Base
The Amador Causeway is what happens when you have leftovers from digging the Panama Canal: the excavated rock became a 6-km causeway over the sea, connecting four small islands at the Pacific entrance of the Canal. Today it is the city’s favorite postcard walk — palm trees, marinas, and that double view: skyline on one side, a queue of ships waiting to cross the Canal on the other.
What to do
- Rent a bike (including family four-seaters) and do the full loop;
- Biomuseo: the riot of colors designed by Frank Gehry — his only building in Latin America;
- Sunset + dinner: the strip of restaurants and cafés fills up when the light turns golden;
- Ferries: boats to Taboga and Contadora leave from here.
The honest part
It is a promenade, not a beach — nobody swims here. Weekends get busy and parking takes patience. Go late afternoon on a weekday, bike to the end, watch the ships line up for the Canal with a cold drink, and you will understand why every visitor gets taken here first.
Cover photo: Ayaita, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).
