After visiting the Azuero Peninsula and heading west toward Costa Rica on the Interamericana, you’ll pass through the town of Santiago. After Santiago, the next major town is David, the main hub to the Highlands, and Bocas del Toro. This area is also known as Chiriqui, the name of the province. Along the way, to your left you may see the ocean from time-to-time. On the right, you’ll see the cloud covered mountains—cordillera central—the spine of the country. There are many other roads that will take you into the mountains, and many other towns. One of these is Santa Fé, north of Santiago. These are villages well worth visiting. It’s just that places like Boquete, or Cerro Punta, have received a lot more publicity.
So much has been written about the western highlands that I’m not going to re-do something that’s already been done so many times before. And there are other excellent blogs from expats that live in this area, such as Chiriqui Chatter. Yes, it’s beautiful, as are many places in Panama. There’s an airport in David that allows access to the Highlands and Bocas without going through Panama City. However, many tourists will fly into Panama City, spend the night, and then catch a flight out of Albrook to David, and rent a car or taxi to the Highlands. They’ll miss out of a lot of countryside, but it saves time.
Turn right in David and the road will lead you up to Boquete, the most popular place to visit. About halfway you’ll come to the town of Dolega. There’s a good outdoor restaurant right off the road that serves excellent Chiriqui-raised chicken.
In Boquete, there are many place to stay, eat, and things to do. Hiking, fishing, coffee plantation tours, ride a zip line over the cordillos, hike or four-wheel up to Panama’s highest point, Volcán Barú, and sightseeing everywhere. The trip up to Barú seems to be very popular. We were coming down Volcancito Road past the onion fields, when we picked up a young, red-haired hitchhiker who had just come from Barú. On the drive to Boquete she told us that she was from California, had read about Volcán Barú and seeing both oceans at sunrise in the Lonely Planet guidebook. She didn’t see a lot of Panama, but she did see at least one ocean from atop Barú. I’ve always wondered what people think when they get up there and see the tangle of radio and TV towers. Later, as I ate an early evening meal at Amigos, I saw several people walking around, all with their heads stuck in a Lonely Planet book.
On the other side of Boquete and Volcán Barú are the towns of Volcan, and Cerro Punta. This area is Panama’s breadbasket, and the surroundings are gorgeous. Enough said. To the right under PAGES, click on the Panama Highlands Gallery. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but with one caveat. As beautiful and fertile as this area is, it comes with a price. It’s in an earthquake zone. If you stay long enough, you will feel tremors.
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