Walk the Streets of Panama City Like a Local—Here's How
For centuries, Panama has been a crossroads between worlds. The canal may have put it on the global map, but its greatest stories are found beyond the waterway — in neighbourhoods being reclaimed, traditions being revived and communities opening their doors to curious travellers.
"You know the American Trade Hotel? Not long ago, you could still find bullet holes inside,” my guide Jonathan Sousa chuckles, his laugh somewhere between mischief and disbelief. For a decade, the palatial 1917 building served as a base for Los Hijos Pródigos, one of Panama City’s most notorious gangs — yet today, it’s one of the capital’s finest hotels. Just hours earlier, I’d wandered through its polished halls, admiring the restored interiors and marble floors; now, Jonathan’s account feels almost impossible to imagine.
But the landmark’s transformation isn’t an isolated story. It’s a reflection of the remarkable revival of the neighbourhood that surrounds it. Founded in the 17th century, after the original settlement was destroyed by privateers, Casco Viejo has evolved from a neglected district into one of the capital’s most fashionable addresses. Colonial townhouses sit alongside French-influenced mansions and art deco facades, many transformed into boutique hotels, craft breweries and rooftop bars. Tourists drift between cafes and cocktail lounges, while beyond the seawall a queue of freighters stretches across the bay and a crescent of glass-clad skyscrapers glitters in the midday sun.
But Jonathan is keen to show me the other side of the coin. He works for Movimiento Cultural Identidad, a nonprofit based in the neighbouring areas of Santa Ana and El Chorrillo. As well as hosting tours, the organisation runs community development programmes that build skills and — more importantly — help foster a sense of neighbourhood pride.
Leaving Casco Viejo behind, we walk north west into Santa Ana, where the polished charm of the old quarter quickly fades into a more raw and timeworn landscape. Once-grand mansions stand with wooden roof beams exposed like bones, rubbish flanks the roads and power lines hang bowed and loose. The contrast is stark.
“Not long ago, Casco Viejo didn’t look too different from this, but the fortunes of these three neighbourhoods took very different turns,” he explains. In 1989, US troops invaded Panama to topple General Manuel Noriega’s military dictatorship. The fighting centred on El Chorrillo, home to his military headquarters, where fires swept through the district and thousands were displaced. Casco Viejo and Santa Ana, just streets away, escaped the violence, but the military’s collapse left a vacuum. Gangs moved in, claiming entire blocks and turning all three neighbourhoods into no-go zones for outsiders. Then, in 1997, Unesco World Heritage status changed Casco Viejo’s fortunes. Investment poured in, faded buildings were restored and property prices soared. Just streets away, Santa Ana and El Chorrillo could only watch the transformation unfold.
Today, however, residents are working to lift up these overlooked neighbourhoods on their own terms. Among them is Efraín Guerrero, who grew up in Santa Ana and founded Movimiento Cultural Identidad. His goal is simple: to challenge long-held perceptions and show visitors that these communities are defined not by their past struggles but by their culture and creativity.
We join Efraín for lunch at Café Coca-Cola, a fitting stop on the tour. Opened in 1875, it’s Panama’s oldest cafe and the only one in the world licensed to use the Coca-Cola name. Today, it’s one of 14 small businesses featured on Movimiento Cultural Identidad’s community-led tours, helping to ensure visitor spending stays within the neighbourhood and benefits local residents. Inside, little has changed: waiters move between tiled tables, old Coca-Cola signs line the walls and locals linger over hearty soups and plates of ceviche.
From there, we continue into El Chorrillo, where street vendors call to passing customers and domino games unfold beneath the shade of roadside trees. At Cementerio Amador, a dignified stone archway and ornate iron fencing mark the resting place of some of Panama’s most notable figures, including the country’s first president, Manuel Amador Guerrero. But it’s the living city that Jonathan and Efraín are most eager to showcase. By lunchtime, we’re squeezing into El Gato Negro for bowls of lentil soup before crossing the street to Panadería La Venezolana, where trays of freshly baked mamallena (a rich Panamanian bread pudding) disappear almost as quickly as they emerge from the oven.
Later, seated on picnic chairs in a small patch of shade, Efraín doesn’t mince his words. “There’s no doubt that gentrification is coming,” he says. “National tourism grew 8% last year alone, and I can see the changes that money is bringing. It’s good, of course, but I don’t want to lose the real Panama — the raw Panama.”
For Efraín, the answer lies in changing how visitors experience these areas. Rather than focusing only on architecture or redevelopment, Movimiento Cultural Identidad puts the locals — the artists, bakers, guides, shopkeepers and residents — at the centre of the story.
“This isn’t a place manufactured for your enjoyment,” he says. “It’s a place where people live. You aren’t just buying the experience of being here; you’re experiencing it as one of us.”
Top five sights to see in Panama City
1. Museo Afro-Antillano
Trace the history of Afro-Antillean culture in Panama at this small museum, which pays homage to the thousands of Caribbean labourers who worked on the railroad and the canal.
2. Museo de la Mola
Get a window into the spiritual world of the Indigdenous Guna through the 200 colourful molas (blouses) displayed here. Hand-embroidered using reverse applique, their designs reflect the Guna's connection with the universe.
3. Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá
Comb through information-packed rooms at this extensive museum, which explores Panama’s role as a global trading hub through the construction — and politics — of the canal.
4. Plaza de Francia
This small square on the southernmost tip of Casco Viejo memorialises the 22,000 French workers who died during the first doomed attempt at constructing the Panama Canal.
5. Panama Viejo
The city’s original iteration as a Spanish settlement was destroyed by privateers in 1671, and its ruins can be explored here, with urban plans and artefacts in the museum.
How to do it
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