A Visit to Casco Viejo Panama

Condé Nast Traveler’s visit to Sofitel Grand in Casco Viejo Panama:  “I’ll be heading down to the home of the Panama Canal for the long weekend since it’s just an easy five-hour flight away. I’ve long been fascinated by the history and importance of that artificial 82-kilometer waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, but the more I’ve researched the capital—which is one of Condé Nast Traveler’s Best Places to Go in Central and South America in 2024—the more I’ve been eager to experience its jazz scene (it plays annual host to one of the world’s largest jazz fests), its diasporic food culture (hello, Chinese Panamanian cuisine!), and its historic colonial downtown (with plenty of beautiful hotels like the Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo pictured above). It’ll be my first time in the region, and—after nine days honing my Italian language skills in Milan, Rome, and Capri this April—I’m excited to put my very rusty Spanish to work.” Matt Ortile, associate editor