The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal

The French got there first. Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had built the Suez Canal in 1869, started the Panama Canal project in 1881. By 1889 his company had spent $287 million, lost approximately 22,000 workers to yellow fever and malaria, and gone bankrupt. The project was declared technically impossible. The Americans bought the rights in 1904, employed the same approach Lesseps had used (sea-level trench) for two years before switching to a lock-based system, spent a decade and $375 million, eradicated the mosquito-borne diseases that had killed the French workers, and completed the canal in 1914.

The engineering required creating Gatun Lake, the largest artificial lake in the world at the time, by damming the Chagres River and flooding 420 square kilometres of rainforest. The lake sits at 26 metres above sea level, which is why locks are necessary: ships must be raised to cross the continental divide and lowered back down on the other side. Watching a massive container vessel being raised through a lock chamber with about 60 centimetres clearance on each side is what most visitors come to see, and it delivers.

The canal handles about 14,000 vessel transits per year. The 2016 expansion added a new set of larger locks to accommodate post-Panamax container ships.

Where to Watch

Miraflores Locks Visitor Centre on the Pacific side, 12 kilometres from Panama City centre, is the standard tourist stop. Four observation decks, a museum covering canal history and ecology, and a restaurant with direct lock views. Entry USD 15 for adults. Check an AIS (Automatic Identification System) ship tracking app before you go to see what traffic is transiting; large Panamax container ships make a more dramatic spectacle than smaller vessels. Taxis from Panama City cost about $15-20 each way.

Agua Clara Locks near Colon on the Caribbean side opened in 2016 as part of the expansion. Less visited than Miraflores, the expanded lock chambers are visibly larger. About 90 minutes by car or bus from Panama City.

Gatun Locks near Colon have a free public observation point with no visitor centre infrastructure. The oldest locks in the canal system, next to the spillway of Gatun Dam.

Casco Viejo

Panama City’s UNESCO-listed colonial quarter on the Pacific coast mixes restored colonial mansions (now boutique hotels and restaurants) with unrenovated streets where daily local life continues. The combination is the point. The Plaza de la Independencia, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the ruins of the original church bombed by pirates in the 17th century are within a few minutes’ walk of each other.

For eating in Casco Viejo, Madrigal serves contemporary Panamanian food at around $20-30 per main course.

Soberania National Park

The rainforest lining both sides of the canal is protected as Soberania National Park, within 20 kilometres of Panama City. The park holds over 500 bird species including the famous Pipeline Road where the BirdLife International big day record was set (385 species in 24 hours). Howler monkeys, sloths, and capybara are reliably encountered. A half-day with a guide covers Pipeline Road for around $50-80.

Practical Notes

Panama uses the US dollar (locally called the balboa). The dry season (December to April) has the clearest weather. The wet season (May through November) brings afternoon showers; canal traffic continues regardless and the rainforest is greener.

Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport is the main hub for Central America, with connections throughout the Americas.