Panama is the only country in the world in which you can see the sun rise in in the Pacific Ocean and set on the Atlantic Ocean from the top of the highest point in the country, Volcan Baru. Panama City, the nation’s capital and largest city, is the only capital city in the world that has a rain forest within its city limits. Help us
National traditions, public holidays and notable observances for 2023-2024 year
Sunday 5 November - Colón Day in Panama (Colon is a city and seaport in Panama, beside the Caribbean Sea, lying near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is the capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's second city)
Friday 10 November - Cry of Independence Day in Panama ("Primer Grito de Independencia de la Villa de los Santos" celebrating The Gesture of Rufina Alfaro and the uprising in the Villa de los Santos against Spain)
Tuesday 9 January - Martyrs' Day in Panama (is a Panamanian day of national mourning which commemorates the January 9, 1964 anti-American riots over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone)
There are two basic seasons in Panama: the dry season from December to April and the rainy season from May to November. Panama is located south of the hurricane alley, so it is rarely affected by tropical storms or hurricanes.
The Panama hat (toquilla straw hat) is a traditional brimmed straw hat of Ecuadorian origin.
Coca Cola was first sold in Panama in 1906. Here grows some of the world’s finest coffee, which can be tasted at Starbucks and other coffee houses worldwide.
Smithsonian biologists were invited to Panama in 1910 during the construction of the Panama Canal. Their surveys of Panama’s flora and fauna were the first steps toward creating a world-class platform for research in the tropics.
À country has the second-largest duty-free zone in the world, the Colon Free Zone, second in size only to Hong Kong.
The Panama Canal was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. It’s considered one of the seven modern World Wonders. The lowest toll ever paid for transiting the Panama Canal was 36 cents (equivalent to $5.13 in 2017), by American Richard Halliburton who swam across the isthmus in 1928.