2 Days in Panama: First-Timer Plan

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use.

Two days is enough for Panama’s two headline set pieces, Casco Viejo and the canal, and not much else. Don’t try to squeeze in San Blas or Bocas del Toro on a trip this short; both need a flight or a multi hour transfer that would eat the whole itinerary.

Day 1: Casco Viejo and the City

Morning

Arrive at Tocumen International Airport (PTY) and take a taxi or an Uber into the city, 30 to 40 minutes depending on traffic. Most nationalities get 90 days visa free entry (US and Canadian passports get 180), so there’s no visa paperwork to arrange, just a passport valid 6 months past your travel dates. Check into a hotel near Casco Viejo or the banking district, drop your bags, and walk the old town while the morning light is soft.

Casco Viejo’s grid of restored colonial buildings, Plaza Independencia, and the seawall promenade give skyline views back toward the modern city. The neighborhood is safe and tourist policed, but it draws pickpockets in busy plazas, so keep your phone zipped away, and don’t wander past its edges into El Chorrillo, Curundú, or San Miguelito after dark.

Afternoon

Lunch in Casco Viejo, patacones and a bowl of sancocho or a ceviche plate are the reliable local order, then keep working through the old town’s churches and plazas at an unhurried pace. Panama runs on the US dollar as everyday cash (the balboa exists only as coins, pegged 1 to 1), so there’s no currency to change and prices are easy to read.

Evening

Head to the Cinta Costera or a rooftop bar in the banking district for the skyline at sunset, the contrast between Casco Viejo’s low colonial rooftops and the glass towers across the bay is the best photo in the city. Dinner in Casco Viejo or back near your hotel.

Day 2: The Panama Canal and Amador

Morning

Give the morning to the Miraflores Locks. The Pacific side visitor center is only 15 to 20 minutes from downtown by taxi or Uber, an easy half day even on a short trip. Watch a transit from the observation deck, walk the museum floors, and check the schedule board for when the next ship is due, there’s no single fixed “best time,” it depends on the day’s traffic. Entry runs around $17 for a foreign adult; verify the current price at visitcanaldepanama.com before you go.

Afternoon

From Miraflores it’s a short ride to the Amador Causeway, built from the excavated canal spoil and now a flat, breezy strip linking four small islands, skyline on one side, ships queued for the canal on the other. Rent a bike, walk it, or eat lunch at one of the causeway restaurants with the view.

Evening

Last dinner in the city, then back to Tocumen for a late or early flight out. If your trip only runs two days, this covers Panama’s two unmissable pieces, Casco Viejo’s history and the canal itself. Everything else, San Blas, Bocas del Toro, Boquete’s highlands, needs at least one more day and a domestic flight; see our 3 day itinerary for how a day trip to San Blas or Portobelo gets added in.

Know before you go

  • Currency: US dollars; cash and card both work in the city.
  • Language: Spanish; English is common in tourist areas.
  • Health: tap water is safe in Panama City; malaria risk is confined to the Darién and the indigenous comarcas, well outside this itinerary.
  • No hurricanes here, Panama sits south of the belt.
  • The Darién Gap, on the Colombian border, is a do not travel zone per the US State Department ; it is nowhere near this route and not a place to visit.

Book these before you go

Rough cost sense for two days: a mid range hotel room runs $60 to $120 a night, Miraflores entry is about $17, and taxis or Uber between the airport, Casco Viejo, and the canal add up to roughly $30 to $40 total. Budget $150 to $250 per person for two days, outside flights.

For the story behind what you’re looking at from the observation deck, read how the canal actually works ; for a longer comparison of the viewpoints, see visiting the canal , including how Miraflores stacks up against the Atlantic side Agua Clara locks for a future trip.