Panama: the Canal and the Gamboa Rainforest

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Panama City

   Tocumen International Airport to your hotel in Panama City

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Panama City
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Tocumen International Airport (PTY), about 25 km east of the centre, at any time of day; a driver meets you in the arrivals hall and the drive takes 30 to 60 minutes depending on traffic. The road runs along the bay on the Cinta Costera, with the towers of the modern city on one side and the water on the other, and Casco Viejo, the old town on its small peninsula, ahead. Settle in, rest after the flight, or walk out for a first look at the sea wall. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: how a canal transit works, what to wear at the locks, what the rainforest days are like and how early the birds start. 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

   Temps libre : Free until the 6 pm briefing

2. Jour 2 : The Miraflores Locks and the Biomuseo

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

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Panama City
   Détail du jour 2

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

   Option plus active : Hire a bicycle on the Amador Causeway for the flat ride out to the islands at its end before the museum.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Panama City

   Activité : Closed-toe shoes are required at canal installations. About 2 km on foot, all on paved paths.

3. Jour 3 : Panamá Viejo and Casco Viejo

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

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Panama City
   Détail du jour 3

   We start at Panamá Viejo, the first city, founded in 1519 on the Pacific shore and destroyed in 1671 when the privateer Henry Morgan attacked it. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Skip the tower climb and wait in the shade of the visitor centre at Panamá Viejo.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free; the sea wall at sunset is a short walk from the plazas

   Activité : About 3 km on foot on paving and cobbles, with steps in the cathedral tower.

4. Jour 4 : 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

   • Environ 15 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Gamboa
   Détail du jour 4

   This is the one early start that the Canal sets, not us: boarding is at about 7 am at a marina on the Amador Causeway, about 15 minutes from the hotel, and the van takes our luggage by road to Gamboa. The boat passes under the Bridge of the Americas and enters the Miraflores Locks, where two chambers lift us about 16 m, often sharing the lock with a much larger ship. Across Miraflores Lake, the Pedro Miguel Lock raises us another step to the level of Gatún Lake, about 26 m above the Pacific. Then comes the Culebra Cut, the channel dug through the continental divide that cost more effort and lives than any other part of the canal, under the Centennial Bridge. 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

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Gamboa

   Activité : Partial transits run on set days, and the operator confirms the time and direction; departure dates follow that schedule. The boat has shade, toilets and seating.

   

5. Jour 5 : Pipeline Road and the canopy tram

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

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Gamboa
   Détail du jour 5

   Birds and monkeys are most active in the first hours of light, so we leave at about 6:15 am for the short drive to Pipeline Road in Soberanía National Park. The road was built in the 1940s to service a fuel pipeline across the isthmus and is now a flat track through lowland rainforest, known among birders across the Americas. With a licensed naturalist and a telescope we walk slowly, listening for howler monkeys and looking for toucans, trogons, motmots, antbirds and, often, a sloth in the crowns. At the Rainforest Discovery Center we watch the hummingbird feeders and climb the observation tower, about 32 m high with rest platforms on the way, for a view over the canopy towards Gatún Lake. 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

   Option plus facile : Stay at the base of the tower with the hummingbird feeders while others climb, and skip the farther stretch of Pipeline Road.

   Option plus active : Walk farther along Pipeline Road with the naturalist while the rest of the group turns back; the van waits.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day free

   Activité : About 3 km on the flat; the tower is 174 steps with rest platforms. Bring repellent and binoculars if you have them.

   

6. Jour 6 : 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

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Gamboa
   Détail du jour 6

   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. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Stay in the shade of the community's meeting house while others walk to the waterfall or the gardens.

   Option plus active : Where the community offers it, a short forest walk with an Emberá guide to a stream or waterfall.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Gamboa

   Activité : Getting in and out of canoes; wear shoes or sandals that can get wet. About 1 to 2 km on foot, possibly muddy.

7. Jour 7 : Summit and home

   Gamboa to Summit Municipal Park, then Tocumen International Airport

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 7

   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. 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)

   Temps libre : Early morning free in Gamboa

   Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm to include Summit.

   

Faune et météo : December to April is the dry season around the Canal: sunny, hot and breezy, with the forest still green and wildlife easy to see in the early morning. The Chagres runs lower late in the season, so the canoe ride may take longer.

• Panama City3 nuits
• Gamboa3 nuits