Well folks, this continues the tale of my adventures this year, and in this post I move from Santiago in Chile to the capital of Panama, Panama City. I was up super early to catch my pair of flights on Avianca from Santiago to Panama City via Bogota.

Avianca are a mostly Colombian airline I had flown on before back in 2016 from Quito to Galapagos. They also service routes in Northern South America and through Central America too, and I believe are partially based in El Salvador. I would fly them three times with four flights in this region. The also fly to the States, and to demonstrate how they are not just based in Bogota, I flew direct Managua (Nicaragua) to Miami. Back in 2016 they were a full service airline, but through Covid they went belly up, and the relaunched Avianca is now a budget airline, albeit the prices aren’t super cheap. For direct or mostly direct flights on my trip in this region, they were my best bet for a reasonable price. The Panamanian Airline Copa Airlines flew this route direct but for around three times what I paid which off the top of my head was around $400AUD. This really is very reasonable because you don’t think it but Santiago to Bogota alone is more than five hours in the air.

The flights were no frills of course, although I did get an upgrade to their pseudo-business class for the second flight. It’s not a proper business class seat, but it gave me lounge access on a four hour layer over at Bogota Airport and some free snacks and drinks on the flight. No screens on the flight though.

Coming in from the airport my hotel organised a pick up for me, can’t remember the price but there is a reasonable connection to the metro in Panama which I took out that I didn’t know about when I arrived which I can recommend, just organise an uber for the last little bit from the closest station to your hotel. Having said that the ease of being picked up and driven straight to a hotel after spending the day at airports and flying can never be underestimated to the psyche.

From the dryness and cool air in Santiago, Panama’s climate was a shock to the system being ultra humid and temperatures in the low 30s. It was as humid as any place I visited in 2025, probably the most humid even more so than Thailand and Malaysia at the end of the trip.

I was a bit in awe of the city as we drove through it with these amazing skyscrapers that make up the CBD I guess. I wasn’t going in there really, I was staying in Casco Viejo, the ‘Old Town’, which was on the other side of the CBD to the airport. No-one seems to recommend heading to this big part of town and walking in the shadow of these incredible constructions, I’m not sure why. Panama City is a Central American city and it’s not regarded as super-safe, but it really depends where you are in town. The Old Town is safe for tourists, and I walked around and for the most part felt comfortable with using cameras etc.

Panama City really features two main draws for tourists, the ability to see the Panama Canal and Casco Viejo. I was joined by good friend Graham that first night and we set about seeing the place for the next couple of days, with exploring Casco Viejo one day and the Canal the second. Casco Viejo is really well looked after and curated for the tourists. Buildings are maintained, restaurants are many, beautiful squares and classical colonial buildings. There is the odd building that has been abandoned and a couple that were just shells, but they seemed to blend in and just added to the attractiveness of the area. I WILL say – at the end of the day we wandered through a couple of streets which weren’t like that at all, technically I think not in Casco Viejo, just outside, and they felt very rough indeed, but we were two guys and it was still daytime and so we still felt reasonably relaxed. Didn’t pull out my DSLR though!

As for attractions in Casco Viejo, there’s not that much that I can write. We’re talking about churches and squares mostly. Our walking tour began at Plaza de Independence, or Independence Square if you will. Here is the impressive façade of the Iglesia de Santa Maria. We weren’t able to enter the church at the time we were there.

Across the square on another side though was the Panama Canal Museum, which is definitely worth visiting telling a detailed history of the Canal, why it was built and how, and by whom of course.

Not too far away from Plaza de Independence, past some really nice buildings, to the Iglesia de San Jose which is worth peaking into, at the time and perhaps permanently there is a Christmas diorama/miniature which is down around through a corridor or two filling up more than half a large room.

Walking the streets, then out to see the ocean and around there was this street with loads of hats suspended from wires above leading into the Plaza de Francia. There’s a sort of open fortress with a obelix to the building of the canal. We walked the ramparts with some nice views out there to the ocean, and then there was a bit of a covered walkway at the other end of it which was nice. Known as ‘Paseo de la Bovedas’. Plaza Simon Bolivar was another square we checked out which was nice.

Then we departed Casco Viejo to walk the Cinta Costera – this U-shaped road that goes around the Old Town out in the bay. We walked half way around to the lookout which perhaps wasn’t advisable at 2 or 3pm in the afternoon with the sun at its hottest. But the views are decent and these kinds of roads are definitely cool!

Finished off the walking tour – all this done without getting in or on any sort of vehicle, by visiting the Mercado de Marisco Cinta Costera, the fish market. This was definitely worth visiting if you’re in Panama City. I mean – it’s a fish market, full of fresh fish (the eating market is next to it too) and fish on display always provide great visuals!

And thus completes a short tour of Panama City’s Casco Viejo and surrounds. It was a nice day, but would have been a super pleasant day if it wasn’t for all the humidity. Next time when I take you through the trip bit by bit I will be concentrating on what we did to visit the Panama Canal and hopefully throw a few tips on visiting it your way too! Thanks for popping by today – take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!