The Camino Real Trek

Panama City

On arrival at the airport you are driven to your hotel in Panama City to meet your guide and the rest of the group.

Old Panama and Embera village

We visit the ruins of Old Panama where Spanish ships from Peru landed with their cargoes of Incan gold and silver. The Camino Real, or ‘Royal Road’ began here; we drive inland to join it in the mountains of the Serranía de San Blas in Chagres National Park. Boarding a dug-out at Madden Lake we are taken to the starting point of our trek, near a village of the Embera people. We are their welcome guests: their rich culture, music, dances and crafts make this a special day. We camp in tents in the village - a real privilege.

Crossing the continent

Our trek on the Camino Real is mostly through primary rainforest: home to jaguar, howler monkeys, anteaters and more than 560 species of bird, including the harpy eagle - the largest in the world. We experience the forest at first hand while reliving the trail’s evocative history. We walk 5-7 hours each day, sleeping in tents in the forest. Original cobbled sections of the trail date back to the time when this was the principal route between the Caribbean and the Pacific. Conditions underfoot can be muddy, steep, and slippery. At first the Camino Real follows the Boquerón River ascending close to its source in the mountains before cresting the ridge and descending to the Caribbean. Along the route we will also find remains of manganese mines from the late 1800s, complete with railway tracks and the relics of old locomotives abandoned to the forest.

Trekking the Camino Real

Trekking the Camino Real

Nombre de Dios

On our fourth day of trekking we reach Nombre de Dios on the Caribbean, where the Incan silver and gold arrived from the Camino Real until the town was sacked by Sir Francis Drake in 1596. A short drive along the coast takes us to Portobelo which replaced Nombre de Dios (high in the hills we will have passed the fork in the Camino Real that led down to Portobelo). We visit the Spanish forts and some of its old colonial churches. Overnight in a waterfront lodge.

By train to Panama City

There is free time today to relax by the sea or go snorkelling or diving (extra cost) - perhaps to look for Drake’s lead coffin which was lowered into the waters here. In the afternoon we catch the train for Panama City on the first railway to cross the American continents, with great views of Gatun Lake and the canal. We stay at our original hotel with a farewell dinner by the ocean

If not extending your stay, you can be taken to the airport for your flight home.