3 Days in Panama City, Panama
Where We Stayed
Since this was our first destination in Central America, Brett and I booked ahead of time at Hostel Mammallena in Panama City through Hostelworld. We stayed here for 3 nights for $75 total. This hostel was quite nice and in a good location – just a short walk from the Metro Station. There was free breakfast and coffee here each morning and a kitchen to use. Since the airport was a 45 minute drive away from the hostel, we were worried about how much a cab would cost but Hostel Mammallena sent a van to pick us up for just $15 each. If you stay here, be sure to eat at the D’Mara Market Restaurante (a tiny outdoor stand) just down the street for some amazing homemade empanadas!
How We Got Around
For a $5 deposit we were able to borrow a MetroPass from our hostel that we had to load ourselves. This pass was good for the metro train and the city busses all throughout Panama City. We put a couple dollars on the card to get us through the first few days. In the end, we ended up buying our own card since they were only $2 and we needed it to get back to Albrook Station to catch the bus to David. So if your hostel doesn’t lend them out, it is not expensive and worth it to purchase your own. The Albrook Station is quite large and has busses to almost everywhere in the city. Look for a hostel that is near a Metro Station or Albrook Station.
Panama Canal – Miraflores Locks
We decided to visit the Panama Canal at the Miraflores Locks and Visitors Center. There are three different locks on the Panama Canal you can visit. We decided to come here because it is the most popular and has a great visitors center. There is also a direct bus from Albrook. To get here, we took a bus from the Albrook bus station that was labeled Miraflores. It cost us each $0.35 to take the train and $0.25 to take the bus one way. The Miraflores Visitors Center is open from 8:00am to 6:00pm every day but you must buy your ticket before 5:15pm in order to get in. We each had to pay $15 for our passes (much cheaper if you’re a local).
Make sure to arrive early to ensure a good view of the boat going through! Brett and I got lost on the way to the Metro Station so we ended up only seeing the very end of the big cargo ships going through the locks. Due to this, we decided to return later in the day since we might never get the chance to watch it again. The next set of boats were scheduled to go through the lock at around 2:30pm so we arrived almost an hour early to make sure we saw it this time! This process is very neat and I would definitely recommend going to see it if you never have before! We got to see a small tour boat, a catamaran, and a giant cargo ship from London go through the canal! The boats first went down 27 meters and entered the next section so they were level with the Pacific Ocean. It was quite interesting the watch!
The Miraflores Visitors Center has many other things to see when you are waiting for the boats or after watching them go through. There is a short 3D film about the history of the locks that is shown in Spanish and English at multiple times throughout the day. There is also a four level museum/exhibition that is worth a visit. We learned that Brett is 64% water and I am 70% water. All of this is included in your ticket purchase. There is also a restaurant (closed when we were there), ice cream stand, and gift shop on site. Plan to stay here for around 2 hours and make sure to arrive early.
Amador Causeway
The Amador Causeway was so beautiful and worth the visit if you are ever in Panama City!
Once again, we took the Metro Train to the Albrook Station. Look for the bus with Amador written on it. We had to ask a worker where this bus came since there were quite a few different terminals but eventually found it! It cost us each $0.25 on our MetroPass and took about 10 minutes to get to the causeway.
We hopped off near all of the shops and walked to a local shop called Burke Bikes. We rented bikes for $4 each for one hour! The Amador Causeway was so beautiful and it was so nice to get out of the crazy city! We rode to the very end and saw a few resorts and a great view of Panama City. There is also a giant Panama sign so we stopped to take some pictures with it.
I would avoid going to the Amador Causeway on a Monday like we did because most of the stores and restaurants were closed this day. The beautiful Biomuseum was closed but it was very neat to see it!
Metropolitan Natural Park
Since we had so much time left in the day after visiting the Amador Causeway, we decided to head to the Parque Natural Metropolitano (Metropolitan Natural Park). There was no bus from the Albrook Station to the park so we ended up taking a taxi for $3. He tried to charge us $8 but it was only a five minute drive so don’t get over charged! We actually ended up walking back to Albrook after so that’s how close it is.
We each paid the $4 fee to get into the park and a worker showed us a map of all the trails. We ended up hiking the Sendero El Roble, Sendero La Cienaguita, and Camino del Mono Titi trails. The first trail had a small pond along it which had so many turtles!! It was very bizarre! At the top of the trail (Mirador Lookout) we got to see a great view of Panama City!
The trails were quite easy and only took us about an hour total. We were lucky enough to spot a few lizards, a couple tiny frogs, a small white snake, and even a white-nosed coati! The dozens of turtles were definitely the highlight of this park for me!
Overall…
Overall, we enjoyed Panama City but were glad to get out of the giant city. We got lost quite a few times but the places we went and things we saw were worth it! It was great to have the chance to see the Panama Canal in person! We had a great time biking along the Causeway and exploring the Metropolitan Natural Park!
