If you are a backpacker traveling through Panama, there is a good chance that at some point you will need to spend a night or two in Panama City. Maybe you are catching an early flight, arriving from Bocas del Toro, heading toward Colombia, visiting the Panama Canal, or simply taking a break from traveling through the jungle. Panama City is huge, modern and spread out, and choosing where to stay can make a surprisingly big difference to your experience.
For a backpacker, however, there is one neighborhood that stands out above the rest: Casco Viejo, also known as Casco Antiguo or San Felipe.
This is not simply the historic district that you visit for a few hours and photograph before returning to your hotel. Casco Viejo is one of those rare parts of a major Latin American city where staying there is part of the experience itself.
The historic quarter was founded in 1673 after the destruction of Panamá Viejo, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Today, its compact streets combine centuries old churches and colonial buildings with hostels, cafés, restaurants, rooftop bars, street art, plazas and a huge concentration of nightlife.
And for backpackers, that combination is almost perfect.
The biggest advantage: you can walk almost everywhere
One of the frustrating things about staying in a large modern city is that everything can feel far away. You find a cheap hostel, only to discover that the restaurant you want to visit is a 20 minute Uber ride away. Then the bar is somewhere else. Then the attraction is somewhere else again.
Casco Viejo is completely different.
The historic center occupies a relatively small peninsula, with its plazas, churches, restaurants, bars, cafés, viewpoints and streets packed into a very walkable area. You can spend an entire day exploring without constantly reaching for your phone to order transportation.
For a backpacker carrying a small budget, this matters enormously.
You can wake up, walk out of your hostel, grab breakfast, explore the old streets, sit in a plaza, walk down to the waterfront, watch the skyline across the bay, return to your hostel, meet other travelers and then go out for the evening without spending half your daily budget on taxis.
That is exactly what you want from a city stop while backpacking.
And then there is the atmosphere
Casco Viejo doesn't feel like the rest of Panama City.
The modern skyline of Panama City is filled with enormous glass towers, highways and shopping centers. Casco is the opposite. Its streets are narrow, its buildings are old, its architecture is colorful and imperfect, and its plazas create little pockets of public life.
You can walk around a corner and find a beautifully restored colonial building beside one that looks as though it has been slowly surrendering to the tropical climate for decades.
There are balconies covered with plants, enormous wooden doors, old churches, colorful walls, cats sleeping in windows and street art appearing between centuries old buildings.
It is precisely this mixture of decay and restoration that makes the neighborhood so photogenic.
Casco Viejo has been extensively revitalized, but it hasn't become completely sterile. You can still see ordinary life happening among the tourism, restaurants and boutique hotels. That contrast is one of the things that makes the neighborhood feel alive rather than like an open air museum.
It gets even better when the sun goes down
If you think Casco is beautiful during the day, wait until sunset.
The tropical heat begins to ease, people come out into the plazas, music starts drifting through the streets and the rooftops begin filling with people.
This is when Casco really becomes a backpacker's neighborhood.
Instead of having to choose between a sightseeing district and a nightlife district, you get both in the same place.
You can start with a cheap drink, walk around the old streets, meet other travelers at your hostel and then head toward one of the rooftop bars overlooking the lights of modern Panama City.
The contrast is spectacular.
Across the bay, enormous skyscrapers rise into the night sky. Behind you are centuries old colonial buildings. Between the two is the dark Pacific Ocean.
There are few places in Panama where the country's past and present are displayed so dramatically in a single view.
A surprisingly good place to meet other travelers
This is another major reason backpackers should consider staying in Casco rather than simply visiting it.
A hostel is more than a cheap bed. For many backpackers, it is the social center of the trip.
Casco has several established hostels, including Viajero Casco Viejo Hostel and Selina Casco Viejo Panama City & Cowork, giving independent travelers the opportunity to stay right inside the historic district rather than commuting into it from another neighborhood.
And because Casco attracts travelers heading in so many different directions, you encounter an interesting mixture of people.
Someone may have just arrived from Costa Rica.
Another traveler might be heading to Bocas del Toro.
Someone else could be planning the San Blas Islands.
Another backpacker might be preparing for the journey into Colombia.
Panama City is one of the major crossroads of Central American backpacking, and Casco Viejo is one of the places where all those routes seem to intersect.
You can meet someone at breakfast and, by evening, suddenly find yourself with a group of people exploring Panama City together.
That spontaneous social element is one of the things that makes hostel travel so memorable.
You don't need a huge budget to enjoy Casco
Casco Viejo has a reputation for being expensive, and there is some truth to that.
The neighborhood contains luxury hotels, high-end restaurants and stylish rooftop cocktail bars. It is certainly possible to spend a ridiculous amount of money there.
But you don't have to.
The backpacker trick is to enjoy the neighborhood rather than trying to consume the expensive version of it.
Walk the streets.
Explore the plazas.
Watch the sunset.
Sit along the waterfront.
Look for inexpensive local food.
Have a beer rather than an expensive cocktail.
Meet people at your hostel.
And spend an evening wandering around rather than trying to turn every night into a luxury experience.
You can also find places that are much more casual. La Rana Dorada Casco, for example, is a popular local brewpub where travelers can have a more relaxed evening, while Pedro Mandinga Rum Bar offers a very Panamanian rum focused experience.
And if you want the classic rooftop experience, there are plenty of choices scattered throughout the old town. Vista Corona Panamá Casco Antiguo is one of the rooftop options right in the historic district.
The food scene is another reason to stay
Casco has developed into one of Panama City's major dining districts.
The historic buildings have been transformed into restaurants, cafés and bars, creating an unusual culinary landscape where you can eat inside buildings that are hundreds of years old.
There is also an interesting mixture of traditional Panamanian influences and international food.
For a backpacker, that means you can make your food choices according to your budget.
Eat cheaply when you want to save money, then occasionally splurge on something special.
That's a much better strategy than staying somewhere where every decent restaurant requires a taxi.
The waterfront is right there
One of the most underrated advantages of staying in Casco is how close you are to the water.
Walk toward the edge of the peninsula and suddenly the narrow colonial streets open up into enormous views.
You can see the modern skyline stretching along the bay, ships moving through the Pacific and the Cinta Costera curving around the city.
Sunset is particularly spectacular.
And this is another place where Casco works brilliantly for backpackers because you don't have to pay anything to enjoy one of the best views in the city.
You can simply walk.
You are close to the rest of Panama City too
Staying in Casco doesn't mean being trapped in the historic district.
Uber and taxis make it relatively easy to reach other parts of Panama City, while the central location means that major attractions are accessible without too much difficulty. Recent city guides describe Casco as roughly a short ride from downtown, with the neighborhood itself being highly walkable.
That makes it particularly convenient if your Panama City visit includes places such as the Panama Canal, Amador Causeway, modern downtown or other parts of the capital.
The trick is that you can spend most of your time walking around Casco and only use transportation when you actually need it.
It is particularly good for a short Panama City stop
Casco Viejo may be even better for backpackers staying one to three nights than for people planning to live in Panama City for months.
If you only have 24 or 48 hours, you don't want to waste your limited time commuting between neighborhoods.
You want to step outside your hostel and immediately be somewhere interesting.
That's exactly what Casco provides.
You can spend the morning exploring historic Panama, the afternoon visiting another attraction, return to the old town for sunset, have dinner, meet travelers at your hostel and experience the nightlife without spending the evening in traffic.
For someone who has been moving around Central America by bus for weeks, that convenience is priceless.
There is a little bit of danger, too
Part of Casco's charm comes from the fact that Panama City hasn't completely erased its rough edges.
The neighborhood has undergone enormous revitalization and is generally considered one of the more comfortable parts of Panama City for visitors, particularly around the busy tourist areas. But it is still a major Latin American city, and normal urban precautions are appropriate.
Don't wander randomly into unfamiliar neighborhoods late at night just because you see an interesting street.
Keep your phone and wallet secure.
Don't leave valuables unattended.
And if you've been drinking, use common sense rather than attempting to navigate unfamiliar areas on foot.
The best part of Casco can be enjoyed while staying within the lively, well-trafficked historic district.
The real reason backpackers should stay here
Ultimately, Casco Viejo isn't necessarily the cheapest place to stay in Panama City.
That's not the argument.
The argument is that you get far more experience for the money you spend.
If you stay in a cheap hotel in an anonymous part of the city, you may save a few dollars on your bed but spend those savings on transportation, food and taxis simply getting to the places you actually want to experience.
In Casco, your accommodation becomes part of the adventure.
You walk out the door and you're already surrounded by history.
You can wander through centuries old streets in the morning, sit beside the Pacific in the afternoon, watch the skyline turn orange at sunset and meet travelers from around the world at night.
And then, instead of getting into a taxi to go back to your hotel, you simply walk home.
That's why Casco Viejo makes so much sense for backpackers.
Panama City can sometimes feel like a place you have to pass through.
Casco Viejo makes it a place you actually want to stop and experience.