Panamá City Travel Forum

I am a very active middle aged single lady traveling alone to visit friends in Boquete, Panama in the end of July.I will fly into Panama City and then take a puddle jumper to Boquete. I have been to Panama once before on a cruise and toured the Panama canal area so I am not interested in seeing that again. I thought that I would stay in Panama City a day or two before moving on to Boquete. My questions are:

What are must see sites in Panama City?

Is one full day in Panama City enough or should I plan on spending 2 full days?

I am looking for a nice hotel around $100 per night if possible that is in a safe area where I can walk around in the evening after dinner by myself. I want to be where there is some night life. Any suggestions?

If you are not interested in visiting the Canal then in my view one full-day will do.

The top tourist spot, worth visiting indeed, is the Old Town named "Casco Viejo" or "Casco Antiguo". It is the old Spanish colonial town, with colonial buildings, churches and palaces. The visit will take two to three hours including visit to churches and museums.

Besides Casco Viejo, you can use your time to visit "Avenida Central" for local people watching or to the "Amador Causeway", a little out of town, for a walk and relax with nice view over the city and the entrance to the Canal.

I haven't mentioned on purpose the archaeological site of "Panama la Vieja", the ruins of the first establishment in Panama City, another usual tourist destination, out of town and with nothing but a bunch of unremarkable ruins to see. In my view worth skipping altogether.

As far a accomodation is concerned I do not have a place to recommend. At time of my visit in Apr 2007 the Calle Uruguay area in the neighborhood named "Bellavista" was the place to be for nightlife. If you don't get more accurate advice, check hotels in this one or in "El Cangrejo" area, where many of 3+ and 4-star hotels are located. You should make it in getting a 3+ hotel with $100-130 per night.

Use taxi to get around. They are generally safe, cheap and reliable.

Check out my Panama City pages for more insights.

Enjoy your trip!
Giuseppe

maybe you could try visiting Cerro ancon and Quarry hieghts (same area), Ruins of Panama Viejo, Casco Antiguo, Embera tour (indian village), Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas(causeway),Natual park Metropolitano, summit garden and zoo (gamboa close to lake gatun).
these are some of the hotels with your description.
hotels under $100.00

country inn & suites by carlson panama canal (507) 211-4500 and (888) 201-1746 nice few of the canal
coral suites apart-hotel (507)269-3898 el cangrejo
albrook inn hotel (507)315-1789
costa inn (507) 227-1522
crown plaza panama (507) 206-5555
hotel de ville (507) 206-3100 or (507) 263-0303
hotel el panama (507) 215-9000 (507)215-9182
four points sheraton (507) 265-3636
hotel riande 507-204-4444
intercontinental miramar 507-206-8888 this is next to the ocean
intercontinantal playa bonita resort & spa 507-983-6645
hotel marriott 507-210-9100
plaza paitilla inn 507-269-1122/507-208-0600
radisson decapolis 507-215-5000/5700
soloy 507-301-1133
the bristol 507-265-7844
torres de alba hotel & suites 507-300-7130/7132
veneto hotel & casino 507-340-8888/8570/8155
hope this helps. im in panama so it would be nice to help out on more issues you may have. interested contact me.

Others suggestions are good, I would suggest checking out Hotel Marbella, it is down the street from Hotel Venetto/ El Panama and it is much cheaper and nice and safe. A fellow VTer stayed there in March and was quite pleased with it.
It's on Calle D in El Cangrejo, just off via Argentina and Via Espana. Their phone # is (507) 263-2220. It is just a block or two from three casinos and more restaurants than you can shake a stick at!