Panama City, Panama Travel - Itineraries
Whether visiting Panama by land or by sea, Panama has something for everyone. Throughout Panama there are so many choices for travel activities, tours, lodging (popular hotels, villa stays and vacation rentals), and big & small cruises that travel in Panama promises to be an unforgettable travel experience. You can build your personal trip planning itinerary online and choose to explore the area on your own or take our travel theme tours that make it easy to experience travel as you like it.
Panama Guide - to help with your travel planning, find valuable details on the area including local activities & attractions, recommended restaurants, favorite shopping areas, walking tours, suggested itineraries and events.
Invitation to an Investment Tour Opportuntiy in Panama
Protect and Grow Your Nest Egg Now in Easy, Affordable, Thriving Panama
(November 27-December 4, 2010)
When it comes to investing overseas, every so often (perhaps once in a generation) certain key factors come together in just the right way at just the right time. For the folks who notice – and act – the results can be life-changing. A portfolio shored up, expanded. The freedom. The control. The peace of mind that comes with a pampered retirement. Right now, the timing is right for Panama. Its economy is on an upward trajectory. And with the U.S. in trouble, more and more retirees are going to be looking beyond their home borders to places where they can stretch their dollars overseas. Panama will be at the top of their list. Right now, you can still get there early. Panama boasts some of the best-value beachfront in the region on both its Caribbean and Pacific Coasts. You’ll find exclusive tropical island properties with breathtaking beaches in a no-hurricane zone. The nation’s highlands offer spring-like weather year-round and gorgeous lots and homes … where you can live like royalty on a secretary’s budget. Plus Panama’s retiree benefits are some of the very best in the world.
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Panama City Introduction
Long overshadowed by the Panama Canal and a reputation as a hub for drug-running, Panama City is not only reinventing itself as the thriving commercial and financial hub of the Americas, it is asserting itself as a burgeoning tourist destination. Panama City (commonly referred to simply as "Panama") is one of those rare Latin American capitals that has it all: a high standard of living, a seemingly endless supply of investment from abroad, a surplus of natural beauty, and a rich cultural brew of ethnicities and religions. It has been called the new Hong Kong and Miami -- a sleek and modern city proud of its role as host to the world.
Signs of Panama City's reinvention are everywhere. The Amador Causeway, formerly a U.S. military base, is ground zero for several multimillion-dollar condominium and commercial-center developments, which include a new Biodiversity Museum designed by famed architect Frank Gehry. The run-down 19th-century buildings of Casco Viejo have been revitalized with private and public funds and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Along the coast, swiftly rising skyscrapers, spurred by an irresistible 20-year tax exemption, portend a megalopolis in the making: By 2009, 5 of the 10 tallest buildings in Latin America will be here in Panama City, including the tallest, at 104 floors. Even the dirty Panama Bay is undergoing a $360-million cleanup.
But Panama City's visitors need not venture far from their air-conditioned hotels to immerse themselves in the wild tropical jungle that is characteristic of this region. Even the city's Metropolitan Park is the protected home of more than 200 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles. Dozens of remarkable destinations outside the city limits can be reached in less than 2 hours, meaning travelers can spend the day exploring but head back to the city and be well fed and rested for the next day's adventure.
Panama City is the oldest Spanish settlement on the mainland of the Americas, founded in 1519 by Pedro Arias Dávila (Pedrarias the Cruel). The settlement was used as a base for stealing Peruvian gold and silver and transporting it back to Spain via a treacherous road that linked Panama City with the Caribbean Sea. The immense wealth that passed across the isthmus proved irresistible to treasure-thirsty pirates and buccaneers, who conducted raids throughout the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1671, the Welsh buccaneer Henry Morgan sacked Panama City, and the settlement burned to the ground. The ruins of Panama Viejo, or Old Panama, can be toured today.
By 1673, Panama City had been rebuilt in what is now known as Casco Viejo; it was heavily fortified and the city was never taken again. However, raids on the Caribbean coast mounted, and the Spanish, defeated, returned to sailing around Cape Horn in 1746. Panama declared its independence from Spain in 1821, but declined in importance until the Gold Rush of the mid-19th century, when thousands of forty-niners used the isthmus as a shortcut from the East Coast of the U.S. to California. Later, when Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, Panama City was designated the capital. With the opening of the canal in 1914, Panama City became the most important center of trade and commerce in the Americas.
Panama City's modern history was marred by the rise of strongman dictator Manuel Noriega and by the 1989 U.S.-led invasion to overthrow him, which left hundreds dead, most of whom lived in the poor Chorillo neighborhood. But today, Panama City is one of Latin America's safest cities, and nearly every tourist will feel secure walking the streets day or night.
Content provided by Frommer's Unlimited © 2010, Whatsonwhen Limited and Wiley Publishing, Inc. By its very nature much of the information in this travel guide is subject to change at short notice and travellers are urged to verify information on which they're relying with the relevant authorities. Travmarket cannot accept any responsibility for any loss or inconvenience to any person as a result of information contained above.Event details can change. Please check with the organizers that an event is happening before making travel arrangements. We accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person resulting from information published on this site.
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