Panama City is where two oceans, two centuries and two skylines meet. Founded on 15 August 1519 as the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, it was burned in Henry Morgan's raid of 1671, rebuilt on a rocky peninsula two years later, and then reinvented once more when the Panama Canal opened at its doorstep. Today the ruined cathedral tower of Old Panama, the balconied lanes of Casco Viejo (the Old Town) and a wall of glass towers on the bay all sit within a few kilometres of each other, with ships sliding past on their way between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
It is a city that rewards being told its story as you stand in it, which is why we explore it with self-guided audio guides: each landmark here has a narration that unpacks what you are looking at, whether that is a pirate's fire, a golden altar hidden in plain sight, or the lock gates that changed world trade. Start with the beginning, at the archaeological site of Panamá Viejo, then follow the city as it moved.
The plazas of Casco Viejo
The Old Town laid out in 1673 is a grid of small squares, and each one holds a different chapter. Independence Square is the heart, where the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria the Ancient raises its twin mother-of-pearl-inlaid towers over the spot where Panama declared separation from Colombia in 1903. A short walk away, Plaza Herrera sits on the site of an old bullring, while Plaza Simón Bolívar remembers the 1826 congress the Liberator convened here beside the Saint Francis of Assisi Church. The National Theatre, opened in 1908 with frescoes by Roberto Lewis, rounds out a district UNESCO added to its World Heritage list in 2003 for its mix of Spanish colonial, French and Afro-Antillean building styles.
Golden altars and the Flat Arch
Casco Viejo's churches carry the best legends. In the Church of Saint Joseph, the baroque Altar de Oro glows with gold leaf; the story goes that a priest painted it black to hide it from Morgan's men, and the altar was later carried to the new city. Nearby, the roofless Convento de Santo Domingo shelters the Arco Chato, a flat brick arch that stood unsupported for centuries and, so Panamanians say, helped convince canal builders that the isthmus was free of serious earthquakes. The Church of the Mercy, whose stone facade was dismantled at Panamá Viejo and rebuilt here block by block, completes the trio.
The seawall: Plaza de Francia and Las Bóvedas
At the tip of the peninsula, Plaza de Francia honours the French engineers whose canal attempt failed in the 1880s, with an obelisk and marble plaques telling the story beneath the old colonial ramparts. Climb onto the Paseo de Las Bóvedas, the walkway on top of the vaults that once served as dungeons, and walk the flower-hung Paseo Esteban Huertas for the classic view across the bay to the skyscrapers of the modern city, with the Bridge of the Americas on the horizon.
The Canal: Miraflores Locks to the Amador Causeway
No visit is complete without the waterway itself. At the Miraflores Locks, ships are lifted or lowered about 16 metres in two steps, and the busiest passages come in the morning and late afternoon. The Panama Canal Museum back on Independence Square fills in the human story, from the French collapse to the 1999 handover. From the locks, follow the road out to the Bridge of the Americas and onto the Amador Causeway, a breezy palm-lined road built from rock excavated during the canal's construction that links four small islands, ending at Flamenco Island and its marina. Halfway along stands the Biomuseo, Frank Gehry's riot of coloured roofs completed in 2014, which tells how the rise of the isthmus three million years ago reshaped the planet's oceans and wildlife.
Rainforest in the city: Ancon Hill and the Metropolitan Natural Park
Panama City is one of the few capitals with real rainforest inside its limits. Ancon Hill, the highest natural point in the city, is topped by a giant national flag and gives a single panorama that takes in Casco Viejo, the causeway and the canal locks, with sloths and toucans often spotted on the way up. A few minutes away, the Metropolitan Natural Park preserves more than 230 hectares of dry tropical forest with marked trails where titi monkeys and agoutis go about their morning.
Cinta Costera and the modern city
Between the Old Town and the towers runs the Cinta Costera, a reclaimed waterfront park with cycle paths, the lawns of Parque Urracá and the Mercado de Mariscos, where the upstairs stalls serve ceviche in paper cups within sight of the fishing boats. Inland, the pedestrianised Avenida Central Peatonal is the city's old shopping street, loud with music and street food, while the leafy blocks of El Cangrejo hold the best cafes, craft-beer bars and Metro connections for getting around.
Getting around
The Metro's Line 1 links the Albrook bus terminal, El Cangrejo and the banking district, and taxis and ride-hailing apps are cheap for the hops to Miraflores, Amador and Panamá Viejo. The Old Town itself is best on foot, in the cooler hours of early morning or after sunset, when the plazas fill and the sea breeze comes in over the ramparts.