Panama: the Canal, Boquete and Bocas del Toro

1. Day 1: Arrive in Panama City

   Tocumen International Airport to your hotel in Panama City

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Panama City
   Day 1 details

   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 for the drive into the city, 30 minutes to an hour depending on traffic, past the glass towers of the banking district and along the bay. Panama City is hot and humid all year, so take the afternoon slowly: a swim, a nap, or a walk on the Cinta Costera, the waterfront park that runs along the bay towards the old town. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the week: how the days run, why two mornings start early, what to pack for the highlands and the boat day, and the baggage limits on the domestic flights. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Panamanian dishes such as sancocho, a chicken and root vegetable soup, ceviche and fried plantain. Tomorrow starts after breakfast.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Land by about 4 pm to join the briefing; later arrivals are met and briefed the next morning.

2. Day 2: The Miraflores Locks and Casco Viejo

   Panama City to the Miraflores Locks, the Amador Causeway and Casco Viejo

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Panama City
   Day 2 details

   After breakfast we drive about twenty minutes to the Miraflores Locks, on the Pacific end of the Panama Canal, opened in 1914 and run by Panama since the end of 1999. We spend about 90 minutes there, timed to the day's posted ship transits, which your guide checks the evening before. From the viewing terraces we watch a vessel the length of a city block is raised or lowered in two steps, with only a few metres to spare on either side. The visitor centre museum explains how the locks work and how the Chagres River was dammed to make Gatún Lake, the canal's high middle section. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the Amador Causeway, built from rock dug out of the canal, with the city skyline across the water. After a rest through the midday heat, we walk Casco Viejo for about 2 hours from about 4 pm, when the light softens: the cathedral square, the golden altar of the San José church, Plaza Bolívar and the French plaza, ending on the old sea wall as the sun goes down. Dinner is free.

   Included

   • Miraflores Locks visitor centre entry, with the viewing terraces and museum (about 90 minutes)
   • Sit-down lunch on the Amador Causeway
   • Guided walk in Casco Viejo: the cathedral square, the San José church, Plaza Bolívar, Plaza de Francia and the sea wall at sunset

   Optional experiences

   • The Biomuseo on the Amador Causeway or the Panama Canal Museum in Casco Viejo, at your own cost

   Easier option: Skip the second half of the Casco Viejo walk and wait for the sunset at a café on Plaza de Francia.

   More active option: After the Casco Viejo walk, carry on with your guide along the Cinta Costera waterfront path.

   Free time: Midday rest and dinner free

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot in Casco Viejo on cobbles and uneven pavements; it is hot, so bring water and a hat.

   

3. Day 3: The Gamboa rainforest and Gatún Lake

   Panama City to Gamboa, Pipeline Road and a boat on Gatún Lake, then back to the city

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Panama City
   Day 3 details

   This is one of only two early starts, and the reason is the wildlife: we leave at 6:30 am, because birds and monkeys are most active in the first hours and the forest is cooler. It is about 45 minutes to Gamboa, the old canal town where the Chagres River meets the canal. With a local naturalist and a telescope we walk Pipeline Road in Soberanía National Park, a flat old service road through lowland rainforest and a well-known birding road: listen for howler monkeys and look for toucans, trogons, motmots and, with luck, a sloth. Mid-morning we board a covered boat on Gatún Lake. Container ships pass along the canal channel, and on the small forested islands nearby we look for capuchin and howler monkeys and Geoffroy's tamarins. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Gamboa, and we are back in the city by about 2:30 pm for a free afternoon and evening.

   Included

   • Soberanía National Park entry and a guided walk on Pipeline Road with a naturalist
   • Boat on Gatún Lake beside the canal channel, with the monkey islands
   • Sit-down lunch in Gamboa

   Optional experiences

   • The ruins of Panamá Viejo, the city's first site, at your own cost in the free afternoon

   Easier option: Walk only the first flat kilometre of Pipeline Road and wait for the group at the van, then join the boat.

   More active option: Carry on further along Pipeline Road with the naturalist while the rest of the group turns back; the van waits.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Panama City

   Activity: About 3 to 4 km on the flat on Pipeline Road; bring insect repellent and binoculars if you have them.

4. Day 4: Fly to David, up to Boquete

   Panama City by air to David, then by road up to Boquete

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Boquete
   Day 4 details

   Panama City to the Chiriquí highlands is about seven hours by road, so we fly. After breakfast we take a domestic flight of about an hour west to David, Panama's third-largest city, near the border with Costa Rica. Our van meets us at the airport for the 40 km climb north to Boquete, through pasture and then coffee slopes, as the heat of the lowlands falls away. Boquete sits at about 1,200 m in a valley on the flank of Volcán Barú, at about 3,474 m the highest point in Panama, and the Caldera River runs through the middle of town. We sit down to lunch together on arrival. The afternoon is free to settle in, and in the late afternoon your guide leads a short walk round town and along the river, past the flower gardens and the old wooden houses. Evenings here are cool, so bring a layer. Dinner is free.

   Included

   • Domestic flight from Panama City to David (DAV)
   • Transfer from David to Boquete
   • Sit-down lunch in Boquete
   • Short orientation walk round Boquete with your guide

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel after lunch and skip the orientation walk; your guide hands out a town map.

   More active option: Carry on with your guide after the orientation walk for another hour along the Caldera River road out of town.

   Free time: Afternoon and dinner free in Boquete

   Activity: Domestic flights have lower baggage allowances; we confirm yours when we book the seats.

   

5. Day 5: The Quetzal Trail and a coffee farm

   Boquete to the Quetzal Trail in Volcán Barú National Park, then a coffee farm near town

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Boquete
   Day 5 details

   The second early start: cloud usually builds over Barú by late morning and the birds are most active early, so we leave at about 7:30 am for the Alto Chiquero ranger station, about 30 to 45 minutes above town. We confirm the trail is open before each departure. With a local guide we walk the lower section of Sendero Los Quetzales, the Quetzal Trail, through cloud forest heavy with mosses, bromeliads and tree ferns, out and back for about 4 to 5 km on a path that climbs steadily. The resplendent quetzal lives in these forests and is seen most often from about January to May; we look, but cannot promise. We are back in Boquete for a free lunch. In the afternoon we visit a coffee farm on the slopes outside town: the plants under shade trees, the cherries picked by hand in the harvest from about November to March, the drying and the roasting, and a tasting that includes Geisha, the variety that made Boquete coffee famous. If the trail is closed on our date, we walk another forest trail near Boquete with the same guide.

   Included

   • Volcán Barú National Park entry and a guided walk on the lower Quetzal Trail
   • Coffee farm tour with a tasting, including Geisha

   Optional experiences

   • Whitewater rafting or a zipline near Boquete, booked at the operator's own price

   Easier option: Walk the first half hour of the trail and wait at the ranger station, or spend the morning in Boquete's gardens and cafés.

   More active option: Walk further up the trail with the local guide while the group turns back; the van waits.

   Free time: Lunch and the evening free

   Activity: About 4 to 5 km on a forest trail that climbs and can be muddy; bring walking shoes, a rain jacket and a warm layer.

   

6. Day 6: Over the divide to the Caribbean

   Boquete to Gualaca and the Fortuna road, over the continental divide to Chiriquí Grande and Almirante, then by water taxi to Bocas Town

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bocas del Toro
   Day 6 details

   Today is the longest drive, about four hours and 200 km over the mountains of the continental divide, so we break it up. We leave Boquete at about 8 am, drop towards the lowlands and turn east at Gualaca, then climb into the Fortuna Forest Reserve. We stop at the Fortuna reservoir, high in the mountains, for a coffee and a stretch, then cross the continental divide and wind down through wet forest to the Caribbean at Chiriquí Grande. The road follows the coast to Almirante, where a water taxi carries the group and our bags across the bay in about 25 to 30 minutes to Bocas Town on Isla Colón, our base for two nights. We sit down to a late lunch together by the water. Bocas Town grew up in the banana boom of the early 1900s, and its painted wooden houses on stilts, Afro-Caribbean cooking and creole English feel a long way from Panama City. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free.

   Included

   • Drive from Boquete to Almirante with your guide, with a stop at the Fortuna reservoir
   • Water taxi from Almirante to Bocas Town
   • Sit-down lunch in Bocas Town

   Easier option: Stay in the van at the Fortuna stop if you prefer, and rest at the hotel after lunch.

   More active option: After lunch, walk the Bocas Town waterfront and main street with your guide, or hire a bike at your own cost.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Bocas Town

   Activity: About 4 hours of driving on a winding mountain road, split by the Fortuna stop; take motion sickness tablets if you need them.

   

7. Day 7: Dolphin Bay, a reef and Cayos Zapatilla

   A boat day in the Bocas del Toro archipelago

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Bocas del Toro
   Day 7 details

   A whole day on the water, on a boat for our group only. We leave the dock at about 9 am and head south to Dolphin Bay, a sheltered bay among the mangroves where bottlenose dolphins are seen on most visits. From there we stop at a reef near Cayo Coral to snorkel over coral, sponges and reef fish, with masks and fins provided, or to watch from the boat. Lunch is a sit-down meal at a restaurant built over the water. In the afternoon we cross to Cayos Zapatilla, two small uninhabited islands of white sand and palms in the Isla Bastimentos National Marine Park, Panama's first marine park. Walk the beach or the short forest trail, swim, or rest in the shade. If the sea is rough, the captain changes the order or swaps in calmer spots. We are back in Bocas Town by about 4 pm, and in the evening the group sits down together for a farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Full-day boat in the archipelago for our group, with captain and guide
   • Dolphin Bay
   • Snorkelling at a reef near Cayo Coral, with masks and fins
   • Cayos Zapatilla, with the Isla Bastimentos National Marine Park fee
   • Sit-down lunch over the water
   • Farewell dinner in Bocas Town

   Optional experiences

   • Scuba diving, a surf lesson or an evening bioluminescence boat, booked at the operator's own price

   Easier option: Stay on the boat or on the beach instead of snorkelling; there is shade at Zapatilla.

   More active option: Snorkel off the beach at Zapatilla as well as at the reef, or walk the full trail round the island.

   Free time: Late afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activity: Open boat rides of 20 to 45 minutes between stops can be bumpy; bring swimwear, a towel, reef-safe sun cream and a dry bag.

8. Day 8: Fly back to Panama City and home

   Bocas del Toro by air to Panama City, then Tocumen International Airport

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   A last breakfast by the water, then a short walk or ride to the small airport in Bocas Town, a few minutes from the hotels. The flight back to Panama City takes about an hour and crosses the mountains to the Pacific side. If we land at Albrook, the domestic airport on the edge of the city, our van takes you across Panama City to Tocumen International Airport (PTY), about 35 km and up to an hour in traffic; if the flight lands at Tocumen, you are already there. For international flights, plan to be at Tocumen about three hours before departure, so book a flight home leaving after about 3 pm. Your guide travels back with the group and sees everyone to the airport. If you would like to stay on in Panama City or add a partial canal transit, ask us when you book and we can quote extra nights.

   Included

   • Domestic flight from Bocas del Toro (BOC) to Panama City
   • Transfer to Tocumen International Airport (PTY)

   Easier option: Your guide handles check-in and bags at both airports; you only carry your daypack.

   More active option: With a late flight home, ask us to quote a stop at the Panamá Viejo ruins on the way to Tocumen, at your own cost.

   Free time: No free time: the day ends at Tocumen International Airport.

   Activity: Book a flight home leaving Tocumen after about 3 pm.

Wildlife and weather: December to April is the dry season in Panama City and the highlands: hot, sunny days in the city and fresh, breezy weather in Boquete, where a fine windblown mist called bajareque often brings rainbows. Bocas del Toro is on the Caribbean side and can have showers in any month, and the boat route depends on the sea. Wildlife is wild: monkeys, sloths and toucans are seen on most Gamboa mornings and dolphins on most visits to Dolphin Bay, but the quetzal, seen most often from about January to May, is never guaranteed.

• Panama City3 nights
• Boquete2 nights
• Bocas del Toro2 nights