Panama City to Cartagena

Seven nights in two old port cities and on the beach, joined by a short flight across the Caribbean. Panama City and its canal, with a day at the Smithsonian's research island in Gatun Lake, the walled city of Cartagena, then Barú island and a day in the Rosario Islands.

Length: Seven nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: City, Caribbean, beach, boating
Route: Panama City to Cartagena to Barú
Best time: Dec to Apr

Panama CityThree nights
CartagenaTwo nights
BarúTwo nights

The hotel at sunset on the water's edge of Casco Viejo, its white wings lit against a fiery sky. — Photo: Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo, Panama City

Days 1 to 4 · three nights

Panama City

An orientation walk through Casco Viejo, the Biomuseo, and a visit to the canal locks. The hotel's guided tour tells its story as the Union Club from 1917, setting for Carnival balls and presidential inaugurations, and a tasting pairs Panamanian rum with chocolate. A day by boat from Gamboa across Gatun Lake to Barro Colorado Island, for a guided rainforest walk at the Smithsonian's research station, booked in advance.

Where you stay

Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo

Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo occupies the old Union Club, built in 1917 to a design by James C. Wright and restored to reopen as a hotel in 2022. It stands at the water's edge in the old town, with the largest pool in Casco Viejo and Ammi, a rooftop bar and grill.

Painted colonial balconies along a narrow street, with a cathedral dome beyond.

Days 4 to 6 · two nights

Cartagena

A flight of an hour and a quarter to Cartagena. Getsemaní and San Diego on foot, artisans in their workshops, a private salsa class in a colonial house, then a night at a salsa club; in January, the Cartagena Festival de Música brings nine days of concerts and master classes to the walled city. Home is three houses within the walls, with wooden-beamed ceilings and wall frescoes from the hotel's 17th-century beginnings, and tea in the library every afternoon at 5 p.m.

Where you stay

Hotel Casa San Agustin

Hotel Casa San Agustin brings together three houses on Calle de la Universidad, in the historic heart of Cartagena, redesigned to honour their past. It holds 20 rooms and 11 suites, and the cooking at Alma follows the flavours and colours of the city.

Clear turquoise shallows lapping a sandy shore, with a small palm-covered island offshore.

Days 6 to 8 · two nights

Barú

A private speedboat south to Barú. A night snorkel among glowing plankton and a full day by boat in the Rosario Islands, with evenings at the resort's rooftop bar, before the transfer to the airport.

Where you stay

Sofitel Barú Cartagena Beach Resort

Sofitel Barú Cartagena Beach Resort lies on Isla Barú, about 40 minutes south of Cartagena by boat, behind 8,000 square metres of private beach. There are several pools, a spa and three restaurants, Calablanca, Humo and Bahía, and the resort runs free of single-use plastic.

Arranged on request

Barro Colorado Island

A boat across Gatun Lake to the Smithsonian's research station and a guided walk of about three kilometres among researchers at work; Tuesday to Thursday and at weekends, by advance booking, for those 12 and over.

The Union Club

A guided tour of the hotel's history as the Union Club from 1917, host to Albert Einstein and Queen Elizabeth II.

Acasí

Casa San Agustín's private beach on Barú, kept for a few guests, with its own restaurant.

Rum and chocolate

At Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo, a tasting that pairs rum with chocolate and tells the story of Panama's long rum-making tradition.

The Cartagena Festival de Música

For nine days each January the walled city gives itself to classical music, with concerts and master classes, with dates confirmed when each year's programme is published.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A partial transit of the Panama Canal by private yacht, with an engineer.
A day from Panama City by dugout canoe to an Emberá community.
A day at Acasí, Casa San Agustín's private beach on Barú, kept for a few guests.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.