This past summer, I was looking around for a nice vacation spot that had easy food and Minyan and was a bit exotic, as opposed to the standard Miami or Los Angeles. After much research, we settled on Panama, and thanks to a bunch of trip reports from here, we put together a beautiful vacation. So here goes!
Flight: We took a Thursday morning flight from JFK. I booked a United flight that was operated by Copa. Paid about 65K miles roundtrip for business. It's definitely not Polaris but it seemed to me to be better than the business on such fights operated by United. The Virgin Atlantic club lounge was located exactly above out gate and I used priority pass to get access. We arrived in PTY at about 2pm and was out of the airport within 45 min. Renting a car is a big no no as there's an abundance of cheap ubers and parking is very hard to find.
Hotels:
We took an uber to our first hotel, Residence Inn by Marriott. We chose to stay there for the first 3 nights due to its close proximity to Chabad where we would be Davening and eating the Shabbos meals. We got the lowest floor rooms they offer, due to the fact that we wouldn't be using the elevator. Rooms only start on the 5th floor because of the mall that takes up the first 3 and the lobby which takes up the 4th. It happened to have been a really nice hotel! Not as the luxurious as the Hilton that we switched to after Shabbos, but a more homey vibe and closer to restaurants. There's a really nice rooftop pool that we got to use being that it's open for most of the day and was easy to find an empty time. There's 3 delicious kosher restaurants literally next door and an enormous kosher super market in the mall in the same building. Overall we would definitely recommend for those that have those kind of preferences.
Sunday afternoon we checked in the the Hilton Panama. It's a stunning hotel with a very rich luxurious feeling. We booked the second to biggest room. (There's only one of the highest room which takes up half a floor). It was a massive room with a full kitchen and living area. It came out to be under 300 dollars a night using Chase travel with 25 percent off. The intelligence has a gorgeous pool although we never ended up even using it. The hotel also offers 24 concierge service. Overall I think it was a great pick and from the pics it looked nicer than the other options we were looking into like the Waldorf JW Marriott and the W.
Food: Shabbos we ate in Chabad. The food was ok but the convenience of not having to cook anything was really worth it. Prices weren't too bad either.
Regarding restaurants, everywhere we ate we were really happy with though if I would have to choose one store to be the best I would pick Yoss Burger for meat and aroma for dairy. Both of those have excellent food and great service. We brought a ton of snacks etc but we really could've have gotten every single thing we brought from the big grocery story. Though it may have been a bit more expensive, since we didn't need that much small food as we went out for every real meal the price dif was very small.
Shul: I tried to Daven in each Shul at least once as they're all magnificent! The uber from my hotel to the Shul was literally between 2 and 3 dollars and they're really places that you need to see!
Itinerary: Thursday by time we settled in and went for food it was a bit late. We got to go swimming and then settled for the night.
Friday we went to the Amador causeway planning on taking the ferry to Taboga island. When we got there we were told they're sold out for the entire day. It's worth it to book in advance if you know your schedule. We ended up renting electric motorbikes from right next door and went up and down the causeway. It's a beautiful place and some nice views. We then went to the Panama canal. The canal is fascinating! We watched 2 container ships come in and be lowered in order to be able to cross. Although I'm not generally a fan of the Imax, this one was special and a must if your there.
From Sunday and on we used the tour guide Panama with Alon. He's not personally there himself, but he hires 3rd party guides you know will be good. All his tours are private and are priced per couple.
On Sunday we used his agency and went to the zip line over Gatum lake. It's in colon right by the Caribbean side of Panama. We did the 6 course zip line which included lines over the jungle and the actual lake! To get up, we took horses and being that it's not so official there they kinda let us trot around and even gallop. We also went kayaking in the lake before we left. Overall the horse back riding with was a solid 20 min each way at least, long course of zip lining and kayaking, we paid under 200 dollars for 2 people.
Monday we went to monkey island. It's not like your gonna see hundreds of monkeys but when they do come to your boat it's unreal. We ended up feeding 2 species of monkeys which came on our boat. The boat ride is also really enjoyable as your right near the canal and pass right by these huge container and cargo ships. We took a nice walk through the Gamboa rainforest afterwards. The Ariel tram looked really cool but it was closed for maintenance.
Tuesday we wanted to do a beach day. We considered San blas but taking into account the long drive and the fact that it can only be done publicly we decided against it.
instead we opted for Mamey island. It's also on the Caribbean side and has super clear water. It's a relatively small island and we had the place mostly to ourselves. We also explored the natural swimming pool which is a thin body of water entirely covered by trees on both sides that arch over the water. We actually got out of the boat there also to swim around in the clear water.
Wednesday we went to bandits ATV tour. It's about 2 hours away but like most attractions, they offer free transportation from and back to Panama city. The tour takes you through the jungle up to Anton valley. We went to this beautiful waterfall and around the town which sits on an extinct crater. The drive through the jungle was exhilarating and if your looking to test your limits this is for you. It was a full day event considering the drive back and forth and the actual ATV tour which is about 5 plus hours.
Thursday we checked out of our hotel and went back to Amador causeway. From there we took an uber back to PTY for flight to JFK. So there it is! If you have any questions feel free to pm me and I'd be happy to help.
