Panama City, PA

A tiny tasting-menu room in Casco Viejo seating only a handful of guests a night, building a single set menu around native Panamanian ingredients and traditional techniques. This is the city's destination special-occasion meal for people who care about where the food comes from.

A modern fonda in Casco Viejo from the Donde José kitchen, serving a short daily menu of Panamanian street and market food turned refined, much of it built on the morning's fresh seafood. The room is chic and lively and the menu changes with what is good that day.

A Spanish-leaning tapas and small-plates spot that locals reliably name as the warmest table in Casco Viejo, often with live music and a charming dining room. The kind of place regulars return to rather than tick off once.

The restaurant that put modern Panamanian cooking on the map, blending the country's Afro-Caribbean, Chinese and Indigenous influences into refined plates. It sits among Latin America's most celebrated kitchens and is the serious-food anchor of the San Francisco neighborhood.

A small counter-style tasting room in San Francisco where the kitchen plates each course in front of you, working with Panamanian ingredients in an exploratory, fine-dining register. Quiet, personal and aimed at people who want to watch the cooking up close.

A fire-driven, farm-to-table kitchen in Casco Viejo built on real partnerships with Panamanian growers, with dishes cooked over open flame and changing with the seasons. Vibrant and ingredient-forward rather than fussy.

A long-running Panamanian institution on Vía Argentina serving the homestyle classics: sancocho, ropa vieja, ceviche, fried yuca and the sampler platter that lets you try a bit of everything. Unfussy, family-friendly and the easiest place to eat actual Panamanian food.

A cavernous Cantonese banquet hall that serves what many call the best dim sum in Central America, rolled out cart-style with dozens of varieties. A nod to Panama's deep Chinese community and a long-standing weekend-morning ritual for locals.

A low-key Southeast Asian kitchen near Bella Vista doing the Thai dishes the city was missing, from proper curries to noodles, in a casual clean room. The go-to when locals want real Thai heat rather than fusion.

An Indian kitchen in the Punta Pacifica area turning out tandoor kebabs and a wide range of carefully spiced curries. The dependable choice in this part of town when you want north Indian cooking with proper spice.

An upscale Italian room in the Punta Pacifica towers combining premium ingredients with a modern hand, the area's grown-up pasta-and-wine destination. Polished and quiet, aimed at a nicer night out.

A Peruvian seafood kitchen where the ceviches, tiraditos and rice dishes draw a steady local crowd. Bright, fresh and reliable, it is the easy pick when you want Pacific seafood done the Peruvian way.

A leafy courtyard cafe in Casco Viejo built around healthy, garden-fresh brunch plates with strong vegan options. The cute patio and bowls-and-toast menu make it the neighborhood's daytime gathering spot.

A minimalist specialty coffee bar in Casco Viejo that treats Panama's prized Geisha beans seriously, with careful pour-overs and a quiet, design-forward room. The destination for coffee people who want to taste what Panama grows.

A small Casco Viejo cafe whose burnt Basque cheesecake people genuinely cross the city for, alongside coffee and a short sweets list. The order is obvious and the room is tiny.

A bright, colorful El Cangrejo cafe that has become the neighborhood's daytime workspace, doing breakfast sandwiches, avocado toast, empanadas and house baked goods. Friendly and laptop-friendly with good coffee.

A long-loved El Cangrejo breakfast hangout known for fresh-baked bagels and bottomless coffee, drawing a regular mix of locals, expats and remote workers. Casual, dependable and busy in the mornings.

A Casco Viejo kitchen built around vegetable-forward cooking with fresh local produce, doing things like vegan lasagna and pumpkin soup alongside a few seafood plates. The reliable choice for a satisfying meatless meal in the old town.

A long-standing upscale Cantonese restaurant that locals reach for when they want sit-down Chinese done properly, with a deep menu and a more polished room than the city's casual Chinese spots. A reliable Bella Vista-area institution.

A Casco Viejo rum bar with real local character, pouring small-batch rums and cocktails to a warm neighborhood crowd. The spot for an evening drink that feels Panamanian rather than imported nightlife.

A genuine tropical forest inside the city limits, laced with short marked trails where you can spot howler monkeys, sloths and toucans within minutes of downtown. The Mirador trail climbs to a viewpoint over the skyline and canal entrance.

The forested hill topped by a giant Panamanian flag, the highest point in the city, with a paved path winding up through trees where sloths and toucans turn up. The summit gives a sweeping view over Casco Viejo, the skyline, the canal and the Bridge of the Americas.

A short Smithsonian-run loop through dry coastal forest at the tip of the Amador Causeway, where iguanas, sloths and shorebirds are easy to spot and tide pools sit right off the path. Easy, kid-friendly and packed with nature for its size.

A section of the centuries-old colonial trade route that hauled goods across the isthmus, now a forest trail with original cobblestone segments you walk through dense jungle and stream crossings. A moderate hike with real history underfoot just north of the city.

A flat, easy forest trail in Soberanía National Park following an old plantation track beside a small river, famous for how much wildlife you see, sloths, howler monkeys, agoutis and a huge range of birds. The relaxed nature walk for people who do not want a climb.

A legendary birding track in Soberanía National Park, a flat gravel road through rainforest with one of the highest bird counts anywhere in the world. A day-trip up toward Gamboa for serious nature lovers, walkable at an easy pace as far as you like.

A flat, fully paved bayfront path running several kilometers along Panama Bay with the skyline beside you the whole way. The city's easiest walk or run, busy with locals exercising in the cooler hours.

The long, breezy promenade running out along the causeway to the Pacific islands, with the skyline on one side and ships awaiting the canal on the other. A flat, open walk or ride that locals use for evening exercise.

The brightly colored Frank Gehry museum on the Amador Causeway, telling the story of how the rise of the Panama isthmus reshaped life on the planet. Immersive galleries plus an aquarium and gardens make it the city's standout museum experience.

The canal history museum housed in a grand old building on Casco Viejo's main plaza, tracing the waterway's construction, the long struggle for sovereignty and Panama's relationship with the United States. The serious museum for understanding how the canal shaped the country.

Panama's contemporary art museum near Ancón, holding a collection of twentieth and twenty-first century Latin American work with regularly rotating exhibitions. A smaller, lower-key counterpoint to the big-name museums.

The ornate early-1900s national theater in Casco Viejo, with gold balconies, chandeliers and a domed ceiling mural, restored to its old grandeur. The place to catch a concert, ballet or play in a genuinely beautiful room.

An intimate sixty-seat jazz club inside the American Trade Hotel in Casco Viejo, run in partnership with Panama's most internationally celebrated jazz musician and hosting both local and visiting artists. The city's best room for serious live music after dark.

The rooftop bar that helped spark Casco Viejo's modern nightlife, with skyline-and-old-town views and a mixed crowd of locals and visitors. The default first stop for sunset drinks in the old town.

A Smithsonian-run nature center on the causeway with touch tanks, frog and reptile exhibits and a short forest trail where iguanas and sloths roam free. The most engaging outdoor outing in the city for families with kids.

The city's big green recreation park, a former golf course turned public space with walking loops, playgrounds, sports fields and a dog park. Where local families spend weekend mornings exercising and letting kids run.

The walled colonial quarter the city moved to after pirates burned the original settlement, now a tangle of cobblestone lanes, restored balconied facades and small plazas. It is where locals go to wander, eat and watch the sunset over the bay, and the whole district is the attraction more than any single building.

A modest Casco Viejo church that guards the Altar de Oro, a baroque golden altar carved in mahogany and covered in gold leaf. The story goes a priest painted it black to hide it from the privateer Henry Morgan, and it is the one great treasure that survived the sacking of the old city.

A bougainvillea-draped promenade along the old sea wall at the tip of Casco Viejo, built atop the colonial defensive vaults known as Las Bovedas. From here you look across the bay to the modern skyline, the Bridge of the Americas and the ships queued for the canal.

The leafiest and most relaxed of Casco Viejo's squares, centered on a monument to Simón Bolívar and ringed by cafes and grand old buildings. Locals treat it as a place to sit in the shade and people-watch rather than a checklist stop.

A breakwater road built from rock dug out of the canal that runs out to a string of small islands at the Pacific entrance. Locals come to walk, jog and cycle with the city skyline on one side and ships waiting to transit on the other.

A long landscaped waterfront park and path running along Panama Bay with the skyline rising behind it. It is the city's outdoor living room, full of joggers, families and cyclists, and the stretch toward Casco Viejo gives one of the best skyline-and-old-town views in town.

The working fish market just outside Casco Viejo where the day's catch comes in and locals line up at the upstairs stalls for cheap, fresh ceviche in plastic cups. It is loud, briny and unpretentious, a slice of real Panama City rather than a polished attraction.

The twin-towered cathedral facing Plaza de la Independencia, the ceremonial heart of Casco Viejo. Its restored white facade and mother-of-pearl-inlaid towers anchor the old town's main square.

The stone ruins of the original Panama City, the first European settlement on the Pacific, abandoned after pirates burned it and the city relocated to Casco Viejo. The standout is the cathedral tower you can climb for a view over the ruins and the bay.

The historic central square of Casco Viejo where Panama declared its independence, framed by the cathedral and colonial mansions. It is the busiest of the old town plazas and a natural orientation point with street vendors and benches.