Taca would be the airline with connecting service from Belize to Panama City (via El Salvador). I spent most of my time in Panama City and at a resort near Colon where the Central America Tradeshow was held. Panama City is very cosmopolitan and cool, with a European flavor. Great clubs, restaurants, hotels - felt pretty safe, we walked everywhere. I stayed at 3 hotels in the city - Marriott, Radisson & Intercontinental - all great but different from each other. I can give you specifics in an email if you like. The trade show was held at the Sol Melia Colon which was converted from the old US School of the Americas (AKA school of the assassins!
) Looked nice but was pretty bogus with service and amenities. Located on Gatun Lake which was nice for wildlife, water actvities (I kayaked) etc. OK place for the jungle lodge experience but MUCH larger and more impersonal than Belize's jungle lodges. Friendly staff, several bars, disco, kareoke, terrible food! Avoid the town of Colon - dirty and dangerous (we had armed guards "escorting" our bus!!) Then I traveled around with the tourist board to The N shore (Caribbean) to the historic town of Portobello. Looked like decent beaches along the way but we didn't get to stop. There is a fort in the town which is cool and a cathedral dedicated to the Black Christ where someone had a vision/visitation. Lots of great crafts, small village atmosphere. Access to islands off the coast. Diving. Relitively un developed with a few small guest houses, etc. No big hotels. I also traveled to another rainforest resort which was also on Gatun Lake but further south (Gamboa Rainforest Resort). Big massive place with canopy tram, water activities, spa, lots of meeting space, great food, several restaurants, botanical gardens. Not my kind of place but nice, well run. Big. Good for people who want the idea of being in the jungle but with all the amenities/pretentiousness of a big resort. My favorite place was Isla Contadora off the S coast (Pacific). Small island 15 minute flight ($64 R/T ) from Panama City. Very cute. Great beaches, diving, 3 hotels, a few B&B's, a few restaurants & bars. Lots of islands all around. Probably great fishing. Island is pretty walkable - we did about half the island and 4 separate beaches. One nude beach. Very nice place. Great family location as most of the places had playgrounds, etc. Probably some surfing but I din't see anyone.
Overall I liked Panama very much. Relitively inexpensive, very friendly people, some English spoken (big American influence). Lots of variety. There seemed to be great beachs about 1 1/2 hrs S/W of P, City (pacific - surfing) but I didn't get there (got the spiel from the hoteliers and the brochures!). There are also lots of islands off the N coast (Caribbean - diving) like the San Blas, Bocas del Toro, etc. Lots of indigenous culture, not fully exploited yet. They do a lot of business travel but not a lot of leisure (vacation) travel so are looking to increase that. In some ways the coasts reminded me of Belize 10 years ago (average food, poor amenities) just starting with tourism. But Panama City is totally hip and awesome. And the Pacific side beaches have big chain hotels, all inclusives, "party" places. I will post pictures soon.