City Rating: Panama City
Population: 800’000
Date of visit: May 2018
Attractions & sights: 3/5
Nightlife: 4/5
Safety: 4/5
Infrastructure: 2/5
Low budget factor: 3/5
Total: 👍👍👍/5
The city in a nutshell:
Panama City is a fun city, which is known for its skyscrapers, an active nightlife scene and questionable banking methods. It’s a solid city to spend two or three days, but it has a few downsides such as a bad infrastructure and a long rainy season.
Where to stay:
Casco Viejo is the place to be for sightseeing and nightlife. I stayed in El Cangrejo. It’s the business district and therefore not the best place for sightseeing but a good choice for restaurants and sky bars. Uber fares are pretty cheap and the ride from El Cangrejo to Casco Viejo takes only ten minutes.
The Good:
Panama City is often referred as the Dubai of Latin America and I can see why. The city is made up of skyscrapers, many of them have bars on the top, where you can see the skyline from above. Actually, the city is ranked no. 19 in the world by the numbers of buildings larger than 150m (52 in total).
However, the US American influence is much bigger than the influence from the Emirate. You can find many US food chains and brands in Panama City and the country uses the US Dollar as their currency. The tipping culture is also omnipresent.
Panama City somehow reminded me of Miami. It’s actually a city that is good for hanging out but probably not for a week full of historic sightseeing. The formula to enjoy Panama City is to spend time in luxury hotels, fine restaurants and amazing bar and nightclubs.
Speaking about the latter, nightlife in Panama City is amazing. Most of the action takes places in Casco Viejo, but there are other nightlife districts too. Avenue Central is the street in Casco Viejo where most bars and nightclubs are located. Check out Casa Jaguar, which is the best nightclub I’ve visited.
Another good thing about Panama City is that the city is pretty safe. At least, if you stay in the touristy areas and use common sense. There are certainly some no go areas in the city, but the typical tourist usually doesn’t see these areas.
The Bad & The Ugly:
Panama City looks like one of the most developed cities in Latin America at first glance. However, if you take a closer look you can see how bad the infrastructure is. I have never seen roads in such a bad condition in a major city outside of Africa. Moreover, the streets are completely congested during the rush hours and it can take a while to get from one point to another.
Rainy season is from May until December. That means eight months in total. The rain usually comes in the afternoon and it comes heavily. Try to do the sightseeing in the morning when in Panama City during rainy season.
Another negative point is that Panama City can be expensive when it comes to dining and drinks, but luckily hotels and taxis are pretty cheap.
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