Panama City & Punta Caracol
 

My wife and I will be in Panama for 6 nights in early April...1 night in Panama City and 5 at the Punta Caracol near Bocas.

Looking for suggestions on things to see/do in Panama City...we're there for all of 24 hrs. Sights, restaurants, hotels, etc.

Ditto for the Punta Caracol. We've read the rants/raves on this site, and we're still going to take the plunge. Any other specific recommendations (good and bad) for day trips? Things to see/do in town?

My wife and I are late 30's, moderately adventerous.

Thanks!

Try the restaurant at the Miraflores locks, go to the former Canal Zone and visit the market for excellent crafts and take a run to Old Panama, beautiful ruins. Go see the Canal, it is amazing. Barro Colorado, the Smithsonian preserve is worth a trip (reservations essential). Enjoy Panama, it is a wonderful counrty.

Hire a guide for the day to taxi you around to: see the city, go to Balboa to the crafts market behind the old YMCA, then to the Miraflores locks, and then to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort for either lunch at the Los Lagaros restaurant right on the Chagres River or do their tram tour and walk some of their rainforest trails to see monkeys, etc., then come back via the Amador Causeway for one of the most spectacular views of the Bridge of the Americas spanning the entrance to the Panama Canal on one side and a panoramic vista of Panama City on the other and have dinner there at the end of the Causeway. The Barro Colorado Island tour is and was one of our trip highlights, but it pretty much takes up most of your day. You get back from the ferry around 3:00. We used Ancon Expeditions to book all our tours. They were fantastico!

you can hire the Mario's guide service and private transportation for USD12/hour and see the Miraflores locks(Canal), Old Panama, Panama Colonia (Casco Viejo) and Costway.

Good lucks,

We stayed at Punta Caracol for three days last March and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, for the day we were not going to stay at PC all day, we booked with Ancon Expeditions rather than using the tours from Punta Caracol. Our guide was Gallardo Livingston, and he was quite a character, in addition to knowing the area extremely well. He came right to PC to pick us up.

We did a fishing trip with a guide from PC, and it was disappointing since he spoke no English and we spoke no Spanish, so a lot was missed.