Our partner boat was this massive orange chemical carrying vessel. A little tugboat came along too. Every boat that comes through the canal in either direction, is on a schedule, there is no spontaneity on the Panamá Canal.

We went up the canal from the Pacific towards the Atlantic, so we had to go up in sea level. We rose up 85 feet over the course of the portion of our trip through three different locks (I believe this is right, I didn't take notes). How it works is the number of the boats going up (the two partner boats and the tugboat) go into the narrow tunnel. Once situated, the gates behind the boats close, then the tunnel gets filled with water from upstream lakes, and the boats begin to lift from underneath. Once they are at the next level, the boats continue on until going to the next lock, where the process repeats.

It's weird to feel yourself rising out of nowhere. It feels slow at first but then once you realize the upward movement of the ground beneath you, you can tell it's happening. It was a bit stagnant and hot in the locks themselves because it's a tropical climate, AND you're in a concrete tunnel so the airflow is lessened, AND you have a huge boat producing steam that's blowing on your boat within the tunnel. We sweated a lot here, and often went to the air conditioned interior of the boat to wait until we began to sail again. This fan I bought saw a lot of action the entire trip.

We learned a lot about the canal, including the incredible costs for boats to pass through it, which certainly enriches the Panamánian economy. But the canal is expensive to operate and maintain, so the expense is justified. Panamá has done a lot of work to expand it beyond when it was originally opened in 1914.

This tour was an incredible experience but you absolutely should be prepared to be gone most of the day, and arrive early. I do not recommend this for people with children, people who have trouble walking, balance issues, or who get seasick easily. The wide open Pacific Ocean can be rough (and it really was, before we got to the mouth of the canal), and while you can sit on the interior of the boat and look out of the windows the whole time, I think you lose a lot of the experience if you do.

Beach Combing for Sea Glass

One of the best parts of a vacation is wandering and finding things you didn't plan to, and that is exactly how we stumbled across what became one of my favorite parts of the trip: finding sea glass! At the end of Calle 5a Oestre (beyond I Love Panama Chocolate) there was an entrance to a little beach. It looked junky at first but we noticed beautiful little glimmers amongst the shells and the trash.

Sea glass! I honestly didn't think sea glass was a real thing, but I kept my eyes trained on the ground and kept finding rounded edge glass in a rainbow of colors with every step. When I found some rougher glass that wasn't softened by the sea yet, I flung it back into the ocean to help it become sea glass for someone else's delight in the future.

I ended up going every single day of the trip back to look for more. I brought back a nice little haul, which made for a heavy suitcase on the trip home. But I didn't buy too many souvenirs, and these were free! This is only one day's finds.

I have been making some jewelry with fine gauge wrapping wire, and plan to try drilling tiny holes through some pieces in the near future.

Plan A Trip To Casco Viejo in Panamá City

If you do want to go, a few things to note:

Pack a few Spanish phrases to help you out here. Unlike places in Europe I have been, not everyone here switches to English once they hear your accent. Also having a translate app on your phone helps. Learn hello, thank you, goodbye, "do you speak English?" and please if nothing else.
Most everywhere accepts credit cards, but do bring a little American cash. In return you may get Panamánian balboa coins. I used mine at the little beach bars in Taboga and ended up not bringing any back home.
Bring a rain jacket, it rains a lot here during the rainy season of April-November. But it didn't rain constantly.
November is a huge celebratory month in Panamá and they are VERY patriotic.

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to Casco Viejo, but merely a taste to whet your appetite for the kind of excitement and relaxation Panamá offers!