Casco Viejo - Tropical Elegance

The Casco Viejo, or Casco Antiguo as some call it, is today a hip and elegant part of Panama City where magnificent Colonial buildings are being restored to their original glory. And many galleries, new bars and restaurants and other commerce attract not only tourists, but locals alike. Situated in the western part of Panama City and surrounded by the Pacific ocean, the Casco Viejo also hosts the Presidential Palace, the San Jose Cathedral, many museums and the French Park, where a monument tributes the French builders who began the Panama Canal.

Travelers will experience a different Panama at Casco Viejo. As you walk along the roads of red bricks, you will see beautiful courtyards, renovated buildings with ornate balconies, obelisks and memorials. The Casco Viejo is under UNESCO protection since 1997. After the first Panamanian settlement was destroyed by disease and pirates, the city moved onto this rocky peninsula and in 1673 the Casco Viejo was founded. Protected are its architecture with its special mix of Spanish, French and early American styles, and its original street plan.

The Canal House is an oasis in the center of Casco Viejo. Guests will find themselves in an environment so comfortable and relaxing, and with modern conveniences that international travelers desire. Historic photos capturing the Canal and its construction partially decorate this fine hotel. And their library boasts a fascinating collection of canal memorabilia and books about Panama's geography, history and political past.

The Municipal Palace, which the French used as their home during the initial construction of the Panama Canal, will soon house a grand museum that will narrate the story of the canal, its existence and its future. The Metropolitan Cathedral demonstrates the Spanish influence on Casco Vijeo. Other historic buildings of interest are the Promenade of Vaults, the Church of San Francisco, Plaza Sta. Ana, the National Theater and the Arco Chato, the only surviving evidence of the Santo Domingo church which also convinced the French canal pioneers that Panama is indeed the right place to construct a canal through the isthmus of Central America.