DAY 1 | ARRIVAL – PANAMA CITY
Arrival to Panama City. Pick up at the airport by our guide who will help with the transfer to the Hotel in the city, about 30 minutes away. The guide will also provide important information regarding the rest of trip.
Overnight stay.
MEALS: – / – / –
DAY 2| PANAMA CITY – FULL DAY CITY TOUR, MIRAFLORES LOCKS & BIOMUSEO
After breakfast, the tour starts at the Panama Canal, a magnificent work of engineering, in fact, it is the greatest and most expensive human feat of the time. After 30/40 minutes of route, you will reach the Visitor Center of Miraflores Locks, from which you will be able to see in detail ships moving along the canal. Forthwith, you will visit the Amador Causeway, one the city’s most beautiful panoramic views.
The tour continues at the Biomuseo or Museum of Biodiversity designed by Frank Gehry, the creator of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum in Spain. Afterwards, you will make a brief visit at Mercado de Abasto [wholesale marketplace], the city’s largest fruit and vegetable market, where you will find the best products of the country. Lunch will be served in one of the unsophisticated and typical restaurants of the traditional Seafood Market of the city (only fish dishes are offered).
The tour ends at the Old Quarter of Panama City, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997, thanks to its eclectic fusion of colonial, neoclassic and French architecture. Walk through the streets, squares and gravel roads and visit to the emblematic colonial buildings, churches and palaces.
Overnight stay.
MEALS: B / L / –
DAY 3| PANAMA CITY – HALF DAY PARTIAL CANAL TRANSIT
After breakfast, enjoy a half day partial canal transit. The visit allows you to feel the excitement of going through part of the canal in order to observe the actual workings of the locks, which allow vessels to pass through the canal from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea.
First, transfer to the Modern International Flamenco Marina where you will set sail to the entrance of the canal. In the boat, you will enjoy a panoramic view of the city, the Bridge of the Americas and the spectacular gulf dotted by numerous ships waiting to pass through the canal. Every Vessel should be secured using mooring lines in order to be towed by electric locomotives called mules which move over parallel rails to keep vessels aligned. In a few minutes, water will reach the established level and the lock will open by the side of the stem allowing the ship to pass to the following basin.
The tour continues at the Miraflores Lake up to reach Pedro Miguel’s locks where the level rises other 9 meters, then the canal shrinks and the ship will continue under the Centennial Bridge until it reaches the famous Gaillard Cut or Culebra Cut, known for its meandering bends where the Chagres River converges on.
After the tour finish, transfer to Panama City. Lunch will be provided during the tour.
Free afternoon for leisure.
MEALS: B / L / –
DAY 4| PANAMA CITY – BOQUETE
After breakfast, transfer to the airport of Albrook in order to take a flight to David, where the guide will pick you up and help you with the transfer to the Hotel in Boquete.
Boquete is a charming little town of fresh weather, hidden among the mountains of Chiriquí, located at the feet of Barú Volcano from a vantage point, of kind inhabitants and flowery gardens. Coffee plantations and citrus fruits cultivation are rooted in the mountainsides.
Rest of the day at leisure.
Overnight stay.
MEALS: B / – / –
DAY 5 I BOQUETE – FULL DAY PANORAMIC BOQUETE & COFFEE TOUR
After breakfast, the visit invites you to take a panoramic walk around the hills covered by crops, the slopes of mountains carpeted with coffee plantations and the lush clouded forest.
You will take a short trip around the forest to explore it and meet the native communities of the Ngöbe-Buglé tribe. The tour starts with the transfer to La Milagrosa Farm where one of the country’s best biological coffees is produced. You will go on a walk through the plantations where some of its varieties are grown; the prestigious Geisha coffee stands out among them. The fruits are manually and carefully harvested. Then, the pulp is removed from the coffee cherry, washed and finally dried in the sun. This way, the particular traditional process plus the passion, dedication and experience give as a result an excellent quality product with unique characteristics that satisfy all palates.
Finally, coffee tasting within which its scent, aroma and character are merged while creating a perfect balance of sweet and bitter tastes and blending. Lunch will be provided during the tour.
Rest of the day at leisure.
Overnight stay.
MEALS: B / L / –
DAY 6| BOQUETE – BOCAS DEL TORO
After breakfast, private transfer to Almirante, in order to take a short boat ride to Isla Colon in the Archipelago of Bocas del Toro, where you will be picked up by our staff and taken to Island Plantation.
Overnight stay.
MEALS: B / – / –
DAY 7 | FULL DAY DOLPHIN BAY, CORAL CAY & ZAPATILLA CAYS
Discover different shades and tones of the fascinating Bocas del Toro Archipelago with this daylong tour which invites you to appreciate its beautiful beaches hidden within the lush vegetation of some of its islands, to come across groups of mangroves and its characteristic and flashy marine life, and to be amazed by attractive white-sand and crystalline-water atolls surrounded by barrier reefs; a true submarine paradise, ideal for diving and snorkeling. The tour expects to make a stop at Laguna de Bocatoritos where you will be able to watch, if you are lucky, dolphins that dance around boats. Forthwith, you will visit Coral Cay where you will be able to go snorkeling and have regard for countless and varied color fish that hide among coral reefs. Later on, you will have some relaxing time at the attractive beach of Zapatilla Cays, two of the most beautiful islands of the archipelago, located within the boundaries of Isla Bastimentos National Marine Park. This area offers dream beaches, crystalline waters, magnificent sea beds with splendid coral reefs full of fish, including the angel fish, butterflyfish, parrotfish, moray eel and jewfish, in addition to lobsters and crabs.
Overnight stay.
MEALS: B / L / –
DAY 8 | BOCAS DEL TORO
Day at leisure. It is recommended to visit some of the several coral atolls and islets offering dream beaches surrounded by palm trees, a spectacular barrier reef, several sea species, emerald-green waters, mangroves, tropical forests inhabited by an incredible fauna and a lush flora. Each island has its own personality and natural beauty. It is a world that turns around water and nature where aquatic taxis are the sole means of transportation. Bocas del Toro is a place with a great ethnical and cultural wealth that is reflected in its traditions, dances, music and cuisine that in combination with the native culture get us back to the roots of the American Continent.
Overnight stay.
MEALS: B / – / –
DAY 9| BOCAS DEL TORO – PANAMA CITY
Transfer to the airstrip of Bocas del Toro in order to take the flight to Panama City. Meeting with the guide for transfer to Tocumen International Airport.
MEALS: B / – / –