The Canal, legendary hats, and the San Blas are a few things we instantly associate with Panama, but what is Panama famous for besides these?
Panama is a small country located in Central America and connecting two continents, but it undoubtedly has impacted the world. Bordering Costa Rica and Colombia, it’s a country of undeniable beauty and a great travel destination. Still, it’s also famous for having one of the most critical engineering projects ever made, the Panama Canal.
In this post, we will talk about the Canal (obviously) but also about all the other things Panama is famous for – the coffee, the beaches, the dense tropical forests, and so on!
Are you planning a trip to Panama? Have a look at the 50 things you need to know before traveling to Panama.
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Things Panama is famous for
Panama Canal
Let’s start with the obvious, the Canal! It’s easily the most famous thing about Panama, but it’s also one of its most essential features. In fact, it’s so important that it’s possibly one of the reasons Panama is an independent country, as the US actively supported the separation of Panama from Colombia to gain an advantage in building and exploring the Canal.
Shortly after recognizing the independence, a treaty was signed with the new Panamanian government under similar terms that the Colombians weren’t signing.
The Panama Canal is an artificial 82km waterway connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, reducing the time to navigate between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and changing world trade forever.
Built between 1880 and 1914, it’s considered one of the most significant and most challenging engineering projects ever taken, as almost 30 000 people died from diseases and accidents. Despite several attempts to build a sea-level canal (similar to the Suez Canal in Egypt), the Canal was eventually completed with a locks system and a vast lake 26 meters above sea level.
Besides being the most famous thing in Panama, the Canal is a massive source of revenue for the Panamanian state and is thus responsible for developing the country.
Geisha coffee
Do you love coffee? Then you should know geisha coffee – it’s considered the best coffee in the world, and it’s produced in Panama, among other countries, but let’s explain why it’s so special in Panama.
Geisha coffee is a variety of Arabica from the village of Gesha in Ethiopia. The seeds were taken to Costa Rica and later to Boquete in Panama, where they gained fame and won prizes for the best coffee.
The flavor profile is one aspect that makes geisha coffee so well known – it has a sweet flavor and aroma of floral notes, jasmine, chocolate, honey, and even black tea.
This unique flavor contributed to its reputation and consequently to its considerable price tag and prestige. Geisha coffee from Boquete is considered both the most expensive coffee and the best coffee in the world.
Panama City
With a metropolitan area of 1.5M people, Panama City is Panama’s biggest and capital city. It’s also the most important and developed city in Central America. Due to its skyscrapers, frenzy, and overall functional and fast-paced city, it has been called the Miami of Central America.
Initially founded in 1519, pirates led by the infamous Henry Morgan sacked and destroyed the original city. It was later reestablished a few km away two years later. The old city is called Panama Viejo, and its ruins can easily be visited from Panama City. Panama Viejo is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Panama Canal Railroad
The Panama Canal Railroad opened in 1855, more than half a century before the ship canal, was constructed parallel to the railway and benefited hugely from its existence. The route stretches for almost 80km connecting Panama City to Colon and linking the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic.
This interoceanic railway is also one of the oldest railways still functioning. Since its construction, it has been rebuilt, reconstructed, and changed name and ownership, but it’s essentially the same railway.
This relatively short but monumental rail trip is one of the best things to do in Panama and a mandatory attraction for train lovers. Furthermore, the views are amazing!
San Blas islands
The San Blas islands are some of the most beautiful small islands in the world. The archipelago is located in the Guna Yala comarca, only a few km from the Caribbean coast of Panama. The Guna are the original tribes of the region, and they have extended autonomy within Panama – there’s even a passport check to enter the Guna Yala territory.
Of the almost 400 islands, only 49 are inhabited, but the San Blas are famous worldwide for their pristine water and generally untouched ecosystem. Each small island is a paradise, with crystal clear water, white sand, coconut trees, a few huts, and not much more. If you ever want to escape, this is the place to go!
Darien gap
The Darian gap is the border area between Panama and Colombia. This stretch of land is completely covered with dense rainforest and marshland. The region is famous for several things, most of them not so positive.
First, it’s famous for being the only section where the Panamerican highway is interrupted. There are no roads in the Darien Gap (both sides of the border), so crossing from Central America to South America is impossible. The straight line distance between Turbo in Colombia and Yaviza in Panama is only about 100 km.
Second, it’s an area famous for being extremely dangerous. It combines the fact that it’s heavily used for drug trafficking, with not entirely controlled by the governments (It was FARC territory), and finally, the heat, wetness, and all the diseases that come with it.
Finally, it’s also known for its biodiversity and untouched nature. An area that’s so difficult to reach and has had little to no development, wholly covered with the forest, it’s full of life, some of which are still to be discovered.
Biodiversity
Darien is undoubtedly one of the wealthiest places on the earth in terms of biodiversity, but it’s far from being the only place famous for it in Panama.
The country is covered with parks and dense forests hosting more than 10 000 different native plant species, including more than 1 500 varieties of trees, 1 400 types of orchids, and 678 ferns. These are astonishing numbers for such a small country.
The country’s diverse ecosystems include tropical dry and humid forests, mountain and lowland forests, freshwater wetlands, mangroves, tropical islands, and coral reefs. So, it has not only extraordinary terrestrial biodiversity but also marine!
All this richness of fauna and flora is displayed in the Museum of Biodiversity in Panama City. The museum’s building itself deserves mention as it was designed and built by the famous architect Frank Gehry.
Panama hats
What is Panama famous for? The hats, obviously, or is it?
Panama hats are an interesting thing Panama is famous for, mainly because those hats aren’t Panamanian… Despite the name, the hats have never been made by Panamanians; they originated in Ecuador, where they are made to this day. This is why they are also called Ecuadorian hats.
A Panama hat, or an Ecuadorian hat, is a traditional brimmed straw hat made from the leaves of the toquilla palm. They are light-colored, lightweight, and breathable. It became trendy as a tropical accessory at the beginning of the 20th century.
So, why are they called Panama hats? The expression Panama hat started in the 1850s when hat makers from Ecuador migrated to Panama City, where they could sell much more significant volumes of hats.
People started seeing these beautiful, quality hats in Panama and called them “Panama hats,” ignoring that they came from Ecuador and originated a few centuries earlier.
Panama Papers
In the last years, Panama’s name has appeared constantly on the news for a very different reason from the ones above, the Panama Papers.
The Panama Papers are a set of 11.5 million documents (2.6TB of data) that detail financial and attorney-client information of more than 200 000 entities that were leaked in 2016. This was mainly personal and financial information about wealthy people and public officials. They are called Panama papers because they were taken from the Panamanian law firm “Mossack Fonseca.”
While offshores are legal, reports divulged that the papers found trails to several illegal activities, including fraud, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions. The scandal’s repercussions have been huge, with famous people and organizations being caught in it.
In hindsight, for such a small country, with a relatively small population, Panama has made a name for itself and hugely impacted the world. For this, Panama is a well-known country around the world, but did we miss anything Panama is famous for?
