In short
Panama City is a city of glass towers facing a colonial old town, with a canal between two oceans. Few cities hold so many contrasts over so little distance.
Casco Viejo, the World Heritage listed old town, was built after the destruction of Panamá Viejo by the pirate Henry Morgan in 1671. The financial centre lines up its skyscrapers along the bay. The Amador Causeway links four islands by a mole built from the canal spoil.
Arriving and getting around
Tocumen airport is Central America's main air hub: it is often the transit point for reaching South America.
The metro, the first in Central America, serves one useful axis. Ride-hailing apps are in common use.
The US dollar is the de facto currency. The balboa is at parity and exists only as coins. The notes are American — nothing needs changing on arrival from the United States.
What it really costs
Panama is more expensive than Nicaragua or Guatemala, but remains affordable.
Casco Viejo charges markedly more than the rest of the city, hotels included.
When to come
December–April is the dry season.
From May to November, the rainy season brings heavy late-day showers rather than whole days lost. The country lies outside the hurricane belt.
What nobody tells you
The Miraflores locks have a visitor centre with a terrace: you watch container ships work through a change in level. Check the transit times before going — vessels do not pass continuously, and arriving between two convoys means seeing closed gates.
The canal can also be crossed as a passenger: partial or full transit excursions exist, over a day.
Soberanía National Park begins half an hour from downtown. Panama is one of the richest countries in the world for bird species per unit of area, and they can be watched without leaving the metropolitan region.
The San Blas islands belong to the autonomous comarca of Guna Yala: access is regulated by the Guna people, with their own entry fees and their own rules. It is not an open archipelago.