Positioned at the crossroads of the Americas, Panama holidays & Costa Rica trips, offer an exciting mix of urban buzz, incredible engineering achievements, pristine rainforests, indigenous cultures, verdant cloud forests and stunning island beaches.
Wherever you choose to visit in this beautiful country covered in lush forest, most Panama holidays & Costa Rica trips are likely to include Panama City, a dynamic centre of international finance and commerce, with evocative remnants of Spanish colonialism and pirate history. Founded in 1519 by the Spanish, it sits at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. The original site was sacked and burned by a notorious Welsh privateer, Henry Morgan, but the ruins of the old town, Panama Viejo, remain a fascinating and popular tourist attraction, with its delightful colonial maze of plazas, bars, churches, cafés and palaces.
In contrast, the modern 1,000m Centennial Bridge, built in 2004, carries the Pan-American Highway over the Panama Canal. You can enjoy superb shopping here (high-end to ethnic) and wander through the Los Pueblos open-air mall. The Panama Canal changed world shipping and international trade forever and is a must-see, even if you aren’t an engineering buff. You can view it from the Visitor Centre, take a boat trip on part of it, or journey alongside it on the marvellous Coast to Coast Panama Railway. Just outside the city, don’t miss the stunning Frank Gehry Biodiversity Museum. On Panama holidays & Costa Rica trips, you can explore world-class interactive exhibitions that cover Panama’s emergence from the oceans and its importance to the world’s bio-diversity.
Panama is barely 50 miles across, so there is a wonderful choice of day tours covering both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. These include trips to the Gamboa rainforests and birding tours in Metropolitan National Park. Longer Darien birding tours with private guides can be arranged, if you wish to search for the magnificent harpy eagle. On Panama holidays & Costa Rica trips, you can also enjoy whale watching along the Pacific coast between July and October.
If its culture and tribes you are interested in, you can visit an indigenous Embera village. The tranquil and unspoiled San Blas Islands on the Caribbean coast are the home of the indigenous Kuna Yala tribes, but it’s a very long day trip so we recommend staying overnight if possible, although the accommodation is rustic. The Chiriqui Highlands in the west have mountains draped in thick cloud forest and are ideal for walking, kayaking, canopy zip-lining and white water rafting on Panama holidays & Costa Rica trips.
If a relaxed Caribbean vibe is what you are looking for, go no further than the beaches of the spectacular Bocas del Toro archipelago. The capital, Bocas Town, is located on Isla Colon and has exquisite beaches, many water sports and great snorkelling and scuba diving.
Combine your ideas with our expertise and let us help you create a holiday of a lifetime. We offer a wide range of options at different price points, all of which can be tailor made to your needs.
We have been arranging Panama holidays & Costa Rica trips, including Panama Canal & Railway, rainforests, tribes & San Blas Islands for over 20 years.