Intercontinental Miramar Panama, an IHG Hotel ★★★★★

A Window on the Ships Waiting for the Canal

Avenida Balboa is the road that follows the curve of Panama Bay, and the Miramar tower has held its best stretch since long before the skyline filled in behind it. What the address gives is unobstructed water. From the upper floors you look straight out at the anchorage where cargo ships wait their slot through the Pacific locks, a queue that rearranges itself all day and that most visitors pay for a boat trip to see. Below the windows runs the Cinta Costera, the coastal park the city built out over the water, with its cycle path, its playing fields and its joggers from six in the morning.

Why It Works

This is the house that makes sense on a first trip to Panama. It is large enough to run a proper spa, a pool terrace and a full service desk, and it is placed so that the two things everyone comes for, the canal and the old quarter, are both straightforward from the door. The suite ladder runs a long way up, from one bedroom to a presidential floor, which suits a family or a longer stay. And the evening of Panamanian music with a buffet of the country's dishes is the kind of thing that sounds like a formality and turns out to be the memory.

Why This Location

Miramar sits between Bella Vista and the water, on the stretch of Avenida Balboa where the promenade is at its widest. Casco Viejo is about ten minutes by road along the bay, which is as close as any large hotel gets to the old quarter without standing inside it. The banking district and the kitchens of Obarrio and El Cangrejo are a similar distance inland. The Miraflores Locks are roughly twenty five minutes, the Amador causeway and the Biomuseo about fifteen. Albrook, the domestic airport for Bocas del Toro and the San Blas strip, is close to ten minutes; Tocumen, for international flights, nearer forty.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Bayfront, classic, built around the view

• Rooms: 186 rooms and suites, from Classic and Premium up through one and two bedroom suites to a presidential floor

• Best For: First visits to Panama, families taking a suite, travellers who want the canal from the window

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The anchorage outside the glass, where ships queue for their slot through the Pacific locks and the view rearranges itself every hour of the day

• Dining: Bay View for local cooking in a room turned towards the water, and an evening of Panamanian music with a buffet of the country's dishes

• Amenities: Outdoor pool, spa, fitness centre, direct access to the Cinta Costera promenade, dogs welcome

• Attractions: The Cinta Costera at the gate, Casco Viejo about ten minutes by car, the Amador causeway and the Biomuseo around fifteen, the Miraflores Locks roughly twenty five

Classic Rooms Upward, and the Side That Matters

The ladder starts at Classic and Premium rooms and climbs through one bedroom, master, royal, two bedroom and presidential suites, a wider spread than most city hotels bother with and the reason this one works for a family of four as readily as for a couple. The single thing worth settling before arrival is orientation. Bay-facing rooms look at the water, the anchorage and the lights of the causeway; the inland side takes the towers. Higher is better on both flanks, for the quiet as much as for the distance. Suites add sitting rooms and, further up, corner glass on two sides.

Bay View, the Pool and a Night of Panamanian Music

Bay View is the restaurant and its name is the whole brief: local cooking, a room turned towards the water, and breakfast with the anchorage in front of you. The house also runs an evening of Panamanian music with a buffet of the country's dishes, which is the rare piece of hotel folklore guests come back downstairs for. Outside, the pool terrace and the spa take the afternoon, and the Cinta Costera begins at the gate, so a run or a bicycle along the bay before breakfast needs no planning at all. Ask for a bay room high up, and leave the curtains open.