Stroll the winding streets of Casco Viejo

If Panama City's thriving, high-rise Banking District is its economic motor, Casco Viejo, its urbane section, is its spiritual heart. Its brick-paved streets give the impression that time has shifted, and you've travelled back in time to a simpler time when details were more intriguing. Casco's Spanish architecture, with its vivid colors, wrought iron, and prominent arches, has a friendly aspect that matches the people who live here. There are so many stores and restaurants in Casco Viejo that you could spend two weeks there and never dine at the same spot again.

Casco Viejo, previously a defensive stronghold, was established in 1673 when the pirate Henry Morgan turned the original colony of Panama City (now Panama La Vieja) into an ignominious pile of rubble and ash. Casco Viejo, which fell into disrepair under the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega, is today one of Panama's most renowned and popular neighborhoods. Stroll through its maze of streets, where elegant plazas are home to stately houses, busy terraced cafés, ritzy art galleries, and a restaurant scene that would satisfy even the most discerning glutton. The district's protective walls have long been demolished, but its wealth of 16th and 17th century architecture survives.

Location: Casco Viejo, Panama