Location: Panamá

Day 1 - 8 Mar 2022

Tocumen International Airport

Content: Fly into Tocumen airport and grab an Uber to the hostel!

Zebulo Hostel

Content: Zebulo Hostel is a great budget option with affordable dorm rooms or privates. Really nice kitchen and social space, outdoor garden area with pool. This was a very sociable place to stay with guests gathering to drink, play games and chat in the evenings.

El Rey de la Empanada

Content: Try some empanadas before taking the metro to Casco Viejo - Panama City old town. Go from Via Argentina metro station, purchase a metro card from the desk. It will cost $5 and $3 of that is credit to use. Each metro journey is $0.35 and you can share a card with your partner/friend/group. Just pass it back once you’ve gone through the barrier! Get off at Cinco de Mayo metro station and walk 15 minutes to Casco Viejo. Alternatively, you could get an Uber from the hostel straight to Casco Viejo.

Location: Panama City

Day 1 - 8 Mar 2022

San Felipe

Content: Casco Viejo is a lovely place to walk around, take photos and get a coffee. Look out for the Banksy painting, the Panama Metropolitan Cathedral and Iglesia de San José. Head to Plaza de Francia for a beautiful view of the skyline.

Location: Panamá

Day 1 - 8 Mar 2022

Super Gourmet @Casa Testa

Content: Great place for fresh juice and a bite to eat - the empanadas are really good!

Panama Canal Museum

Content: Look around the Panama Canal Museum to get some background history in preparation for visiting the canal tomorrow!

Café Unido Casco Viejo

Content: A little bit pricey but great coffee and cake here!

Location: Panama City

Day 1 - 8 Mar 2022

Cinemark Pacific Center

Content: After dinner, head to the cinema! You can check the showtimes on the Cinemark website and they’re clearly labelled with dubbed or subtitled.

Location: Panamá

Day 2 - 9 Mar 2022

Metropolitan Natural Park

Content: Take the metro from Via Argentina to Albrook then walk/taxi to the Metropolitan Park. Lovely place to spend a couple of hours walking through the rainforest. We saw a sloth, monkeys and lots of terrapins! Only $4 entry.

Albrook Mall

Content: Head into Albrook mall to grab some lunch. If you fancy fast food, Leonardo’s do a 12” pizza for only $3!

Location: Panama City

Day 2 - 9 Mar 2022

Miraflores Visitor's Center

Content: Get an Uber to Miraflores Visitor Centre to learn about the Panama Canal and watch the ships going through!

Location: Panamá

Day 2 - 9 Mar 2022

Natural Spice Panamá

Content: Excellent and well-priced vegan restaurant! Head here for some food and it’s then walking distance back to the hostel

Location: Santa Fe

Day 3 - 10 Mar 2022

Santa Fe

Content: This is a long travel day so make sure you’ve got plenty of snacks and water for the buses! Take the metro from Via Argentina to Albrook station. In the bus terminal, buy a ticket to Santiago ($9, 4.5 hours). Change at Santiago and take a minibus to Santa Fe ($3, 1.5 hours).

Location: Santa Fé

Day 3 - 10 Mar 2022

Hostal Bulabá

Content: Check into Hostal Bulaba. Beautiful place, lovely owner, the views and untouched nature everywhere are stunning! Cannot recommend highly enough.

Fonda Santa Fe

Content: Go to Fonda Santa Fe for some local food. Big plate of rice, beans, salad and your choice of protein for only $3. We ate in this place a lot!

Location: Santa Fe

Day 4 - 11 Mar 2022

Santa Fe

Content: Santa Fe is a beautiful green spot, really untouched by tourism (we heard it’s like the quiet version of Boquete where most tourists visit). Today I’d recommend heading to Rio de Llanito waterfalls. Buses leave Santa Fe at 10 and 11:30 ($3, 45 minutes). We took the 11:30 and this allowed us 2.5 hours to walk up the river, see all three waterfalls, then come back to the road for the 14:30 bus (there’s also one back at 16:00). The second waterfall has a plunge pool you can climb in. The third is huge and so beautiful. This was a moderate hike - it wasn’t very long but all uphill and some clambering over rocks.

Location: Santa Fé

Day 4 - 11 Mar 2022

Fonda Santa Fe

Content: Head back to Fonda Santa Fe for some well-earned food!

Location: Santa Fe

Day 4 - 11 Mar 2022

Restaurante Hermanos Pineda

Content: If you don’t fancy cooking, here’s another restaurant option! Pricier than Fonda Santa Fe but they have a variety of local dishes as well as pizza.

Santa Fe

Content: If you have time to spare, I’d highly recommend staying in Santa Fe a while longer. There are countless free hikes and waterfalls you can do/visit in this area and everywhere is so green and beautiful.

Location: Santa Catalina

Day 5 - 12 Mar 2022

Santa Catalina

Content: A long travel day coming up so make sure you’ve got plenty of water and snacks to keep you going! Santa Fe -> Santiago by bus $3, 1.5 hours Santiago -> Soná by bus $2, 1 hour Soná -> Santa Catalina by bus $5, 1.5 hours

Fonda Guapa

Content: Stop at Fonda Guapa on the way from the bus stop to the hostel for some food! Big plate of fresh fish, rice, beans and salad for $5 (veggie and meat options available too)

Surfers Paradise

Content: Good budget accommodation option. Basic facilities but gorgeous social spaces and deck area overlooking the coast.

Location: Montijo District

Day 6 - 13 Mar 2022

Coiba Island

Content: Day long snorkel trip in the Coiba nature protected area. This was an amazing day trip. We stopped at 3 different snorkel spots and saw countless brightly coloured fish, coral and two different species of turtles. It’s also common to see dolphins and sharks. The water is crystal clear and absolutely stunning. Lunch stop was on a beautiful island where we also saw a crocodile up close!

Location: Santa Catalina

Day 6 - 13 Mar 2022

Fonda Guapa

Content: Headed to Fonda Guapa for food again as the portions are huge and it’s one of the most affordable options in Santa Catalina.

Location: Panama City

Day 7 - 14 Mar 2022

Panama City

Content: Bus trip back to Panama City. Follow the same instructions as previous days - Santa Catalina to Soná to Santiago to Panama City

Location: Panamá

Day 7 - 14 Mar 2022

Tocumen International Airport

Content: If you want to take public transport to the airport, the last section of the metro becomes a sky train and offers beautiful views of Panama City and the skyline. Details: Take line 1 on metro to San Miguelito. Switch to line 2 and go to Corredor Sur. Take a taxi from here to the airport ($3, 5 minutes)