Because I’ve always wanted to… discover the Panama nobody talks about
Autumn Greetings,
Earlier this year, Maza spent three weeks travelling through Panama, beginning with a research trip arranged by our local partners, continuing into REMOTE Immersion in the coffee-growing highlands of Boquete, and then taking to the road independently to explore some of the country’s less familiar Pacific coast.
Panama is perhaps one of Central America’s most overlooked destinations. Costa Rica tends to command the headlines, while Panama is often reduced to its famous Canal and a convenient stopover between continents. Yet squeezed between the Caribbean and the Pacific is a country of extraordinary contrasts: colonial neighbourhoods and rooftop restaurants, mangrove-fringed Caribbean islands, misty coffee estates, wild Pacific archipelagos, surf towns, volcanic valleys and some of the richest marine life in the region.
Better still, these landscapes sit surprisingly close together.
The result is a destination that can be as comfortable or as adventurous as you choose. Stay in beautiful hotels and move between private islands, or head farther off the map to places where the roads narrow, the boats get smaller and the wildlife takes centre stage.
Here is the Panama I discovered.
Enjoy,
Nick and the laterallife team – Helen, Maza and Jessica
Panama City: Start with the Unexpected
Panama City is an unusual introduction to Central America.
Skyscrapers rise behind tropical greenery, ships queue offshore for one of the world’s great engineering achievements, and just around the corner Casco Antiguo unfolds in pastel façades, church towers, cobbled streets and restaurant terraces.
The historic quarter is where I would stay.
Casco itself dates from the late 17th century, built after the original Panama City was destroyed, and its mix of Spanish, French and later American architecture tells much of the story of the country in a remarkably compact area. Today it is also the centre of Panama City’s best eating, drinking and boutique hotel scene.
My preferred base is Hotel La Compañía, itself built around the remains of a former Jesuit complex. Different wings interpret different periods of Panamanian history, while rooftop pools, bars and excellent restaurants make it considerably more comfortable than its historical credentials might suggest.
It is larger than some of the intimate hotels we normally favour, but it works extremely well: character without compromise, history without feeling like a museum.
And Panama City is a city to eat in.
At Fonda Lo Que Hay, I arrived without a reservation and just managed to find a seat at the bar. The tostada alone justified the effort, followed by an excellent ceviche and a wonderfully rich guacho. This is somewhere I would now book well ahead.
Casco rewards wandering, but the city’s headline remains the Panama Canal.
The Miraflores Locks give the best introduction to its scale, but there are several ways to experience it. I joined a VIP visit, which goes behind the scenes into operational areas and allows you to understand the mechanics rather than simply watch ships pass. For somebody particularly fascinated by the Canal, we can go further still: partial transits by boat, helicopter flights, and, at certain times, journeys alongside it by train.
The Canal is extraordinary, but Panama City should not be treated purely as its gateway.
Allow two nights. Eat well. Explore Casco. Understand Panamá Viejo and the story of the city. Then head for one of Panama’s two oceans.
Bocas del Toro: Caribbean Panama
From Panama City’s small Albrook domestic airport, it is roughly an hour through the air to somewhere that feels like another country entirely.
Welcome to Bocas del Toro.
Here the water turns turquoise, jungle reaches the shoreline, brightly painted boats replace cars, and Caribbean rhythms creep into the food, language and pace of life.
Bocas is an archipelago rather than one single destination, and where you choose to stay fundamentally changes the experience.
There is Bocas Town itself — sociable, colourful and a little chaotic — but move offshore and everything quickly becomes quieter.
My standout stay was Nayara Bocas del Toro, reached by a short boat journey from Isla Colón. This adults-only retreat sits on its own private island, with overwater villas stretching above the Caribbean and extraordinary treehouses tucked into the greenery behind.
The villas are built for privacy: generous terraces, pools and water immediately beneath you. Yet if I returned, I would be tempted to do something slightly different and split the stay between an overwater villa and one of the treehouses.
The latter rise through the canopy across two levels and give an entirely different sense of the island. It turns one hotel stay into two experiences.
There were also small touches at Nayara that stayed with me. Guests who had been fishing returned with their catch and the chef prepared it for dinner. Another couple celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary had their first-dance song played in the restaurant and ended up dancing together in front of everyone.
Luxury works best when it becomes personal.
For something different, La Coralina Island House is also worth knowing. I visited while in Bocas and found a more wellness-led, design-conscious property on Isla Colón itself, surrounded by jungle and Caribbean sea. Villas, spa, yoga, beach clubs and a holistic approach give it a distinctly different personality from Nayara and make it particularly interesting for clients who want to remain on the main island.
Bocas is not polished everywhere, and that is part of the point.
Come here for boats, mangroves, snorkelling, coral, surf, seafood and an Afro-Caribbean character that feels completely removed from Panama City.
For some clients, three nights will be perfect. For others, particularly those who love the water, four or five will disappear very quickly.
Boquete: Coffee Country in the Clouds
Fly back across Panama and continue west to Chiriquí, and the landscape changes again.
Roads begin climbing towards the mountains, humidity drops, cloud gathers among the trees, and coffee plantations replace palms.
Boquete sits in Panama’s western highlands beneath Volcán Barú and is the country’s centre for hiking, coffee and outdoor adventure.
For my stay during REMOTE, I was based at Finca Lérida, a historic coffee estate high above town. This is one of those properties where the destination and the hotel become inseparable: mornings begin with mist moving through the plantation, birds calling from the forest and coffee grown on the slopes immediately around you.
Panama’s Geisha coffee has become one of the most sought-after coffees in the world, and spending time in Boquete makes its success easier to understand. Altitude, volcanic soils and a particular highland microclimate create ideal growing conditions, and coffee here is treated less like an everyday commodity and more like wine.
A proper plantation visit and tasting should therefore be part of almost any stay.
But Boquete is not only about coffee.
During my time here I hiked the Lost Waterfalls Trail, disappearing into cloud forest and climbing through greenery to a chain of waterfalls. Another afternoon was considerably less sedate: several kilometres of ziplining through the canopy, high above forest and rivers.
There are gentler options too — hanging bridges, birding, shorter forest trails — while the more ambitious can climb or drive towards the summit of Volcán Barú, Panama’s highest point.
On the clearest mornings, it is said that both the Caribbean and Pacific can be visible from the summit.
Boquete adds something important to a Panama itinerary: temperature, altitude and movement.
After several days beside the sea, cool mountain air feels wonderfully restorative.
Allow three nights if you can.
The Gulf of Chiriquí: Panama Goes Private
Descending from Boquete towards the Pacific, the mountains fall away and the Gulf of Chiriquí opens into an enormous scatter of forested islands.
This Pacific is entirely different from Bocas.
The water may not always have the same luminous Caribbean blue, but the setting feels wilder: volcanic islands, primary forest, beaches backed by jungle and astonishing stretches with virtually no development at all.
One of the easiest ways to disappear into it is Isla Palenque.
The journey begins with a flight to David, followed by roughly an hour by road towards Boca Chica and then a boat into the Gulf.
Palenque feels almost prehistoric on arrival.
Forest covers much of the island, howler monkeys call from the trees and beaches appear along the coast, some reached on foot and others by boat or vehicle.
The name itself relates to the island’s history as a sacred place, once associated with the burial of local leaders.
I stayed in the large private villa, but for couples I would choose the individual beachfront casitas, tucked separately along the shoreline and far more connected to the landscape.
Days can involve kayaking, paddleboarding, jungle walks and exploring different beaches, while the overall rhythm is intentionally slower.
This is not a manicured Caribbean resort.
It is somewhere for clients who want to feel that they have reached an island rather than simply a hotel.
At the most indulgent end of the Gulf sits Islas Secas, a private archipelago offering a considerably more luxurious interpretation of the same Pacific wilderness. For families, honeymooners or groups wanting true isolation without sacrificing comfort, it is one of Panama’s most compelling options.
And then there is another possibility altogether.
Coiba: Stay on Land, or Make the Boat the Hotel
One of the most memorable days of my entire trip happened farther east along Panama’s Pacific coast.
From Santa Catalina, I headed by small boat towards Coiba National Park.
Coiba was isolated for much of the 20th century by its use as a penal colony. Paradoxically, that history protected enormous areas of forest, reef and coastline from development, leaving behind one of the wildest marine environments in Central America.
We snorkelled at three different locations.
Within hours I had seen dolphins, manta rays, stingrays, reef sharks, pufferfish, red snapper and more sea turtles than I could count.
Then we stopped on an almost absurdly beautiful beach, with forest behind us and clear Pacific water ahead.
It was the sort of day that immediately changes how you think about a destination.
Santa Catalina itself is a very different proposition. It is a young, casual surf town and significantly less polished than the other places on this journey. For adventurous families with older teenagers, surfers, divers or clients who value experience over luxury, it has real appeal.
But it also raises a useful question:
What if you want Coiba without compromising too much on where you sleep?
While travelling through the Gulf of Chiriquí, I inspected a brand-new 53-foot private catamaran, based at Bocas del Mar near Boca Chica.
This may be one of the most interesting ways to rethink Coiba.
The vessel sleeps up to eight guests across four en-suite cabins and can be privately chartered for journeys through the Gulf and towards Coiba, Islas Secas and the surrounding islands.
I did not have the opportunity to overnight aboard on this trip — although I very much wish I had — but the concept immediately appealed.
Instead of visiting Coiba for the day and returning to land, the boat becomes the hotel.
Wake somewhere new each morning. Dive or snorkel before day-trippers arrive. Fish, kayak or find an empty beach for lunch. Move between islands rather than retracing the same route home every evening.
For a family or group of friends who enjoys being on the water, this could be a wonderfully private expedition.
For others, staying on land will be exactly right.
That is what I increasingly liked about Panama: the same landscape can be experienced in completely different ways.
You might choose Isla Palenque and spend days moving gently between island and sea.
You might go all-in at Islas Secas.
You might accept Santa Catalina’s rougher edges because Coiba itself is worth it.
Or you might put everything on board and disappear into the archipelago for several nights.
There is no single correct version.
Cambutal: Where the Road Runs Out
I did not make it to Cambutal on this journey.
But if there is one place on Panama’s Pacific coast that I would like to explore next, this is probably it.
Continue south around the Azuero Peninsula, beyond the increasingly established surf scene farther north, and the landscape becomes progressively emptier.
Cambutal sits close to the end of the road, backed by forest and looking straight onto the Pacific.
This is not somewhere to go in search of large hotels or manicured resort life.
Its appeal is almost the opposite.
There are world-class surf breaks, hidden waterfalls, deep-sea fishing and access towards Cerro Hoya National Park, one of the more remote wilderness areas in Panama.
During the greener months the surrounding forest becomes particularly lush, while the Pacific coast also has a seasonal wildlife story, including migrating humpback whales.
Cambutal is for somebody who wants to go farther.
An adventurous couple. A surfer. A family with older children who would rather find a waterfall than a beach club. Someone returning to Central America who actively wants the place their friends have not already visited.
It also requires a little more commitment.
Road journeys are longer, the accommodation choice is narrower and the experience will inevitably be less polished than somewhere like Bocas or El Valle.
For the right traveller, that may be precisely its appeal.
El Valle de Antón: Inside a Volcano
After the Pacific coast, I finished the journey somewhere completely different again.
El Valle de Antón lies within the crater of an extinct volcano, surrounded almost entirely by mountains.
It is only a few hours from Panama City, yet the change in atmosphere is immediate: cooler air, gardens, birdlife, waterfalls and hiking trails rise around a small valley town.
The classic walk is La India Dormida, following the outline of the mountain said to resemble a sleeping woman. There are harder routes around Cerro Gaital and gentler options to waterfalls and viewpoints.
But El Valle does not have to be active.
For me, the real revelation was Hotel La Compañía del Valle.
It is the mountain counterpart to La Compañía in Casco Antiguo, but the personality is entirely different.
Where Panama City is about history, this is about art and wellness.
Sculptures appear throughout the gardens, mountains wrap around the property, and at sunset the rooftop bar looks straight across the walls of the ancient caldera.
The hotel’s enormous Elysium Spa adds a serious wellness dimension, while several restaurants make it easy to stay put after a day outside. Fuego, the smokehouse, also offers a chef’s-table experience worth booking ahead.
El Valle is an excellent place to finish.
It is easy enough to reach from Panama City, gentle enough to recover after more adventurous days, but still unmistakably Panamanian.
I would stay two nights, depending of course on how active one would want to be.
Walk one morning, spend the afternoon in the spa, have lunch somewhere with a view and return to the city the following day.
How Does a Panama Journey Actually Fit Together?
One of Panama’s great advantages is how many completely different environments can be linked without enormous travel days.
- Panama City → Bocas del Toro: approximately 45–60 minutes by domestic flight from Albrook Airport.
- Panama City → David: a short domestic flight, with David acting as the gateway for Boquete and the Gulf of Chiriquí.
- David → Boquete: roughly an hour by road, climbing gradually into the highlands.
- David → Boca Chica / Gulf of Chiriquí: around 1–1¼ hours by road, followed by boat depending on the island.
- David → Santa Catalina: approximately 4 hours by road; I drove this section myself and found it surprisingly straightforward.
- El Valle de Antón → Panama City: around 2½ hours by road, making it an easy beginning or end to a journey.
That does not mean I would try to include everything.
Quite the opposite.
Panama works best when you choose three or four contrasting regions and give them enough time.
A first trip might combine Panama City, Boquete and a private Pacific island.
A honeymoon could start in Casco, move to Nayara in Bocas and finish at La Compañía del Valle.
An active family might combine the Canal, ziplining and waterfalls in Boquete, Coiba and a few days on an island.
And someone who has already travelled widely in Central America might ignore the obvious route completely, charter the catamaran for Coiba and continue towards Cambutal.
Panama Polished or Panama Wild?
Perhaps this is the easiest way to think about the country.
There is Panama polished:
La Compañía in Casco.
Nayara over the Caribbean.
Coffee and cloud forest in Boquete.
Isla Palenque and Islas Secas.
Art and spa time in El Valle.
And then there is Panama wild:
Small boats heading into Coiba.
Surfboards tied to roofs in Santa Catalina.
A private catamaran disappearing between Pacific islands.
Forest trails in Chiriquí.
The road south towards Cambutal.
The best trip may contain a little of both.
When to Go
Final Reflections
What struck me most about Panama was not any individual hotel or activity.
It was how frequently the country changed.
One morning I was drinking coffee on the Caribbean.
A few days later I was walking through cloud forest.
Then came howler monkeys on a Pacific island, sharks and turtles beneath a boat in Coiba, and eventually a sunset drink inside the crater of an extinct volcano.
And none of it involved crossing a border.
Panama does not yet have Costa Rica’s familiarity, and perhaps that is part of its opportunity.
Some areas are polished and immediately easy to sell. Others require more curiosity, better planning and clients who understand that luxury does not always mean perfect roads or formal service.
But when everything is put together properly, Panama has something increasingly difficult to find:
variety without losing a sense of discovery.
If you are considering Central America and want something a little less obvious — whether that means an overwater villa in Bocas, world-class coffee in the mountains, a private Pacific island or several nights sailing through Coiba — we would love to help you find your version of Panama.
Laterally yours,
Maza
Up Periscope
Olinto, High Atlas, Morocco
There is a moment, about an hour after leaving Marrakech, when the city begins to loosen its grip. The road rises towards the High Atlas, the air cools, the colours soften, and the rhythm changes completely.
After the heat and theatre of the medina, this part of Morocco feels quieter and more grown-up: mountain light, terraced gardens, earth-coloured villages and long views that seem to slow everything down.
Olinto sits in this landscape with unusual discretion. Created by Fabrizio Ruspoli, the hotelier behind La Maison Arabe, it is an adults-only retreat of just nine private pavilions, each set within its own garden. Some have private pools, others look out across the gardens and mountains, but the feeling throughout is one of privacy and space rather than hotel bustle.
