Trip Report: Curaçao and Panama City

Hi there! This is a trip report of a family trip (4 persons) to the island Curaçao and Panama City.

TL;DR: 8/10, had a great time. Curaçao has AMAZING beaches, Panama City is fun, but not for a long vacation, Panama Canal tour is a must!!

Photo 1-6: curaçao, photo 7-14: panama

When? Mid April

How long? 9 days in Curaçao, 3 days in Panama City

Purpose of trip: Amazing beaches, resting + big city and seeing the Panama canal and wildlife

—Curaçao—

We stayed at Villa Unique booked through booking.com, can absolutely recommend staying here - we had no issues and it was in a nice neighborhood. We booked a rental car through Hertz, when we got there the price was suddenly more expensive?? Can’t recommend :/ the car was fine, and the staff was nice but the prices didn’t match up.

Activities: Aloe Vera Farm, cute but wouldn’t visit again. Willemstad (Otrabanda + Punda), very cute, super walkable, don’t go on a Sunday evening, everything is closed!! Hato Caves, really cool! Liqueur distillery, super small, kinda expensive, can’t recommend.

Beaches: we went to Daaibooi Beach, Playa Porto Marie, Kokomo, Tugboat beach and Cas Abao. In general the beaches are sooo nice, there’s an alright amount of fish to see especially at tugboat and Cas Abao, but there’s unfortunately not many corals left. My favorite was Cas Abao.

Prices: it’s expensiiiive, I saw yoghurt for 10$ at the supermarket, chips cost around 5-6$, eating out depends on where you go, for a family of 4 we ate for around 150$ pr night, but ate breakfast and lunch at home.

Food as a vegetarian: there’s not a lot of options.. Munchies Curaçao did a reaaally good job, all their food was delicious but unfortunately we only went there once since they don’t serve dinner :/ otherwise i honestly don’t have a restaurant recommendation, as a vegetarian it really wasn’t that great - but maybe I was just unlucky. The rest of my family (non-vegetarians) had a great time :)

What surprised me? Such nice beaches and really cool wildlife (flamingoes, pelicans, fish, turtles, beautiful birds, iguanas). For such a beautiful island there’s a devastating amount of trash, not at the beaches but pretty much everywhere else, really sad

Language: Very friendly locals, pretty much everybody speak English, so no prob there.

—Panama City—

Stayed at Principe Hotel & Suites, got two rooms for a really nice price. If we were to visit again, we’d get a hotel in Casco Viejo instead. Used Uber to get around, pretty cheap for a family of 4, otherwise they’ve got a good public transport system!

Activities: Walk around Cacso Viejo, Ancón Hill, panamacanal tour + walk in the jungle, Mola museum, miraflores visitor center.

Prices: much much cheaper than curaçao haha, like 3$ for chips, eating out cost us around 100$ (for entrees and good drinks (not with alcohol))

Food as a vegetarian: easier than Curaçao, but not as easy as other places, can recommend Snack Shack in Casco Viejo, soo delicious! Can also recommend Cafe Unido for breakfast, very nice.

What surprised me? How important the Panama Canal is! I learned so much about it! Also how “Americanized” the city is, as someone from Scandinavia it kinda reminds me of USA (even tho I know it’s very very different) haven’t been to a Spanish-speaking country where so many people also speak English!! Also saw sloths, tropic spiders, monkeys, cool birds, fruit bats and crocodiles 🐊

End of review: go to curaçao for world class beaches and relaxing vibes, go to Panama City for the canal, 3 days was ideal for us - not much to see there, but definitely can recommend !!

Hope this’ll be helpful for someone <3