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Panama holidays:
Welcome to Panama

Adjust your preconceptions. Panama has a new confidence and great deal to offer the traveller and wildlife enthusiast. Good beaches, strong tribal cultures, and real adventure add to a very varied mix.

Panama offers some of the most amazing experiences in Central America.

For us, Panama is close behind Costa Rica for wildlife and nature you can see easily on short holidays, with huge areas of real wilderness too.

Panama also offers strong tribal cultures, a vivid history that’s full of surprises, and beaches in variety.

With good facilities and real enthusiasm from Panamanians to show off the very best of their country, it is a pioneering destination with much to recommend it.

We think Panama is an excellent choice for an adventurous holiday.

What Panama has to offer

Panama is a very exciting destination and we can’t wait to show you all it has to offer.

Wildlife

Nearly 30% of Panama’s land is protected in national parks, forest reserves and wildlife sanctuaries, which provide great opportunities to see the country’s great wealth of flora and fauna. Panama’s contorted shape and its location at the southernmost range of many North American species and the northernmost range of many South American species creates a melting pot rich in animal and plant life. There are around 950 species of birds (more than in North America and Europe combined), plus 220 mammals, 354 reptiles and amphibians, and more than 10,000 species of plants.

History

But it’s not only the nature that pulls you in. Panama has a fascinating history as a Spanish colony and transit route for the conquistadors’ riches from Peru, often plundered by pirates, with some evocative sites to visit. Panama City combines a colonial past with a brash modernity that springs from its new standing as Latin America’s leading trading centre.

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal, which joins the Pacific next to Panama City, is the key to this success. The Canal is a truly amazing engineering achievement, and the trials and tribulations of building it make a remarkable story that lives long in the mind.

Indigenous communities

There are few countries where tribal communities of indigenous peoples survive with such fortitude, struggling against the odds to preserve thousand year old cultures and a future for their children. The largest, the Kuna people, have a degree of autonomy over their homelands, which include the beautiful islands of the Kuna Yala (San Blas) archipelago. They warmly welcome visitors for a taste of their paradise at delightful simple lodges purpose-built by their communities.

Islands and beaches

With 1500 islands and 1000 miles of Caribbean and Pacific coast it’s easy to find a white sand beach to get away from it all, or some great places for snorkelling, diving or surfing.

Walks and treks

Panama's mountains offer some excellent opportunities for walks in cool cloud forests. An especially evocative trek follows the old Spanish 'royal' road by which the treasures of Peru were brought across the mountains to be loaded on to ships bound for Spain.

We know of no other place on earth where you can party the night away in cool city club and be in the heart of primary rainforest at dawn listening to howler monkeys and spotting rare birds.

Choosing a holiday to Panama

› View Panama map

Order a Panama brochure

Order your copy of our in-depth Costa Rica, Panama & Nicaragua travel brochure, packed with inspiration and information on holidays in Panama.

› Order or download a Costa Rica, Panama & Nicaragua brochure

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Contact our Panama specialists

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