Why this ride
217 km from Panamá to Panamá, about 4 h 13 of riding. On the way it passes Colón, The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá, Castle of San Lorenzo and San Lorenzo.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Panama City day out · San Lorenzo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 217 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 13
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá → Castle of San Lorenzo
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 1 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 1 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Panama City
Panama City is the only capital in the world with a rainforest inside its limits, and a canal at its door. The city curves round a bay on the Pacific side, with a skyline of glass towers that looks more like Miami than anything in Central America, and behind it the old quarter, Casco Viejo, is a peninsula of balconied houses, plazas and church towers rebuilt after the pirate Henry Morgan sacked the first settlement in 1671. The ruins of that first city, Panamá Viejo, still stand a few kilometres east, with a bell tower you can climb.
Read the complete Panama City write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Panama City is where the day begins. Next is Camino de Cruces Section 1.
2. Near Colón
West of the Panama Canal's Caribbean end, the land goes quiet surprisingly fast. You cross from the Colón side on the Atlantic Bridge, the long cable-stayed span that finally replaced the old swing bridge and the ferry over the canal entrance, and within minutes the container cranes give way to rainforest, old American base buildings and a narrow road heading north toward the mouth of the Chagres River.
Read the complete Near Colón write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Camino de Cruces Section 1 comes up about 84 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá.
3. The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá
The Camino Real, the royal road that Spain built across the Isthmus of Panama in the sixteenth century, is the reason this country matters in world history. Gold and silver from Peru were carried by ship to Panama City, loaded on mules and carried over the continental divide to the Caribbean coast, then shipped to Spain. The route had two arms: a paved mule road, the Camino Real, to Portobelo, and a mixed river-and-trail route, the Camino de Cruces, which used the Chagres River for part of the way. Together with the forts that guarded them, the Caribbean forts at Portobelo and San Lorenzo are on the UNESCO list, listed in 1980.
Read the complete The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 105 km into the recorded legs you reach The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá. Next is Castle of San Lorenzo.
4. Castle of San Lorenzo
The Castle of San Lorenzo stands on a cliff at the mouth of the Chagres River, on the Caribbean coast of Panama, and it was built to stop pirates. Gold and silver came across the isthmus on the Camino Real and the river, and this stone fort guarded the river mouth from the sea. Construction began in the late sixteenth century, and the fort, with its ditch, ramparts and cannon, was a serious piece of military engineering. It did not hold forever. In 1671 Henry Morgan and a force of buccaneers took it after a fierce fight in which the Spanish defenders resisted until their thatched roofs caught fire. Morgan went on to sack Panama City.
Read the complete Castle of San Lorenzo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Castle of San Lorenzo, about halfway. Next is San Lorenzo.
5. San Lorenzo
Fort San Lorenzo stands on a cliff above the mouth of the Chagres River, and from the old walls you can see the Caribbean on one side and a green tangle of jungle on the other. It was built by the Spanish in the sixteenth century to guard the point where the river meets the sea, because the Chagres was the water road for the treasure caravans coming across the isthmus. A fort was only as good as its garrison, though, and in 1671 the Welsh buccaneer Henry Morgan took it, with a force of a few hundred men, before marching on Panama City itself.
Read the complete San Lorenzo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
San Lorenzo sits at 89 km, about halfway. Next is back through Castle of San Lorenzo.
6. back through Castle of San Lorenzo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castle of San Lorenzo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Castle of San Lorenzo comes up about 112 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá.
7. back through The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 113 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá. Next is back through Camino de Cruces Section 1.
8. Near Colón
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Near Colón write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Camino de Cruces Section 1, late in the day. Next is Panama City.
9. Panama City
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Panama City write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 217 km.
Leg by leg
Panama City to Near Colón
Panama City → Near Colón is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá to Near Colón
back through The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá → Near Colón is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.