Panama is where North meets South America, both geographically and culturally — a sliver of land that gave the world one of its most transformative canals. Beyond the engineering marvel, you’ll find highland cloud forests alive with quetzals, Caribbean islands where the Guna people maintain their own autonomous way of life, and a capital city where skyscrapers rise beside colonial ruins. It’s compact enough to experience coast, jungle, and mountain in a single day, yet deep enough to spend weeks exploring.