Chitré

Chitré is a rambling town with a compact center that includes a lovely 18th-century church and the region's best museum. Those sites can be visited in an hour's time, but because it has the peninsula's best hotels outside of the beaches on the southern coast, Chitré can be a convenient base from which to visit the area's traditional towns, such as nearby La Villa de los Santos, Parita, Las Minas, Ocú, and Pesé. It's also the capital of Herrera Province and the principal commercial and administrative center for the Azuero Peninsula.