Is Panama worth visiting

STORY · INSPIRE · BRAND

Is Panama worth visiting

Is Panama worth visiting? Honestly, it is the country that has sat lowest on my list of everywhere I have been. A lot of it underwhelmed me: the long, hot drives down the mainland, the Pacific coast, the dive at Coiba that everyone raves about and I would happily have skipped. If you go expecting to fall for the whole country, you may come away as flat as I did.

But that is not the same as saying do not go. It is saying go narrow. There is a genuinely good trip inside Panama if you cut it down to the parts that earn their place and ignore the rest.

Here is the version I would do. One day in Panama City, no more, for the two things that justify it: the canal, for the scale and the history, and Casco Viejo, the colourful old town, for an evening walk against the finance-tower skyline. Then leave the mainland behind and go straight to Bocas del Toro, the Caribbean archipelago, for a few slow days of islands, warm water, and life lived by boat. That is where Panama is actually worth it.

If I had more time, I would add the San Blas islands, the Guna-run archipelago everyone who has been there raves about, which is top of my own list for next time rather than somewhere I can vouch for yet. What I would not do again is the long mainland loop or the trip out to Coiba.

So: yes, Panama is worth it, but only if you are ruthless about where you spend your days. Go for Bocas, give the capital a single day, and skip the rest with a clear conscience.