SENDERO PANAMA - Day Tours - The Golden Triangle of Panama

This day includes a visit to the fortified city of Portobelo nestled on the beautiful coastline of the Caribbean Sea. Lunch will be enjoyed either seaside at the Coco Plum restaurant or as a picnic on the beach. After, we will drive to San Lorenzo, the ancient Spanish fort built to protect the mouth of the Chagres River. Our journey to San Lorenzo takes us over Gatun Locks, the northern locks system ships must transit in order to enter the Panama Canal and Gatun Lake from the Atlantic. Our transit back to Panama City will be onboard the Panama Canal Railroad, crossing the Isthmus by rail much like the 49ers during the California Gold Rush.

Portobelo
Famous for its trade fairs during the 17th century, Portobelo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During colonial times it was one of the most important strongholds of the Spanish Main in the Americas. We will visit Forts San Geronimo and Santiago de la Gloria as well as the Church of San Felipe famous for its black Christ.

San Lorenzo
From Portobelo, our vehicle will take us across the Panama Canal, over Gatun Locks, to the Castle of San Lorenzo, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built at the mouth of the Chagres River, this Spanish bastion served to fortify and protect the river entrance to Las Cruces Trail that led to Panama City on the Pacific Ocean and was later also used as the port of entry for the gold diggers on their way to California during the second half of the 19th century. We will be traveling along lush rainforest within San Lorenzo National Park, where we might have the opportunity to see monkeys, Two and Three-toed sloths, Coatimundi, toucans and other wildlife.

Panama Canal Railroad

At the Panama Canal Railway station in the Caribbean port city of Colon we board the train for the one hour ride across the isthmus to Corozal. The train follows a similar route as the original train built to transport 49ers coming from the east coast of the United States across the Isthmus to continue their journey by boat to California.

The route was diverted when Gatun Lake was formed to give way to the Panama Canal. The train ride will take us along the magnificent waterway to the west and flanked by the lush rainforests of Soberania National Park to the east.