Panama City: from the Canal to the old town

Panama City is probably the only capital in the world where mirrored skyscrapers, abandoned colonial ruins, and one of the most famous engineering works on the planet can all be seen in the same afternoon.

The Canal remains the attraction that draws most visitors to the city, but the historic center deserves equal attention.

At the Miraflores Locks, an observation platform allows visitors to observe up close large container ships rising or lowering themselves by several meters as they pass through the Canal, an operation that typically takes about ten minutes per lock.

The Casco Viejo, the colonial center founded in 1673 following the destruction of the original city, mixes restored palaces and still-ruined facades along the same streets, with Plaza de la Independencia as the reference point.

Just outside Casco Viejo lie the ruins of Panamá Viejo, marking the site of the first city founded by Spaniards on the Pacific in 1519, sacked and burned by pirate Henry Morgan in 1671 and never rebuilt at the same location.

The Cinta Costera, the waterfront connecting the modern center to Casco Viejo, offers in the evening the most complete view of the skyline of skyscrapers that has made Panama City known as the Dubai of Central America.

Few cities in the world allow you to see in a single day colonial foundation, its destruction, reconstruction, and the engineering feat that made the country a global commercial hub.

Panama City doesn't hide any of these phases behind another: it shows them all, often just a few blocks apart.