Finding Panamá City’s Coolest Neighborhoods

From 17th-century pirate wars to modern-day speakeasies, Panama's capital has a personality all its own

Avenida Balboa at dusk in Panamá City. Rodrigo Cuel/Shutterstock

Seen from the sea, this Latin American city glitters, its wall of white towers shimmering as they rise, Miami-style, over the blue waters of the Pacific. Getting closer, you can feel the heat of it all, a capital city in the heart of the Americas that pulsates with the rhythms of the two continents it connects.

Busy, and sometimes gritty, the traffic and the humidity and the always-packed pedestrian spaces can combine to make this place a challenge. But it doesn’t have to be. That is, if you know where to go.

Sparkling, Seaside City

Located right next to the country’s famous namesake Canal, the Panamá City area is home to about 2 million people, a little under half the country’s population. Long a port city, the city has for centuries had different cultures and flavors sailing in from all over the world. It makes for a fascinating mix, and a place primed for exploration.

History here runs deep, and the city’s fortunes have always been set upon the sea. It was founded all the way back in 1519. Panamá City’s port served to transport gold and silver from Peru, Bolivia, and other parts of South America back to Europe, a status which enriched the city. But that wealth also brought pirates, and in 1671 the infamous privateer, Henry Morgan, looted and burned the original settlement.

On a city tour, I saw that only ruins of that area remain. Now preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Panamá Viejo is surrounded and enveloped by modern streets. It all feels like something ancient, like touring the Acropolis in Athens, or the Forum in Rome. I walked among the remains of the old Plaza Mayor, columns and stone walls and the bell tower from the original cathedral still rising proudly. Grassy and quiet, the honking horns from just nearby barely carried into this sanctuary of peace and quiet. All of it was backdropped by those modern, shining towers.

Panama Viejo. Tim Johnson

Yes, this city loves new things. As a place built more recently on shipping revenues and profits from the famous Canal, when the sun goes down, the lights come up. Shiny new malls and hotels and restaurants and sprawling developments have sprung up across town. Riding in the evening through heavy traffic, south of the newer towers in Obarrio and Marbella, I wasn’t sure I’d find any living history. Winding along the serpentine curves of Avenida Balboa, which traces the coast, the red taillights formed a river of fire.

Steeped in Time and Personality

I quickly saw where everyone was headed: Casco Antiguo, the old town. After Morgan torched the city, in 1673 they moved the whole thing about five miles down the way and rebuilt. Walking the cobblestones, I felt a real energy on the street. A Latin feel permeated—a little New Orleans, and a little Barcelona, and plenty of its own unique character, too.

Well-dressed couples ducked into small, upscale restaurants. The sound of live music drifted onto the street from two different directions. People dined on ceviche and shrimp at sidewalk tables. A big group of tourists wandered by, all of them, for some reason, wearing matching Panamá hats.

I selected a bar at random—and as it turned out, I chose wisely. Pedro Mandinga looked upscale and cozy, with exposed brick walls and large, swirling ceiling fans and big barrels of rum, aging right there. Pulling up a stool at the bar, I stumbled through a conversation, the bartender’s English limited but still much better than my Spanish.

After mixing me a cocktail, he explained that they make their own premium rum, using cane grown right here in Panamá—even offering a bowl of the actual sugar for me to taste. He also poured small samples of the good stuff. One premium bottle, aged between 15 and 21 years. Others featuring mixes with other local Panamanian-grown products—an earthy cacao rum, and a rich, creamy coffee rum. It was a perfect nightcap.

Bartender at Pedro Mandinga. Tim Johnson

Another evening, I followed a recommendation from a local friend to an area of town called San Francisco. In a thoroughly vertical city, this neighborhood is pleasantly leafy and low-slung. Small bungalows line the blocks, some tucked away behind tropical foliage. Carports and yards have been converted into al fresco patios. Once, these housed thriving young families. Now, they serve the hungry and thirsty.

Walking around with no plan in particular, I passed bars and restaurants, speakeasies and cheese shops and barbers and gelato spots. At Esa Flaca Rica, I checked out the dueling food trucks serving up simple fare to a courtyard of picnic tables, the smell of beef wafting off the grill. At Chèvre, I browsed French cheeses and Italian pastas. I passed right by Intimo, which looked like a secret hideaway.

Esa Flaca Rica. Tim Johnson

And at Federico’s, a combination bar and barbecue place, Ricky, the owner of the latter, showed me how the place retains elements of the original home. French doors and an internal courtyard remain. In the bathroom, classic 1980s-style sliding closet doors enclose the bathroom stalls.

Squint your eyes a bit, use your imagination, and rearrange the furniture, and you could picture a family huddled together on a couch, just over there, watching television together in the evening. “These were houses, right in the busiest part of town,” says Ricky. “The kids grew up and moved to the burbs, or they bought condos.”

Urban flight is rarely a good thing. But as I settled into a seat at the bar in what was once the house’s dining room, ordered a cocktail, and considered some brisket, I was glad for this cool little enclave. So much history and personality, right in the heart of the ultimate high-rise city.

If You Go

Fly: Panamá City’s Tocumen International Airport (PTY) connects the isthmus of Panamá with the rest of the world, with nonstop flights arriving from a number of North American cities, often on COPA Airlines, the country’s (very good) flag-carrier airline.

Getting Around: With two lines and 29 stations, the metro system here is a fast, efficient way to get across town. Ride-sharing services are also a safe and very affordable option.

Stay: The owners of Hotel La Compañía renovated (and in some cases, excavated) a number of historic buildings, including a former Jesuit mission from 1688. In their new landmark hotel in the middle of Casco Antiguo, remarkable original elements remain, including petrified wood salvaged from the the structures and oyster fossils in the stone walls. There’s also a courtyard with avocado and orange trees, and a cool rooftop pool.

La Compañia. Tim Johnson

Take Note: If you’re looking for a good place for a jog or power-walk, Cinta Costera, a 4.3-mile linear park tracing the crescent of the coastline, offers paths and green space right next to Avenida Balboa.