City overview
Panama packs two oceans, a rainforest and one of the world's great engineering sites into a country you can cross in a day, and it does it with the largest and best-served kosher infrastructure in Central America. Panama City's skyline sits beside a UNESCO-listed colonial quarter and the locks of the Panama Canal, while the highlands of Boquete and the Caribbean islands of Bocas del Toro are a short flight away. The Jewish community numbers roughly fifteen thousand, mostly Sephardi families of Syrian and Lebanese descent, concentrated in Punta Paitilla, Punta Pacífica and Bella Vista. Kosher Panamá, the certification body of the Shevet Ahim congregation, supervises well over ninety establishments countrywide, and an eruv covers the main Jewish neighbourhoods.
Casco Viejo
Panama City
Wander the restored colonial quarter of plazas, churches and balconied townhouses above the bay.
Time needed
Half a day
Hours
Open daily 24 hours
Tips
UNESCO-listed. Cobbled streets throughout, so wear flat shoes; keep valuables out of sight after dark.
Neighborhood
Casco Viejo
Activity providers
Kosher map of Panama City
Pick a place on the map or search an address or hotel to see what is kosher around it.