36 Hours in Panama City, Panama

Start your weekend as many Panamanian families do, on the Amador Causeway. This man-made peninsula, built from rock unearthed during the Panama Canal’s construction, connects what was once a series of small islands. From Moses Bike Rentals (bicycle, $4 an hour), cruise the causeway’s protected bike highway — stopping to gawk at massive container ships at the canal’s entrance or to suck down a pipa fria (iced coconut water) — to the Punta Culebra Nature Center ($8 adults, $2 children). (Most attractions charge different admission fees for citizens and foreigners.) A lesser-known alternative to the Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo nearby, this Smithsonian-run center offers acres of tropical dry forest where sloths sprawl overhead, child-sized iguanas guard the fountains and crab-eating raccoons prowl. The indoor exhibits display moray eels, phosphorescent anemones and Panama’s famous, and highly poisonous, golden frog.

A generation ago, Casco Viejo, the Old Town, was considered a crumbling relic. But in 1997, the historic district, which is the oldest surviving European settlement on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since then, many of its striking structures have been restored and — for better or worse — reborn as foreign-owned boutique hotels and upscale cafes. Wander with your eyes up (avoiding the occasional sidewalk hole), delighting in the Spanish Colonial, French and Caribbean architecture and plant-draped balconies. Stroll to the walled waterfront of Paseo de las Bóvedas at dusk, when the bird chorus competes with urban traffic. Before dinner, stop at Mayda bar inside the Sofitel Legend, a new hotel in a 1917 building and former social club that features a floor-to-ceiling, hand-painted tile mural of the Panama Canal project.

Fonda Lo Que Hay, a sultry and perpetually bustling restaurant in Casco Viejo, is a pandemic pivot. Early in 2020, the chef José Olmedo Carles had just expanded his widely acclaimed prix-fixe restaurant, Donde José. When the business was walloped by the pandemic, he rebuilt it as Lo Que Hay, a name that translates roughly to “that’s what there is.” More casual that its predecessor but no less ambitious, the “fonda” (what Panamanians call an inexpensive roadside canteen, although Mr. Carles says the name is mostly nostalgic) serves shareable dishes that include a cassava tostada topped with tuna carpaccio ($15), a pork belly guacho (Panamanian rice porridge) with airy chicharrón ($15) and two flawless pieces of fried chicken with silky mashed potatoes and gravy ($16) that invoke the long U.S. presence in Panama.

In Cangrejo, Mentiritas Blancas is a homey neighborhood coffee house (whose name translates to “Little White Lies”) that roasts its own beans and is owned by a trio of siblings who run it like a living room where all are welcome. One wall is papered with notes left by customers, another has illustrations of the small-scale coffee farmers the cafe works with. In the last two decades, Panamanian Geisha (or Gesha) coffee beans — a variety which originated in Ethiopia but thrive in Panama’s high-altitude, volcanic soil — have soared in global prestige and price. (Last year, a pound of exclusive, specially processed Geisha sold for a record-breaking $6,034.) You can have breakfast at the cafe and on your way out buy a bag of coffee beans (including its Geisha, $35 per pound) in floral-printed packaging, a dream gift for a coffee-loving friend.

Don’t be surprised if the taxi driver seems confused when you pull up at Maito in the lush Coco del Mar neighborhood. From the street, the celebrated restaurant looks like a gravel lot backed by a thicket of bamboo. That lack of pretense extends inside, where families gather on the expansive patio for a leisurely meal beneath a corrugated roof, fans whirring slowly overhead and not a white tablecloth in sight. Attentive servers wear black dress shirts and the chef Mario Castrellón’s tasting menu ($75) turns regional dishes of Panama and the Caribbean into museum pieces. Two standouts from the a la carte menu: “ceshimi” (a portmanteau of ceviche and sashimi) that has paper-thin slices of corvina fish, red onion and jalapeño ($15), and pillowy shrimp wontons with passion fruit sauce ($9).

El Trapiche, a family-style restaurant, and now a small chain, that serves unpretentious Panamanian food, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The Vía Argentina location is the original, with the charmingly worn leather chairs and the formica table tops to prove it (a framed photograph of the boxer and favorite son Roberto Duran also hangs on the restaurant’s wall). On any given night here, you might see canoodling couples, foreign students and a Panamanian celebrity all dining within arms length of each other. The wide-ranging menu includes a hearty hojaldra sandwich, a Panamanian fry bread stuffed with a variety of fillings (including Creole-seasoned meats, fried plantains and black beans, from $5.50). Then, en route to Casco, stop at Keene’s, an ice cream shop that’s locally beloved for its changing assortment of bright, tropical flavors.

Fuel your night out with a Coke or a cafe con leche at the Café Coca Cola on Plaza Santa Ana, which — according to its creation myth — has been serving revolutionaries, dictators, Hollywood actors and celebrated poets since the late 19th century. On the edge of Casco, this historic diner and its beautiful neighboring plaza offers a taste of what the Old Town used to be. Walk two blocks to the Selina hostel’s rooftop bar and restaurant, Tacos La Neta, which turns into a party scene at night, when D.J.s play cumbia or remixes of the Cuban-American singer Celia Cruz until 2 a.m. A glimpse of the city’s nightlife is worth the cost of admission ($5) and there are plant-filled nooks in which to drink and people watch. It’s packed after 9:30 p.m. or so on a weekend, with throngs waiting to get in.

While locals might proudly refer to Café Unido as the “Starbucks of Panama,” this fast-growing mini coffee empire is many times better, and more interesting, than the comparison suggests. Now with nine shops in Panama and a new location in Washington, D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood, Unido is the rare chain to take its food as seriously as its coffee. Its breakfast sandwich — with a fried egg, bacon, cheese, guacamole and Buffalo sauce ($9) — is a satisfying and hangover-defeating choice. The Casco Viejo location is a great place to dine-in and enjoy bottomless mimosas ($15) on Sunday, or to grab a guava empanada ($1.25) and an espresso to sip on a bench in the Plaza Herrera around the corner.

Spend any time where tourists are likely to open their wallets and you’ll encounter Indigenous Guna women selling mola, the stunning, ornate textiles they make using reverse applique, (a technique, which involves sewing and cutting away layers of fabric) and that take an average of 60 hours to create. Opened in 2019, the deeply moving and visually rich Museo de la Mola (free, with visits limited to 45 minutes) displays some 200 of these intricate pieces with informative placards offering cultural and historical context. It also has interactive exhibits allowing visitors to attempt their own designs and an immersive mirror box that you stand inside as mola designs are projected on all sides. More important, it honors the Guna, most of whom live in the remote, politically autonomous San Blas islands, by respecting their stories and craft.