Cosmopolitan, compact, and steamy, Panama’s capital city spreads along the shore of a broad Pacific bay at the southern entrance to the canal. Its hot, humid, tropical maritime climate at times feels like a Turkish sauna. At once both colonial and contemporary in mood and setting, this burgeoning city of around 750,000 people is the most sophisticated metropolis between Miami and Maracaibo.

A crossroads between two continents and two oceans, the city has been motivated by commerce for 500 years. Founded in 1519 at the mouth of the Rio Afajo, the ancient city prospered as the Pacific marshalling point for treasures bound for Spain via the Camino real.

Positioned by the canal as a centre of international commerce, the city has since evolved into a sprawling metropolis. Today, Panama City is a major international banking centre humming with modernity. The glass and marble towers of the banking district, the high-rise condominiums of Punta Paitilla, the commercial district of El Cangrejo teeming with shoppers.