In November, Nate and I took a weekend trip to Panama City, Panama. We left early Friday morning arriving in Panama around 8:00 am. We had a full three days there and were able to explore a lot of things! Below I'll share with you some of our most notable activities!
Where to eat:
Coffee and Croissants at Bajareque - We found this place while looking for a spot to order a cup of the "most expensive coffee in the world." This coffee goes for $803 a pound! The price of our cups in Panama were $10 USD, but it would be more expensive in other cities around the world.
Aki Sake Bar - After we took a walking tour of the city we were dying to eat. I had a huge taste for sushi, so after running a google search for places near by, we came across Aki. It turned out to be one of our favorite meals. Nate got an orange chicken dish while I got a sushi roll. Both were delicious, but I have to say Nate's chicken was some of the best orange chicken we've ever had!
Barrio - Barrio is a pizza restaurant in Panama City. They have a few different options all very reasonably priced. Our pizza here was really good!
Mahalo - This was probably my favorite meal of the trip! Mahalo has two locations in Panama City, but we went to the one just a few minutes walk from our hotel. Mahalo is owned by two Canadian sisters who moved down to Panama. We got brunch there one morning. I had the avocado toast, and it was probably my favorite avocado toast I've ever had! I still crave that meal!
Esa Flaca Rica - Esa Flaca Rica is a food truck I read about on another blog which was located in the San Francisco neighborhood. We went there for lunch one day. It's a pretty neat set up. They have a whole plot of land with a parking lot, bathrooms, and a covered bench area (which was great because it down poured while we were there). At one end they have a "Beer truck" and the other is the "Food Truck". They're known for their burgers, we ended up getting a chicken burger. It was really good! It came with a side of "house fries" which had a really yummy seasoning on it! It was a fun unique little spot!
Where to drink:
Capital Bistro Panama - We came across this cute spot on the way home from dinner one evening. It's close enough to our hotel that you could see if from the entrance, but we hadn't noticed it before! There's three levels to the bar but we spent our time on the top. With twinkle lights lining the perimeter and the high rises lighting up the sky it was the perfect place to enjoy a drink at the end of the night.
Lazotea - We found this bar through the bar crawl we did Saturday night. It was super close to our hotel and had yet another great view of the city! They also served food here. We got some munchies, tacos and guac of course!
Republicano - Republicano is another craft beer spot, we went there mid afternoon. Unfortunately we went there right after lunch, but it looked like they had great burgers! There beer was good too! This spot was in the San Francisco neighborhood.
La Rana Dorada - This is a really fun brewery we decided to go to because I ordered a beer earlier in our trip that was made from here. We really liked the beer so decided to try it out. Definitely worth the trip through if you're into craft beer!
Where to stay:
Hotel Casa Panama - This is where we stayed. We found it via Google search and it ended up being a really cool spot. It was a really modern hotel with concrete walls and floors. We liked the look of it. There was also a roof top bar here that hotel guests get a discount at. I would absolutely recommend it as the staff was very nice and it had a great location!
AirBnB - We did not get an AirBnB in panama but we heard really great things about the AirBnB options! A group of guys we met on our bar crawl were staying in an AirBnB and our city tour guide had told us there were a ton of good options right in the heart of town!
What to do:
Free walking tour - We did the free walking tour on our first day a few hours after we arrived and really liked it. It's a great way to get the lay of the land. Our tour guide was really knowledgeable and spoke great English. We actually got a private tour because the others who were supposed to be with us never showed up!
Panama Canal - When in Panama, this is a must. The Panama Canal was a super cool attraction. I enjoyed it way more than I expected to. We learned a lot of cool facts and got to watch a hand full of boats go through the locks! Did you know it takes about 10 hours for a boat to go from one end of the canal to the other? The most expensive tax paid to go through the canal was just over a million dollars. The least expensive tax was 36 cents and was paid by a guy who swam through the canal! We paid to go through the museum as well as watch the 3D film about the canal. Afterwards we stayed and had a couple drinks at the restaurant there! Highly recommend that as it looks out onto the locks so you can watch boats go through while you relax!
Visit the San Francisco neighborhood - If you find yourself close by, id recommend checking out the neighborhood but I don't think you need to make a special trip. The most interesting part of Panama City is the older part. San Francisco was more of a sky rise area. This is where we found many of our craft beer options which is why we ventured over here!
Panama City Bar Crawl - This was such a fun activity. We were in a smaller group. It was us, the two guides and a group of three older guys celebrating their 50th birthday's. The crawl includes four bars and a club. Your ticket includes one drink at each spot. Each of the bars were super fun! They had us play a game in the beginning as an ice breaker which really got everyone to start talking. We even got one of our guides to take us to more of a local bar which was a unique experience!
Jungle Land - This was a really unique and fun experience! We were picked up early in the day from our hotel and driven out to the jungle. We then were taken by boat to cruise the canal and learn about how it works, saw some wild life, then went to Jungle Land for lunch and to hang out for the remainder of the day. It was a super cool spot hidden in the middle of the jungle, floating on the lake! Jungle land had different activities you could partake in such as kayaking, swimming, fishing and more. We chose to go fishing (Nate's pick). Nate actually caught a Bass! He can officially say he caught a fish on the Panama Canal, how cool is that? Jungle land has the option to spend the night as well, but we just stayed for the day since we didn't have much time. There were others who spent the night and it looked like a really cool experience! Totally worth it if you have the time!
Panama was super cool, and we're really glad we made the trip out there! If you have the chance I recommend you do the same!
You can see a video of our travels below!
Thanks for reading!
Jen