The Best Places to Drink and Stay in Panamá

The cocktails here pull from Japanese technique and Panamanian ingredients, landing somewhere that feels like neither borrowed nor forced. It's a sleek bar inside Panama City's top Japanese restaurant, all clean lines and warm wood, with a drinks list that outshines most dedicated cocktail bars in town. The hand rolls have their own following, but this is a room where ordering just a drink and sitting with it a while makes complete sense.

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A converted social club in the cobblestoned Casco Viejo neighborhood, this Sofitel Legend is a luxury hotel where staff in cream uniforms and Panama hats greet you under a colonial facade. Dark woods and vintage touches fill the interior, while an ocean-facing infinity pool and a full spa pull you back to the present. The terrace serves Mediterranean tapas against the Panama City skyline, which is the kind of detail that makes unpacking feel optional.

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The name is a portmanteau of Maito and Maido, the two restaurants whose chefs co-own this cocktail bar, which tells you the whole story before you sit down. Martin Hudak, a bartender with serious credentials, runs the drinks list, and the food, from duck dumplings to nigiri, exists to keep pace with the glasses rather than the other way around. The crowd tends to dress for it.

1. Eater The 26 Best Restaurants in Panama City
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A 36-story tower in Panama City's business district, the Waldorf Astoria is a luxury hotel with 130 rooms and suites, several dining options, and a spa. Ocean-view suites sit high above the city buzz, and the building is close enough to the airport that an early checkout doesn't require a pre-dawn alarm. The kind of place where the lobby does a lot of quiet signaling about what a night here costs.

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Local paintings cover nearly every wall of this boutique hotel in Panama City's banking district, giving the whole place a low-key gallery feel. The rooms are classically comfortable, the service attentive without hovering, and the two towers open up knockout views of the city. The B Bar's Negroni list and Mediterranean tapas attract suits and visitors alike, while the restaurant, Salsipuedes, pulls from six different culinary traditions.

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A Jack Nicklaus golf course sprawling across 500 acres sets the scale at this luxury resort inside a gated community on the edge of Panama City. The sandstone porte-cochère and hand-crafted furniture lean into Panamanian character rather than generic five-star beige, and the pool sits just beyond the lobby like a quiet argument for staying put. A full spa and three restaurants round things out for guests who packed their clubs and those who definitely did not.

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The founders import the spirits themselves, which you can also buy straight off the shelf while you're there, a nice bit of vertical integration. Amano is a second-floor cocktail bar in San Francisco with the feel of a jungle that got into the drinks business, fruity and fun rather than serious, with ribs and fish tacos to keep things grounded. The crowd tends toward the kind of people who'd rather have a good time than impress anyone.

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1. Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Latin America & Caribbean