Panama City's skyline of modern high-rise towers rising behind green treetops under a blue sky with scattered clouds.
Panama CityUpdated 2026

Where to stay in Panama City: the best areas and hotels for your trip

Where to stay in Panama City: Casco Viejo, San Francisco, Punta Pacífica and more compared, with the best hotels in each area and price.

For most visitors, the best places to stay in Panama City are Casco Viejo, the walkable old quarter, for a first visit, and El Cangrejo or Obarrio for better value and Metro access. Punta Pacífica and the Marbella bayfront suit travelers who want high-rise pools and ocean views, Costa del Este suits business trips on the east side, and Playa Bonita is the closest beach-resort option. The right pick depends less on the hotel than on whether you want to walk out the door into the sights or trade that for space and a lower rate.

Panama City is a skyline city on the Pacific, and the neighborhood you choose shapes the trip more than the hotel does. The best places to stay in Panama City fall into two groups: Casco Viejo, the restored colonial quarter where restaurants, rooftop bars and the bay are a short walk away, and the modern districts (El Cangrejo, Obarrio, the Marbella bayfront, Punta Pacífica and Costa del Este), where the same money buys a bigger room and a pool, but you need a taxi, Uber or the Metro to reach the sights.

Finding a room is easier than it used to be. Booking.com lists 795 hotels and other places to stay in Panama City as of October 2026.[1] Panama City hotels were once chronically short of rooms, and a run of openings changed that.[2] What still fills up is the old town in high season, so the area decision matters most if you travel in January or over Easter.

At a glance

Best places to stay in Panama City at a glance

Casco Viejo is the best base for a short first visit, and El Cangrejo and Obarrio are the best value with Metro access. The table compares every area on price, how you get around and who it suits.

AreaPrice guide (double, per night)Getting aroundDownsideBest for
Casco ViejoFrom about $80 for a boutique room; luxury far higherWalk to sights; taxi or Uber beyondHighest prices, rooftop noise, uneven blocksFirst visit, couples, nightlife Best first base
Marbella and Avenida BalboaApartments around $135; mostly upscale hotelsCinta Costera on foot; short taxi to Casco ViejoFew affordable hotelsWaterfront walks, full-service luxury
Punta PacíficaUpscale towersNo MetroTaxi for everythingBig pools, ocean views, suites for families
San FranciscoFew hotel listings; apartmentsLínea 2 corridorResidential, limited hotel choiceLonger stays, local restaurants
El Cangrejo and ObarrioUnder $100 to about $160Metro Línea 1Heavy traffic, busy sidewalksValue, business trips, Metro users
Costa del EsteAbout €192 to $308 at the two main hotelsNo MetroFar from the sightsBusiness on the east side, quiet
Playa BonitaResort rates; one all-inclusiveDrive over the canal bridgeNot a city stayBeach time close to the city
Tocumen airportAbout $132 averageNext to the terminalsNothing to see nearbyEarly flights, layovers

Prices are booking-site snapshots as of October 2026 and change by date. January and Easter week run higher.

Which area is safest to stay in

No official crime figures exist for individual tourist neighborhoods, so treat any "safest area" ranking with care. The national tourism master plan states that security is not considered a problem for tourism in Panama City, though it is a planning document, not crime data.[3] A 2025 security assessment based on Ministry of Public Security figures found that reported thefts were concentrated in Panamá province, especially in corregimientos such as Bella Vista, Betania, San Francisco, Juan Díaz and Ancón.[4]

In practice that means pickpocketing and phone theft are the realistic risks in busy districts, not violent crime against visitors. Casco Viejo changes block by block, from restored hotels and terraces to abandoned façades and decaying homes.[5] Stick to the restored, busy streets at night and use Uber or a taxi between neighborhoods after dark. For a district-by-district breakdown, see our honest guide to whether Panama is safe for tourists.

Old town

Casco Viejo: the best area to stay for a first visit

Casco Viejo (also called Casco Antiguo) is where most first-time visitors should stay if the budget allows: it is the only part of the city where you can walk from your hotel to plazas, churches, the waterfront, restaurants and rooftop bars. It is UNESCO-listed and the most visited part of the city, and its hotels are almost all in restored historic buildings.

Pastel colonial facades with wrought-iron balconies and a red tile roof on a historic street.
Pastel colonial facades with wrought-iron balconies and a red tile roof on a historic street. Pexels · Pexels License

The trade-off is price and availability. Accommodation in Casco Viejo generally sits at the upper end of the city's range, and the budget options are limited and book up quickly.[5] Most hotels are small, so a handful of busy weekends can sell out the neighborhood. For the order to see things once you arrive, our Casco Viejo walking route covers eight stops in two to four hours.

The four headline hotels

Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo

See on Booking.com →

159 rooms5-star1917 Union Club building

The only luxury oceanfront hotel in the old quarter, with a pool, several bars, a fine-dining restaurant and a French pastry café. Most rooms face the sea.

Dusk view of the illuminated white hotel with a red roof on the Casco Viejo waterfront, with the Panama City skyline and the causeway across the bay behind it.
Dusk view of the illuminated white hotel with a red roof on the Casco Viejo waterfront, with the Panama City skyline and the causeway across the bay behind it. RB Photo · CC BY 2.0
Best for full-service luxury and bay views

Hotel La Compañía

88 roomsOpened 2022Hyatt Unbound Collection

Spread across three wings on the site of a 1688 Jesuit convent, with several restaurants and a rooftop pool. The Villa Ana annex adds a restaurant, gallery, speakeasy and cigar bar.

Best for history and Hyatt points

American Trade Hotel

See on Booking.com →

50 roomsHotel since 20131917 building

Rooms face a plaza or the old town's rooftops. The Club, its music lounge, hosts jazz, salsa and tango nights.

Best for design and live music

Central Hotel Panama

See on Booking.com →

Plaza de la IndependenciaFirst opened 1874Rooftop pool

Sits directly on the old town's main square, with a rooftop pool, a spa and a long-running Argentinian restaurant. It is usually the most affordable of the four.

Restored white colonial-style building with arched windows and a wrought-iron balcony on a corner in Casco Antiguo, with a green sign for Mercadito Artesanías Catedral nearby.
Restored white colonial-style building with arched windows and a wrought-iron balcony on a corner in Casco Antiguo, with a green sign for Mercadito Artesanías Catedral nearby. Ssaucedoc · CC BY-SA 4.0
Best for location at a lower price

The Sofitel occupies the former Union Club, built in 1917, and the operator classes it as a 5-star hotel with 159 rooms and suites.[6] Guests have been able to stay there since January 2023.[7] Its lobby displays an art collection of about 1,000 Panamanian works.[8] La Compañía opened on April 13, 2022, and its 88 rooms are divided among Spanish Colonial, French Colonial and American wings.[9] The American Trade Hotel has 50 rooms in a building dating to 1917.[10] Central Hotel first opened in 1874 and has a rooftop pool and spa.[5]

Published rates for these four vary widely with the date. As a rough guide, Central Hotel has typically been around $100 a night and the American Trade Hotel around $200, while the Sofitel and La Compañía sit well above that, especially in January.

Smaller boutique hotels and lower-priced rooms

Casco Viejo's character comes from its small hotels. Amarla opened in 2022 with eight rooms next to Casa Góngora and sells art that benefits Indigenous communities.[11] It is adults-only and has a rooftop terrace with a jacuzzi.[5] La Concordia Boutique Hotel is a 4-star property in the district, and Las Clementinas sits about 1,148 feet from Plaza de la Independencia.[1] Hotel Plaza Herrera and Hotel San Felipe are also in the old town. Booking.com lists San Felipe as 5-star, although some guides rate it 4-star.[12]

Tantalo is the best-known small hotel, with about 12 rooms and a rooftop bar that is one of the neighborhood's busiest.[2] Booking sites showed it from $77 to $95 a night in 2026, with Kayak putting the average at $122 on weeknights and $128 at weekends.[13][14] The cheapest month there is usually July and the most expensive February.[13] At the low end, the Magnolia Inn is a small, clean inn two blocks from Central Hotel that has been listed at around $65 a night.

Our full comparison of the best boutique hotels in Casco Viejo covers each one with prices, room sizes and which ones have pools.

Good to know · Noise

Tantalo's rooftop bar stays busy late, and one guide says the night there rarely ends before 3 a.m. Light sleepers should ask for a low floor or pick a hotel without a public rooftop bar.

Who should skip Casco Viejo

Skip it if you want a big pool and resort-style facilities at a mid-range price, if you are in the city for meetings in the financial district, or if you are on a hostel budget and arriving in January. Some Casco Viejo rooms are small because they are carved out of old buildings, and the neighborhood has few large hotels with family rooms.

Modern towers

San Francisco, Punta Pacífica and the bayfront: towers, pools and ocean views

Punta Pacífica and the Marbella–Avenida Balboa bayfront are where to stay if you want a high-rise hotel with a big pool and a view of the bay; San Francisco, just inland, is more residential and better suited to an apartment stay. All three are a taxi ride, not a walk, from Casco Viejo.

Punta Pacífica

Punta Pacífica is a peninsula of glass towers on the bay. The JW Marriott Panama is the main hotel here, with a pool area facing the Pacific described as the largest in the city, plus a casino, several restaurants and bars, and many suites with kitchenettes.[10] The Ramada Plaza Panamá – Punta Pacífica has an outdoor pool, a spa and panoramic city views.[1] It carries a "Wonderful" guest score from more than 3,000 Booking.com reviews.[15]

The catch is transport. Punta Pacífica, Paitilla and Costa del Este have no Metro station, so you will rely on taxis and Uber.[16]

Marbella and Avenida Balboa

Very few hotels stand on Avenida Balboa itself; most are in Marbella, a block or two inland, and there are few affordable options.[5] The draw is the Cinta Costera, the waterfront park that runs alongside Avenida Balboa for walking and jogging, and Casco Viejo is a short taxi ride away.[5]

The Waldorf Astoria Panama in Marbella is the standout full-service luxury hotel, with its Peacock Alley lounge and a seventh-floor pool terrace.[5] Its restaurant is a popular spot for business lunches.[10] The Hilton Panama and InterContinental Miramar are the other big waterfront high-rises along the bay. Apartment rentals in the Avenida Balboa area have been listed at around $135 a night in February.[5]

San Francisco

San Francisco is a residential corregimiento of about 6.8 square kilometers and some 44,000 residents.[17] It sits along the Metro Línea 2 corridor on Vía España and Vía Porras, though no single station is tied to it.[16] Hotel choice is thin compared with Obarrio next door, so travelers who base themselves here usually do it for a longer stay in a rented apartment, close to Parque Omar and neighborhood restaurants such as Maito, known for its garden-like outdoor bar.[11]

Best value

El Cangrejo and Obarrio: Metro access and better-value hotels

El Cangrejo and Obarrio are the best value in the city: you get chain hotels and apartments for under $100 to about $160 a night, plus a Metro station within walking distance. They suit business travelers, longer stays and anyone who would rather spend less on the room and take a 15-minute ride to the old town.

Mid-rise residential and office towers with palm trees along a street in El Cangrejo, Panama City, on a clear day.
Mid-rise residential and office towers with palm trees along a street in El Cangrejo, Panama City, on a clear day. Fernandofrancisco · CC BY-SA 3.0

El Cangrejo centers on Vía Argentina, which has its own Línea 1 station.[16] Obarrio is the financial district, built around Calle 50 and Avenida Samuel Lewis, with the Metro running through it and the twisting F&F Tower among its landmarks.[5] The Vía Argentina and Iglesia del Carmen stations, which opened in 2014, are close to most Obarrio towers.[18]

Good to know · Metro

A single ride costs $0.35 on Línea 1 and $0.50 on Línea 2 as of 2026, paid with a rechargeable card. Línea 1 has 14 stations and Línea 2 has 16, running from San Miguelito to Nuevo Tocumen.

Those fares come from 2026 Metro figures, and the station counts from Metro de Panamá's own datasets.[19][20]

Hotels in Obarrio and El Cangrejo

The Hyatt Regency Panamá, the country's first, opened in the financial district on April 24, 2025, with 382 rooms.[21] The Hotel Riu Plaza Panama on Calle 50 has an outdoor pool, gym and several restaurants, and booking sites listed it from $156 a night for 2026, taxes included.[22] The Bristol Panama, in the financial district, has a spa and sauna and now offers residential-style apartments as well as rooms.[1][10] The Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino is officially five-star but a notch below the top tier, and its doubles are often surprisingly affordable.[5]

Riande Granada, in the business district within walking distance of bars and restaurants, has a pool, gym and 24-hour room service, and a double has often been available online for under $100 with breakfast.[2] Chain hotels in the area include the Hilton Garden Inn El Cangrejo, DoubleTree by Hilton Vía España and Holiday Inn Obarrio.

Apartments instead of a hotel

Obarrio is where apartments make the most sense: good ones often cost less than $100 a night even in fairly high season.[5] For a week or longer, a furnished apartment with a kitchen usually beats a hotel on space and price. Our guide to renting an apartment in Panama City or Casco Viejo covers the best buildings, building rules and what to check before you commit.

The downside of both neighborhoods is the street experience. Sidewalks are narrow, traffic is heavy, and you will not find much to see on foot beyond restaurants and malls.

East side

Costa del Este: modern, quiet and far from the sights

Costa del Este makes sense only if your business is there or you want a quiet, planned district with new towers and wide streets; for sightseeing it is the least practical area in the city. It sits on the east side, has no Metro station, and every trip to Casco Viejo or the canal means a taxi across town.[16]

The area has two main hotels. The Westin Panamá has a pool and listed rates from $308 a night, taxes included, for a stay on November 7, 2026.[23][24] Parking there costs $10 a day if you have a rental car.[23] The Santa María Resort was listed from €192 a night.[7] Hotels.com showed rooms in the wider Costa del Este area from $32 a night at the bottom end, without naming the property, so expect a big gap between the two full-service hotels and anything else.[25]

Business travelers with meetings in Costa del Este, and families who want space and calm rather than nightlife, are the people this area suits. Everyone else saves time by staying closer to the center.

Beyond downtown

Best beach hotels near Panama City, plus the rainforest option

Panama City has no swimming beach downtown, so the best beach hotels for a city trip are at Playa Bonita, across the canal bridge, or on Taboga and the Pearl Islands, a boat ride away. Gamboa, on the canal, is the rainforest alternative.

Sandy beach in front of a white multi-story resort with a thatched-roof beach bar and umbrellas under a partly cloudy sky.
Sandy beach in front of a white multi-story resort with a thatched-roof beach bar and umbrellas under a partly cloudy sky. Mir Rodriguez · CC BY-SA 3.0
Good to know · Search results

Searches for "beach hotels in Panama City" often return Panama City Beach, Florida. If a listing mentions the Gulf, Pier Park or Russell Fields Pier, it is in the United States, not Panama.

Playa Bonita

See on Booking.com →

Playa Bonita faces the Pacific where ships enter the canal, backs onto rainforest with very little development, and is close enough to the center to come into the city for a day.[10] The drive is usually around half an hour, depending on traffic. Two resorts dominate:

  • The Westin Playa Bonita: a sprawling beach resort with several pools, restaurants and bars.[10]
  • Dreams Playa Bonita: the area's all-inclusive, formerly an InterContinental and then a Secrets, where you earn or redeem Hyatt points.[10] It is compared with Panama's other options in our guide to all-inclusive resorts in Panama.

Playa Bonita suits a last two nights of beach time before a flight, or families who want pools and a kids' setup. It is the wrong choice if you want to explore the city, since every outing is a drive.

Taboga and the Pearl Islands

Boats to Taboga leave from the Amador Causeway.[26] On the island, the Taboga Palace SPA Hotel, with an infinity pool, was listed from $130 a night for two, and Cerrito Tropical Eco Lodge, a nine-minute walk from the beach, from $76.50, as of October 2026.[27] Guests note there are few shops near some properties, so take snacks and water.

Colorful hillside houses and blue apartment buildings overlook a sandy beach with moored wooden boats and a white boat floating in the calm bay.
Colorful hillside houses and blue apartment buildings overlook a sandy beach with moored wooden boats and a white boat floating in the calm bay. Ayaita · CC BY 3.0

Contadora, in the Pearl Islands, is a longer trip. Listed rates in October 2026 included Contadora Island Inn from $110, La Romántica from $146, Mar y Oro from $180 and Avani from $225 a night for two.[27] Check your hotel's check-in and check-out times against the ferry schedule, since guests report mismatches. Both islands, along with Gamboa and El Valle, appear in our list of day trips from Panama City if you would rather not move hotels.

Gamboa: rainforest on the canal

See on Booking.com →

The Gamboa resort sits a few minutes from the Panama Canal and 20 to 30 minutes from downtown, with walks where guests see monkeys and tropical birds.[10] Booking sites now list it as the Gamboa Rainforest Reserve, about 24 kilometers from the center.[28] Expedia showed 2026 rates from $135 a night, taxes included.[29] It suits birders, families and anyone who wants one night of nature without leaving the city's orbit.

The most beautiful places to stay in Panama are outside the capital

If what you want is a setting rather than a city base, the country's most-photographed stays are in the highlands and on the islands. Boquete has coffee-estate lodges such as Finca Lérida and the Panamonte Inn, compared in our guide to where to stay in Boquete. Bocas del Toro has overwater bungalows and island lodges, sorted by island in where to stay in Bocas del Toro. On the Pacific coast, the Buenaventura Golf & Beach Resort in Río Hato is the main upscale beach option within driving distance.[30]

By budget

Best hotels in Panama City by budget

The best hotels in Panama City, Panama, sort cleanly by budget: Casco Viejo and the bayfront for luxury, Obarrio and El Cangrejo for mid-range, and small Casco Viejo boutiques and hostels for the low end. Here is what a double room costs at each level as of October 2026.

Hostel dorm bed~$15

From around $14-30 a night in the city's hostels.

Boutique double, Casco Viejo$77-122

Tantalo on booking sites; weekends a little higher.

Full-service chain, Obarrio$156

Riu Plaza from-rate, taxes included.

Upscale tower hotel$308

Westin Costa del Este; top luxury runs higher.

The boutique figures are Kayak's 2026 averages and from-rates for Tantalo, the chain figure is the Riu Plaza's 2026 from-rate, and the upscale figure is the Westin Panamá's rate for November 7, 2026.[13][22][24]

Luxury

  • Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo: the most-cited answer to "which hotel in Panama is the best", with the old town's best facilities and sea views.
  • Hotel La Compañía: the most historic setting, three wings and several restaurants.
  • Waldorf Astoria Panama: the classic business-district luxury hotel in Marbella.
  • JW Marriott Panama: the biggest pool and the most suites, in Punta Pacífica.

If you collect points, the brand matters. W Panama and Le Méridien Panama City are Marriott properties, Dreams Playa Bonita earns Hyatt points, and La Compañía is part of Hyatt's Unbound Collection.[10][9]

Mid-range

Mid-range travelers get the most in Obarrio and El Cangrejo: the Riu Plaza, Bristol, Sortis and Hyatt Regency all offer pools and gyms in the financial district. In Casco Viejo, Central Hotel and the American Trade Hotel are the mid-range anchors, though rates at both climb sharply in January.

Budget and small boutique hotels

Riande Granada in the business district and Tantalo in Casco Viejo are the standard picks under about $150. Tantalo's rate has included a full breakfast, bike rental and yoga classes.[2] Booking.com's budget list for the city includes Cresta Inn, with rooms from about $35.[1] In Casco Viejo, Magnolia Inn is the low-cost option. Confirm air conditioning before booking anything at the bottom of the price range: the city is hot and humid all year.

Hostels

Mamallena, in Perejil about a 20-minute walk from Casco Viejo, has dorm beds from around $14, a pool and a bar, and is a common starting point for San Blas boat trips. Selina Casco Viejo is popular with solo travelers and digital nomads. Book ahead if you are arriving off an overnight bus or before a San Blas trip.

Best party hotels in Panama City

Panama City has no dedicated party resorts, but several hotels double as nightlife venues. Tantalo's rooftop bar in Casco Viejo is the obvious one. Selina Casco Viejo's rooftop is a local pick for dancing.[11] W Panama has a rooftop pool and bar and a busy lobby bar.[10] Manrey's bar on Calle Uruguay, one of the city's nightlife streets, is a serious hotspot, and its rooms cost about a third of a typical W, with heavy blackout curtains.[2] Decapolis, which ran as a Radisson for more than a decade and is now independent, is the longest-running hip hotel in the city.[2]

Families and long stays

Families usually do best with space and a pool: suites with kitchenettes at the JW Marriott, apartment-style rooms at the Bristol, or a resort at Playa Bonita or Gamboa. Marriott Executive Apartments Finisterre is another apartment-hotel option for longer stays.[30] Casco Viejo's small boutiques rarely have family rooms, and Amarla is adults-only.

Practical

Hotels at Tocumen airport, transfers and when to book

There is no hotel inside Tocumen International Airport's terminals, but two hotels sit just outside, and both terminals stay open 24 hours if you only need to wait out a connection.[31] For a short layover, staying airside is often simpler than clearing immigration.

Passengers wait in rows of gray seats in the bright, open departure hall of Tocumen International Airport Terminal 2, with a duty-free shop on the right.
Passengers wait in rows of gray seats in the bright, open departure hall of Tocumen International Airport Terminal 2, with a duty-free shop on the right. TomasVial · CC BY-SA 4.0

Airport hotels

Crowne Plaza Panama Airport is next to Tocumen, with an average price of about $132 a room on Agoda in 2026.[32] It has a guest rating of 8.6 out of 10.[33] Riande Aeropuerto Hotel & Casino is a resort-style hotel with gardens and pools about three minutes from the terminals.[33] Hotels in the wider airport area averaged around $149 a night at weekends.[34]

If you are connecting between terminals, the airside shuttle between Terminal 1 (gates 104-105) and Terminal 2 (gate 209) runs from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the transfer takes 10 to 15 minutes.[35] Some flights use Panamá Pacífico, a smaller airport on the other side of the city near the canal, so check which one you land at before booking an airport hotel.

From Tocumen to your hotel

Taxi or Uber Cheapest door to door
25-35 minto Casco Viejo$25-30per car
Pre-booked private transfer
Up to 6people$69.82per group

Private airport-to-hotel transfers are listed from $69.82 per group of up to six in 2026.[36] Once you are in the city, most Uber rides between neighborhoods cost a few dollars.

When to book

Book early for the dry season, roughly December to April, and earliest of all for January, when prices rise sharply and Casco Viejo fills first.[5] January also brings the Panama Jazz Festival, and Carnival runs over the four days before Ash Wednesday.[26]

67.6%national hotel occupancy, January-June 2026
95%Casco Antiguo occupancy at the start of Easter week 2026
795Panama City properties on Booking.com, October 2026

Hotel occupancy in the first half of 2026 was 67.6%, up 14% on the same period a year earlier, and stood at about 64% in August.[37][38] At the start of Semana Santa 2026, Casco Antiguo was already 95% full.[39] Demand is rising, so the old advice to book weeks ahead for high season holds. The green season months bring lower rates; our month-by-month guide to the best time to visit Panama covers what the weather is actually like.

Before you book

Registration
Hotels must be registered with the Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá, which publishes a current list of registered lodgings, updated October 2, 2026.[40]
Air conditioning
Confirm it in writing at budget hotels and hostels. Panama City is hot and humid in every month.
Rooftop bars
A hotel with a public rooftop bar will be loud until late. Ask for a room away from it.
Parking
Most hotels charge for it. The Westin Panamá, for example, charges $10 a day.[23]
Check-in times
Standard check-in is around 3 p.m. and check-out 11 a.m.; on islands, match them to the boat schedule.[13]
Book

Where to book these hotels

Each link opens that hotel's own page on Booking.com, where you can check prices and availability for your dates.

Questions

Before you go

What is the best area to stay in Panama City?

Casco Viejo is the best area for a first visit, because it is the only neighborhood where you can walk to the main sights, restaurants and rooftop bars. El Cangrejo and Obarrio are the best value, with Metro Línea 1 stations and hotels from under $100. Punta Pacífica and Marbella suit travelers who want big pools and ocean views.

What is the safest area to stay in Panama City?

The restored parts of Casco Viejo and the business and bayfront districts are where most visitors stay without problems, though no official crime figures exist for individual tourist areas. Reported thefts are concentrated in busy corregimientos such as Bella Vista and San Francisco, so phone and bag theft is the realistic risk. Use Uber or a taxi between neighborhoods after dark. Our guide to whether Panama is safe covers each area.

What is the most luxurious hotel in Panama City?

The Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo is the hotel most often named as the city's best. It is a 5-star, 159-room hotel in the 1917 former Union Club on the old town's waterfront, with a pool and sea-facing rooms. Hotel La Compañía, the Waldorf Astoria and the JW Marriott in Punta Pacífica are the main alternatives.

Is there a hotel inside Panama's Tocumen airport?

No, there is no hotel inside the terminals. The Crowne Plaza Panama Airport, averaging about $132 a night in 2026, and the Riande Aeropuerto, about three minutes from the terminals, are the closest options. Both terminals stay open 24 hours if you only need to wait for a connection.

What are the best beach hotels near Panama City, Panama?

The Westin Playa Bonita and the all-inclusive Dreams Playa Bonita are the closest beach resorts, across the canal bridge from downtown. Taboga Island, reached by boat from the Amador Causeway, has small hotels from about $77 to $130 a night as of October 2026. Results for Panama City Beach in Florida often appear in these searches, so check the location.

How much does a hotel in Panama City cost per night?

Most travelers pay roughly $80 to $160 a night for a double as of October 2026. Dorm beds start around $15, Casco Viejo boutique rooms such as Tantalo run about $77 to $122, the Riu Plaza starts around $156, and upscale hotels like the Westin Panamá run $300 and up. January rates are noticeably higher.

Where should I stay in Panama City for nightlife?

Casco Viejo is the best base for nightlife, with rooftop bars at Tantalo and Selina within walking distance of most hotels. Calle Uruguay, home to the Manrey hotel's bar, is the other main nightlife street. If you are a light sleeper, avoid rooms near a hotel's public rooftop bar.

Where should I stay in Panama City with kids?

Families usually do best in a hotel with suites and a big pool, such as the JW Marriott in Punta Pacífica or apartment-style rooms at the Bristol. The Westin Playa Bonita and the Gamboa resort on the canal add beach or rainforest time. Casco Viejo's small boutiques rarely have family rooms.

Is El Cangrejo or San Francisco better for a first visit?

El Cangrejo is the better choice for a first visit, because it has more hotels and its own Metro Línea 1 station at Vía Argentina. San Francisco is mostly residential, with limited hotel choice, and suits a longer stay in a rented apartment. Neither is walkable to the old town, so plan on a taxi or Uber to Casco Viejo.

When should I book a hotel in Panama City?

Book several weeks ahead for the dry season, December to April, and earliest for January and Easter week, when Casco Viejo fills first. At the start of Semana Santa 2026, old-town hotels were already 95% full. Rates are lower in the green season, with July often among the cheapest months.

Sources

Prices, schedules and rules change. The small numbers in the text point to these sources.

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Image credits

In pictures

Panama City in pictures

High-rise residential towers in Punta Pacífica, Panama City.
High-rise residential towers in Punta Pacífica,…
Terracotta rooftops of colonial buildings in Casco Viejo with modern towers behind.
Terracotta rooftops of colonial buildings in…
A narrow cobbled street in Casco Viejo lined with colonial buildings.
A narrow cobbled street in Casco…
A cobbled Casco Viejo street with wrought-iron balconies and a Panamanian flag.
A cobbled Casco Viejo street with…
The towers of Panama City's financial district seen from above.
The towers of Panama City's financial…
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