Product Description

At once wild and sophisticated, Panama lures intrepid travelers with teeming rain forests, hundreds of jewel-like islands and the ultra-hip nightspots of its salsa-infused capital. Find your own sun-drenched beach, mingle with the Kuna Indians or dance until dawn at a frenzied fiesta - Panama offers adventure at every turn. Grab your hat and let our bestselling guide show you all the facets of Central America's undiscovered gem.

• GET OUT - our outdoor activities chapter gives you the scoop on surfing, snorkeling, hiking, birding and more

• GET BELOW THE SURFACE - informed and insightful features on history, culture and contemporary life

• EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY - frank, in-depth dining and entertainment reviews, from ceviche to merengue

• FIND YOUR WAY - 73 easy-to-use maps, more than any other guidebook to Panama

• LEARN THE LINGO - earn smiles from the locals with our handy Spanish language section

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #212109 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 348 pages

Conde Nast Traveler, February 2005
"Lonely Planet Panama is the bible..."

From the Publisher
Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Excerpted from Lonely Planet Panama (Lonely Planet Panama) by Regis St. Louis. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Destination Panama

Along the narrow isthmus bridging the Americas, the wildlife and terrain of two continents meld to form the striking contrasts of Panama. Ocean, forest, mountain and jungle set the stage for countless adventures.

Among Panama's 1500 islands you can go whale watching along the craggy Golfo de Chiriqui, snorkel coral reefs in the Caribbean or surf massive breaks off either coast. Island lovers revel in the white-sand beaches around the Comarca de Kuna Yala, while conservationists delight in the four species of sea turtle nesting on the country's beaches and wetlands.

Coursing along the spine of the isthmus, the mountains hold their own allure. You can kayak class-five rapids, hike through cloud forests and swim in crisp mountain streams. Adventurers trek up Volcan Baru, Panama's highest peak, for the view of both oceans at their feet.

Panama's jungles are some of the world's least explored areas. The villages of seven vibrant indigenous groups lie scattered among the country's 500 rivers and 22,000 sq km of rain forest, along with 940 bird species and 125 animal species found nowhere else in the world.

Panama's diversity doesn't end in the countryside. With immigrants from across the globe, Panama City is a 'melting pot.' You can sample French-Asian cuisine, then dance at clubs infused with salsa, merengue and Arabic-electronica. Charming highland towns, seaside fortresses and old-world festivals all lie within a day's travel. That Panama remains relatively undiscovered is just one of the country's many enticing features, and one that surely won't last forever.

Customer Reviews

LP Panama - do NOT buy until they update a new edition
I previously had great experiences with LP books, but heard they are letting many of them go un-updated. Not sure if this is the case, but it definitely is with LP Panama. The info listed on Amazon shows it was last updated in '04 (which think means the info is more like '02/'03).

We ended up leaving this book at home and took Moon (great details, especially helpful if doing any cross-country driving; believe a new edition is coming out later this year but found most of the info to still be relevant, especially if assume many of the prices for hotels had gone up) and buying Frommers (as of May '08 most updated)

left some things out
I agreed with other reviews in the sense that it left out alot. Maybe it was to out of date like others had suggested. We backpacked through the stretch of the pacific side of panama in a few weeks. The book left out parts of places we found, cabanas on the beach and so forth and roads that were supposedly non existant. Panamanians were extremly nice and helpful. Other books could probably tell more.

Not too impressed
I've been a "lonely planet" traveller for quite some time, and have a whole bookshelf of their guides. However, Lonely Planet Panama was fairly inadequate. Luckily, we also purchased the Moon Handbook and were much more impressed with it. The LP guidebook was outdated, uninspired, inaccurate, and lacking significant detail. If you're heading to Panama, buy the Moon Guide instead.