5 Best Hotels in The Canal and Central Panama, Panama

This small B&B occupies a ranch house in a quiet residential neighborhood, just a 10-minute walk from the beach. Guests have access to a large living room with a TV and kitchen, and a deck that overlooks the forest. Guest rooms are bright and clean, with attractive bathrooms and a minibar. Beach towels are provided, and guests can rent golf carts or book day trips. Room rates include transfers to and from the airport or the ferry.

This attractive hotel and spa, built in the Tuscan style—stone walls, arched doorways, and barrel-tile roofs—has some of the nicest rooms in El Valle. In a pastoral setting at the foot of Cerro Gaital, the rooms are spacious and nicely decorated, but the architects went overboard on the small Tuscan windows, which shortchange guests on the views. Spring for a superior or deluxe room, which have bigger windows. All rooms have the same amenities as the country's top hotels. The lawns and pool are lovely, and the "Irish Pub," which doubles as a restaurant, has tables outside, though the best restaurant in town—La Casa de Lourdes—is next door. The spa has an array of treatments, and a Jacuzzi and sundeck on the roof. A 2013 expansion included new guest rooms, a second heated swimming pool, and a second restaurant, which serves paella and tapas.

This lovely collection of houses and rooms surrounded by manicured gardens, great trees, and a babbling brook has a tranquil, homey feel. Owners Lionel and Monica Alemán transformed their vacation home into a B&B upon retiring, and the accommodations are certainly homey, with frilled curtains and bedspreads, knickknacks, and cement ducks on the lawn. Ideal for families is either the two-bedroom Linda Vista cottage with a full kitchen, gas grill, fold-out couch, and an adjacent room with a bunk bed, or the suites with three beds. Two rooms in the back of the original home are less expensive: Limoneros, a yellow room, has a lovely private terrace, and the very pink La Vie En Rose has a slightly smaller patio. The policy here is to pamper, as is apparent in the sumptuous breakfasts, and attention provided by the charming, bilingual owners.

This attractive B&B was designed to resemble a Spanish mission, and the owners paid great attention to the details, importing hand-painted tiles and sinks and getting a local carpenter to make replicas of furniture found in southern California missions. The bright rooms have high ceilings with fans and are tastefully decorated with ceramics and Mexican carpets. Suites are double the size, with kitchens and breakfast bars, and cost only $35 more. Rooms open onto a courtyard with a fountain, where the complimentary breakfast is served. The only drawback is that it isn't on a beach—it's in a residential neighborhood a 10-minute walk from playas Cacique and Ejecutiva. Free snorkeling equipment is provided and guests can rent golf carts.

If you have to spend a night in Colón, this is your best option, since it's next to the Colón 2000 cruise port, with its shops and restaurants, in one of the safest parts of town. The rooms are pretty standard, but well-equipped; be sure to get a port view. The lobby has a large restaurant and a lounge, and there are several more dining options next door. Most of your fellow guests will likely be Latin American business travelers, who have come to make wholesale Free Zone purchases. All in all, it's a safe, dependable hotel with a good business center and buffet breakfasts.