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Casco Viejo

Panama City, Panama · November 2025

Stayed: Hotel La Compañía Casco Antiguo
Paid with: World of Hyatt points + a Suite Upgrade Award
Where: 8.95° N · 79.53° W

The plazas

Plaza de la Independencia and Plaza Bolívar

Catedral Metropolitana, Plaza de la Independencia

Palacio Bolívar and Iglesia de San Francisco de Asís

Bolívar monument, Plaza Bolívar

Santo Domingo

Ruins of the convent and the Arco Chato

Convento de Santo Domingo

Arco Chato

The streets

Brick, balconies, and buildings in every state of repair

Toward Plaza de la Independencia

Molas strung over the street

Ruins on the way to San Francisco

Balconies above the old wall

A mural, seen from the sea wall

The sea wall

Plaza de Francia and the Paseo Esteban Huertas

Plaza de Francia

The skyline across the bay

The bay, with Cerro Ancón behind

Vendors under the vines

Banyan trees at the market stairs

Small things

Asleep on the jewelry table

Lunch on a corner

Where I stayed · Hotel La Compañía

Four nights in November. Booked as a standard room with World of Hyatt points, then moved up to a suite with a Suite Upgrade Award.

The hotel

Restored colonial buildings around a garden courtyard

The lobby, with a carved marble relief and a gold velvet sofa

Sculptures along the arcade

Signs to La Capilla and the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús

The courtyard and its wooden balconies

The garden

The suite

With a separate living room

The living room

The bedroom: stone walls and a four-poster bed

The balcony, looking down on the church across the street

Breakfast and lunch

Breakfast: chia pudding, a croissant, papaya and tree tomato

Lunch with corn tortillas