Central Hotel Panama Casco Viejo ★★★★★

The Balcony Where a Republic Raised Its Flag

Plaza de la Independencia is the centre of Casco Viejo: a white bandstand, statues of the founding fathers, the Metropolitan Cathedral on one side. The long ochre block facing it went up in 1874, built by Emil Dreyfous, a French businessman who had arrived with the first attempt at the canal, and rebuilt on a grander scale in 1883. It was the tallest structure in the city, the first hotel in Central America to install a lift, and the address where diplomats, engineers and speculators all stayed. On 3 November 1903 the first flag of the republic was shown from its balcony. Then the century moved uptown and the doors closed.

Why It Works

Heritage hotels usually ask you to trade comfort for atmosphere. This one does not. The restoration kept the facade, the proportions and the great central staircase, then put 135 rooms and suites behind them with the soundproofing and the plumbing of a new build. What you gain is the rarest thing in the old quarter: scale. Most of the good addresses here hold twenty or fifty rooms, which rules out a pool worth the name and a spa worth booking. This one has both, plus a breakfast hall, without ever leaving the square.

Why This Location

You are on the plaza itself, a step from the cathedral and the Canal Museum, with the whole of Casco Viejo inside a ten minute radius: Plaza Herrera to the west, Plaza Bolivar and the church of San Francisco to the east, the sea wall and the Paseo Esteban Huertas at the southern tip. The quarter's best rooftops and kitchens are all on foot, which matters because the streets are narrow and a car is slower than walking after dark. The trade-off is noise, since a public square keeps its own hours. Ask for a courtyard room if you sleep lightly. The banking district is about fifteen minutes by road, Tocumen airport closer to forty.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Grand, civic, unapologetically historic

• Rooms: 135 rooms and suites, the best of them opening onto the plaza

• Best For: History-minded travellers, first visits to Panama, couples who want the old quarter on their doorstep

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The balcony over Plaza de la Independencia, the exact spot where the flag of the new republic was shown in 1903, and still the best seat in Casco Viejo at six in the evening

• Dining: Breakfast served in the historic hall, poolside lounge bar on the roof for cocktails and light plates

• Amenities: Rooftop pool over the tiled roofs, spa and beauty floor with treatment rooms, fitness centre open around the clock, valet parking, UNESCO listed building

• Attractions: The Metropolitan Cathedral across the square, the Canal Museum on the plaza, Plaza Bolivar and San Francisco about five minutes on foot, Paseo Esteban Huertas around ten, the Biomuseo across the causeway

Rooms Behind a French Facade

The categories climb from compact interior rooms to suites with tall shuttered windows on the plaza, and the difference is entirely about which way the building faces. Plaza rooms get the balconies, the cathedral bells and the light off the pale stone; courtyard and street-side rooms are quieter and cooler through the afternoon. Ceilings are high throughout, the moulding is original where it could be saved, and the furnishing stays restrained rather than costume. The upper floors are worth asking for: they sit above the rooflines of the quarter and let you see how tightly Casco Viejo is packed.

A Rooftop Pool Over the Cathedral Square

The roof is the reason to book here rather than in a smaller house down the street. The pool runs along the top of the building from early morning until evening, the lounge bar works through the afternoon, and the view takes in the tiled roofs, the cathedral towers and, beyond the bay, the skyline of the new city. The spa sits two floors below with treatment rooms looking over the same quarter. Between the two, the hotel gives Casco Viejo something it otherwise lacks entirely: somewhere to do nothing at all, at altitude, in the middle of the old town.