Panama: the Canal and the Gamboa Rainforest

Arrive in Panama City

Tocumen International Airport to your hotel in Panama City

• Repas du soir
• Nuit : Panama City
• Environ 45 min de route

Soir

Then we sit down to a welcome dinner of Panamanian food together, with sancocho, the national chicken soup, often on the menu.

Compris

• Pick-up at Tocumen International Airport (PTY)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

The Miraflores Locks and the Biomuseo

Panama City to the Miraflores Locks, then the Amador Causeway and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Panama City
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive about 20 minutes to the Miraflores Locks, the Pacific-side locks of the original canal, opened in 1914.

Soir

Your guide checks the posted transit times the evening before so we arrive while ships are moving: from the visitor centre terraces you watch the gates close, the chamber fill or drain and a vessel rise or fall beside you, then walk through the museum on the canal's construction and the French attempt that came before it. We spend about 90 minutes here. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the Amador Causeway, the breakwater built from rock dug out of the Culebra Cut, with the Bridge of the Americas and the ship anchorage in view. In the early afternoon, out of the heat, we visit the Biomuseo, the bright folded-roof building by Frank Gehry, whose galleries tell how the isthmus rose from the sea about three million years ago and let animals cross between the continents. The rest of the day is free.

Compris

• Miraflores Locks visitor centre: the observation terraces, the museum and the film
• Sit-down lunch on the Amador Causeway
• The Biomuseo with your guide

Panamá Viejo and Casco Viejo

Panama City to the ruins of Panamá Viejo, then Casco Viejo

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Panama City
• Environ 45 min de route

Matin

Early in the morning the ruins are cooler and quiet. Walk among the stone shells of convents and houses, then climb the restored tower of the cathedral for the view across the mudflats to the modern skyline. The survivors rebuilt on a rocky peninsula a few kilometres west, and that city is Casco Viejo, listed by UNESCO together with Panamá Viejo. On foot with your guide we see Plaza de la Independencia and the cathedral, the gilded altar of the Iglesia de San José, Plaza Bolívar and the French plaza at the tip of the peninsula, with its monument to the French canal workers. The Canal Museum, in the old canal company headquarters on the main plaza, fills in the human story of the construction.

Soir

Lunch is a sit-down meal in Casco Viejo, then the afternoon and evening are free.

Compris

• Panamá Viejo with your guide, including the cathedral tower
• Guided walk in Casco Viejo: Plaza de la Independencia, the Iglesia de San José, Plaza Bolívar and Plaza de Francia
• The Canal Museum (Museo del Canal)
• Sit-down lunch in Casco Viejo

Through the Canal to Gamboa

Panama City to the Amador Causeway, then by boat through the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks and the Culebra Cut to Gamboa

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Gamboa
• Environ 15 min de route

Après-midi

A canal guide explains the locks as we go, and lunch is served on board. The transit takes about four and a half to five hours, and we step off at Gamboa in the early afternoon. The rest of the day is free.

Compris

• Partial transit of the Panama Canal from the Pacific entrance to Gamboa, with a canal guide
• Lunch on board
• Luggage taken by road to Gamboa
• Dinner in Gamboa

Pipeline Road and the canopy tram

Gamboa to Pipeline Road and the Rainforest Discovery Center, then the aerial tram

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Gamboa
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

Coffee and fruit come with us, breakfast is served when we get back mid-morning, and after a sit-down lunch we rest through the heat. In the late afternoon we ride the aerial tram, open gondolas that rise slowly through the treetops to a look-out tower above the Chagres and the canal.

Compris

• Soberanía National Park entry and a guided walk on Pipeline Road with a naturalist
• The Rainforest Discovery Center and its observation tower
• Sit-down lunch in Gamboa
• The aerial tram through the canopy, with the naturalist
• Dinner in Gamboa

Activités en option

• Barro Colorado Island with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, a full day by boat from Gamboa in place of this day, only if the institute has space on our date; price shown at booking

Up the Chagres to an Emberá community

Gamboa to a dock on the Chagres River, then by dugout canoe to an Emberá community and back

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Gamboa
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

After breakfast at a normal hour we drive about an hour into Chagres National Park, the forest that feeds the river and the lakes that keep the Canal running. At a river dock we board motorised dugout canoes, piraguas, and travel up the Chagres between forested banks, watching for kingfishers, herons and turtles on the logs. The ride takes 20 minutes to an hour depending on the water: late in the dry season the river runs low and the boatmen may ask us to step out at a shallow riffle. The Emberá families here came from the Darién forests to the east in the 20th century.

Après-midi

Community members explain how they live, cook, build and govern themselves, show their palm weaving and tagua nut carving, and share a lunch cooked in the village, usually fish and plantain. Crafts are for sale but there is no pressure to buy.

Soir

We are back in Gamboa by mid-afternoon for free time, then a farewell dinner together.

Compris

• Chagres National Park and the motorised dugout canoe up the Chagres River
• Visit to an Emberá community, with the community fee
• Lunch cooked in the community
• Farewell dinner in Gamboa

Activités en option

• A jagua body-paint design, offered by the community at its own small price

Summit and home

Gamboa to Summit Municipal Park, then Tocumen International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

A last early walk in Gamboa is yours if you want it: the quiet streets of the old canal-zone village, built in the 1930s for the dredging division, are good for birds before breakfast, and the river is often misty. After breakfast and check-out we drive about ten minutes to Summit Municipal Park, a botanical garden begun in the canal-zone days, where we spend about an hour. Its best-known resident is the harpy eagle, Panama's national bird, kept in a large enclosure; the park's paths also pass trees and plants gathered from across the tropics, and basilisk lizards are a common sight.

Après-midi

From Summit it is about an hour to Tocumen International Airport on the far side of the city, so we arrive in the early afternoon. Your guide sees you to check-in before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm to include Summit; for an earlier flight we go straight to the airport.

Compris

• Summit Municipal Park and the harpy eagle
• Drop-off at Tocumen International Airport (PTY)