her comment is here Panama - A Great Vacation Destination
There are many exotic vacation spots in the Caribbean that almost every person is aware of, like Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Aruba, etc.-just to mention a few. Not many think of Panama as a warm beach spot to visit. But, it is a very attractive and memorable spot for a great vacation.
Panama - A Great Vacation Destination
Although the beach resort we visited is not legitimately in the Caribbean (it is on the Pacific Ocean side), the Royal Decameron Beach Resort offers a gorgeous golden sandy beach, the warm tropical climate that one is looking for, and many attractive places for sight-seeing, the main one being, of course, the Panama Canal. There are the typical amazing sunsets, warm ocean waves lapping up the shore, numerous swimming pools, majestic palm trees and manicured tropical vegetation within the resort. The all-inclusive Royal Decameron offers great food with six a-la-carte themed restaurants, as well as two buffet restaurants and numerous bars and snack-bars. They have a disco, a casino, tennis courts, a spa, and a near-by golf course-virtually all things a vacationer could ask for.
But sufficient about the former beach resort amenities. What's special about Panama in particular?
First and foremost, the history of Panama and the Panama Canal is fascinating, and I am not even a history buff. I won't get into a big history episode here, but the Panama Canal is a marvel in engineering and one of the most considerable waterways in the world. The canal stretches from Panama City on the Pacific coast to Colon on the Atlantic side, and is 80 km (or 50 miles) in length. Over 12,000 ocean-going vessels use the canal per year, nudging their way through the narrow canal and rising up and down in the assorted locks to compensate for the incompatibility in elevation between the two oceans. There are vast tracts of virgin jungle on both sides of the canal. It is truly an unforgettable sight to see the huge ships pass through the locks. It is a must-see when visiting Panama. Since the resort we were in was located on the Pacific coast, we visited the Mira Flores Locks, on the northeastern fringe of Panama City.
A platform offers visitors a good view of the locks in operation and has a very attractive museum attached. We took the City & Canal Tour (at a cost of almost Us) on which we were able to get a amazing tour of Panama City as well as see the Mira Flores Locks in action. There are, however, Partial Transit Tours (approx. Us) of about four hours in distance which start in Gamboa, located at the north end of the Gaillard Cut where the Chagres River flows into the Canal. Your vessel would pass through the Pedro Miguel Locks and the Mara Flores Locks, where the vessel is lowered 18 metres in two steps, and your travel would end at the gorgeous Flamenco Marina. Of course, there is also a full canal tour onboard the Pacific Queen, where you can caress the canal in close operation. This would be a once in a lifetime adventure where you could feel the sensation of going up or down in the locks in order to get from one ocean to the other. There is also a rail adventure ready where you tour along-side the Canal while sitting conveniently on a train.
Panama City is also worth visiting. The city is split between the modern, prosperous industrial town stretching 10 km (6 miles) along the Pacific coast and the old district of San Felipe, an area of decaying colonial grandeur. San Felipe juts into the sea on the southwestern side of town, and represents replicas of houses of the three most foremost cultures of the country: the Spanish, the Indian and the Afro-Antillan. The old-world architecture is gorgeous and in many places is being restored to its former grandeur. The tour of the old district should not be missed.
Located in the contemporary part of Panama City is the Multicentro, Central America's largest shopping mall with over 250 stores. Panama City is preeminent for its shopping and offers a wide range of merchandise along with shoes, purses, sports articles, souvenirs, clothes, china, etc. We were fortunate sufficient to be able to stay for a night in the Radisson Decapolis Hotel in Panama City (a 5 * Hotel) which was related by a walkway to the Muticentro. That hotel caress was truly unforgettable! The Radisson Decapolis offered an up-scale contemporary room and the dining was top-notch gourmet cuisine (no beach apparel here!) The main dining room was unique in that it was three stories high and looking up afforded you a view of the lowest of the roof-top pool above. As mentioned, it was only a short hop over to the shopping centre, which also hosted a large casino.
Panama boasts some of the many 'eco' sightseeing in the world with the Panamanian Rainforest. Over 300 species of birds have been seen in a day, and Panama offers frightful bird-watching with species such as the iris-beaked toucan, the tangara and the white-tailed sparrow hawk to mention a few. According to studies by the National Panamanian University and the Smithsonian Tropical research Institute, the mountains of basaltic rock at altitude contribute to the rich diversity of species. A tour of "Intro to Birdwatching at Cerro Campana National Park" costs approx. Us. On our trip it was amazing to see tiny colourful hummingbirds flitting in and out of the hibiscus flowers, or viewing assorted types of birds in the trees exterior of our hotel room patio. We could not identify many of them, and I would advise taking a bird book along on your trip for more attractive viewing.
One thing that would be a nice highlight in planning a Panama vacation would be the two-centre holiday option-for a one week vacation you would stay five nights at the Royal Decameron Beach Resort and two nights at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. That would give you both a beach holiday and the 'eco' experience. We notion that would be an exquisite vacation option, but unfortunately it is only offered at confident times of the year (and not when we wanted to go.)
Other tours that may be of interest are the Jungle Boat Tour (approx. Us), the Canopy Adventure Tour (where you can ride the treetops in an eco adventure), or the Anton Valley Adventure ( Us) where you visit an extinct volcano, a zoo and botanical garden, and a crafts shop gift handmade crafts by local villagers. In other parts of Panama you can go deep-sea fishing, take a sunset sailboat cruise, go on the Panama Express train to Colon, or go scuba diving. In short, there are endless possibilities for adventure and fun, and at fairly uncostly rates too.
We found the population of Panama very pleasant and companionable. Although Spanish is the legal language, English is widely spoken and often times we found the locals spoke English so well that we could not decide if they were locals or not.
Panama has two seasons, the dry season (January to mid-April) and the rainy season (mid-April to December). It is best to keep these seasons in mind when planning your trip. I would also advise taking a small traveling umbrella just in case. They don't call it the rain forest for nothing! Temperatures are nearby 80-90 F (25-30 C) and are fairly consistent year-round, although nights are usually cooler. The equatorial sun is intense in Panama and care should be taken to use sunscreen. I even got sunburn sitting under the canopy on the beach.
On the whole we notion that Panama was a great vacation spot. We ask you to travel there and learn for yourself!
No comments:
Post a Comment