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Panamá Province

Panamá Province has a rich history of pirates, plunder and pearls. Although it's the most populous province in the country, Panamá can be as big or as small as you want it to be. Tranquil rainforests and sizzling beaches are yours to explore, and the comforts of the capital are never more than an hour away.

The principal attraction remains the world’s most daring engineering achievement. Explore the Panama Canal and its expansion by visiting its locks, boating through its watery recesses or hiking along its jungle-clad shore. It is also the unlikely host of one of the most accessible and best-studied tropical rainforests on the planet.

Day trips from Panama City abound, ranging from beaches and surf breaks to ferry trips to the nearby island village of Taboga. Further flung is the Archipiélago de las Perlas, which attracts everyone from the moneyed elite to, occasionally, Survivor contestants.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Panamá Province.

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Miraflores Visitors Center
The easiest way to visit the Panama Canal is to head to the Miraflores Visitors Center, just outside Panama City. This modern center features a four-floor interactive museum that looks at the canal's history, operations, expansion and ecology, an instructive 15-minute film and several viewing platforms, including the main one on the 4th floor with panoramic views of canal transits (the best times are from 9am to 11am and from 3pm to 5pm when transits are more frequent).
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Panama Rainforest Discovery Center
Geared toward ecotourism and environmental education, this is an excellent facility for birdwatchers and nature-lovers. Since you are probably here to watch wildlife, it’s worth making an effort to roll out of bed early – 6am to 8am are the best times. With advance reservations, groups can set up special night tours.
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Parque Nacional Soberanía
This 195-sq-km national park is one of the most accessible tropical rainforests in Panama. It extends much of the way across the isthmus, from Limón on Lago Gatún to just north of Paraíso. It features hiking trails, the Río Chagres, part of Lago Gatún and a remarkable variety of wildlife. Leaflets and information about the park, including a brochure for self-guided walks along the nature trail, are available from park headquarters near Gamboa.
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Katuma
The third most visited Emberá village in the park – and all the more interesting for that reason alone – is where you'll learn all about the history and culture of the Emberá people. Astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission – the first on the moon – learned survival techniques in the tropical forest from the people here in the 1960s.
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Refugio de Vida Silvestre Islas Taboga y Urabá
This 258-hectare wildlife reserve was established in 1984 to protect a key avian habitat. Taboga and nearby Urabá are home to one of the world's largest breeding colonies of brown pelicans, with up to 10,000 here at any one time. The reserve covers about a third of Taboga as well as the entire island of Urabá, just off Taboga’s southeast coast. May is the height of nesting season, but pelicans can be seen from January to April.
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Cerro Vigía
At 307m, the island's highest point, this 'peak' offers fabulous views across the island and out to the sea from its mirador. Also here are the remains of a complex of bunkers built by the Americans during WWII to protect the Panama Canal in the event of Japanese invasion. The four rooftop cannons are impressive.
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San Antonio
A Wounaan indigenous community that receives visitors for cultural tours, including traditional dances and rainforest walks, and also sells beautiful handicrafts. The local contact is Almodio. Travel here by boat, leaving from the dock in Gamboa.
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Iglesia de San Pedro
Founded in 1550, the Church of St Peter is the second-oldest church in the western hemisphere after the one in Natá in Coclé Province. Inside there is lovely artwork and a handsome altar featuring a seated San Pedro with an Orthodox-style cross and holding his signature keys.
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Cementerio Francés
This cemetery in Paraíso on the road to Gamboa about 5km north of the Pedro Miguel Locks dates from between 1880 and 1889. Though there are just 300 crosses and other markers visible here, it contains many of the 22,000 diggers and other workers from France, China, India, Spain and Panama who died of malaria or yellow fever during France's early attempt to dig the canal.