Things to do
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Biomuseo
Frank Gehry designed this crumpled, brightly coloured building on the Amador causeway, and its galleries tell the story of the isthmus rising from the sea and splitting the oceans, with a hall of animal sculptures at the centre. It is compact and takes about an hour. The causeway outside gives the clearest view of ships waiting to enter the canal.
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Casco Viejo
Rebuilt on a defensible point after pirates burned the first city, the old quarter holds churches, plazas and balconied townhouses in varying states of repair, many of them now hotels and rooftop bars. A restored sea wall walk runs around the tip with a view back to the towers. Nights are lively in the plazas and the streets behind them stay unrestored.
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Cinta Costera
A reclaimed waterfront strip runs along the bay from the financial district to the edge of the old town, carrying a road, a cycle path and sports courts on filled ground. Joggers and cyclists use it from dawn, and a section is given over to bicycles on Sunday mornings. The view back to the skyline from the Casco Viejo end is the reason to walk it.
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Metropolitan Natural Park
Tropical forest covers the hills inside the city, with marked trails climbing to a lookout over the canal channel and the skyline, and sloths, agoutis and toucans along the way. Two hours is enough for the loop. Wildlife shows itself early in the day, and the climb is hard work once the heat builds.
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Miraflores Locks
Two lock chambers raise ships in steps between the Pacific and Miraflores lake, and a visitor centre above them puts a terrace at eye level with the deck of a passing vessel. Exhibits, a film and a scale model fill the floors below. Transits come in waves, so the board at the entrance gives the next expected ship.
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Panama Canal
Ships cross the isthmus on a waterway of locks and a dammed lake, climbing to Gatún and dropping back to the sea on the far side, a transit of most of a day. Visitors watch from the lock viewing platforms or ride a partial transit boat. Lock schedules shift through the day, and the visitor centres post the expected transit times.
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Panamá Viejo
Ruins of the original Spanish city stand on the shore east of the modern centre, sacked by Henry Morgan in 1671 and never rebuilt on the same site. A cathedral tower, convent walls and a stone bridge remain, with a museum at the entrance. Shade is limited across the open field, so mornings are the comfortable time to walk it.
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Soberanía National Park
Rainforest runs along the canal north of the city, protecting the watershed and the richest birding in Central America on Pipeline Road, where hundreds of species have been recorded in a single day. Gamboa at the park's edge is the usual base. Dawn is when the forest is loud, and the road turns muddy after rain.