It’s not even a 2 hours ride from Panama City and you will enter one of the most beautiful and interesting regions the travel world has to offer. Coclé, in the geographic heart of Panama at the southern coast near the provinces of Panama, Colón, Herrera and Varaguas protects its great natural, historic and cultural richness and is a fantastic destination for tourists. 
Culture and History of Coclé
For enthusiasts of history and culture trips, the province Coclé is a must see, a real paradise. You can travel back in time and explore unique archeological pre-Columbian attractions like the Archeological Park and Museum El Caño, the Museum of History and Traditions of Penonome in the quarter San Antonio, the archeological excavation Sitio Conte, the Museum of the Valley of Anton or the Gran Coclé Culture Area. Impressive discoveries have been made, especially in worked gold, jewelry, carved bones and textiles. Another very interesting experience might be the indigenous gravesite in Natá, the oldest inhabited village of Panama.
The habitants of Coclé are proud of their history and set a high value on preserving their culture with beautiful folkloric activities and crafted products like their famous colorful sombreros.
Sun and Beach
For those who can’t wait jumping into the waves, tanning in the sun or just relaxing at the beach while enjoying the beautiful exotic panorama, Coclé has a tremendous number of lovely beaches that are waiting to be explored. The best known are the beaches of Santa Clara, Farallon, Playa Blanca, Buenaventura, Palo Seco, Juan Hombrón, Boca Nueva, Los Azules and Rio Hato. Coclé presents a great variety of accommodation facilities, from excellent hotels to picturesque beach lodges. New resorts like the Playa Blanca Hotel & Resort, the Royal Decameron Beach Resort & Casino, the Resort Residencial Bijao and very soon The Bristol Hotel are offering all kinds of services and activities like great typical food, amusing nightlife, watersports, golf and other activities for the whole family. A very special and unique experience is a trip with the Bubba Gump Shrimping Boat. From the fishing port of Vacamonte you can book a tour along the coastline of Coclé with the world’s first fishing boat for tourists and get some shrimps, king prawns, calamari, fishes, and other species. Fishermen with more than 30 years of fishing experience show you how to wrest the seafood from the sea. You never will forget this great adventure.
Agritourism
This new form of tourism offers the possibility to explore life in Coclé not as a tourist but as one of the habitants of a farm or a community of the region. You participate actively in the daily life interacting with the local people, living and working together with them as well as enjoying the free time discovering your surrounding nature in a very intense way. These farms and communities are all verified and approved by the Panama Tourism Bureau IPAT. A good example is the cashew farm of Herman Gnaegi en Natá de los Caballeros. In addition of the amusing work at the farm, the family offers the possibility to visit plants that produce and process typical products like melons, sugar, coffee and milk among others. The best places for agritourism can be found in Valle de Antón, Altos de la Estancia, Vaquilla, Aguadulce y Natá.
Ecologic Tourism
For the Panama Tourism Bureau IPAT, eco-tourism is a very important point in the development of the tourism. A large number of programs have been adopted to minimize the negative and destructive aspects of conventional tourism. The emphasis is on enhancing the cultural and ethnic integrity of the local residents and saving the Panamanian biodiversity with its incomparable flora and fauna. The province Coclé is offering a great number of special activities and lodging-possibilities with focus on ecotourism. Canopy tours in the jungle, rafting in wild river rapids, diving and surfing at the beaches, paragliding over the virgin forests, excursions to the impressive waterfalls, walking tours along forest trails, birdwatching or just the amazing feeling to be in the middle of one of the most exotic faunas and floras of the world. The best spots are Valle de Antón, Cerra La Vieja, La Pintada, Olá and El Copé. All these areas come up with small individual hotels and residences which stand out for personal service and unique charm. Local tour operators like Tropic Tours or Descubra Panama are organizing and designing trips as desired.
Very impressive and unforgettable destinies are the mountains of Coclé. At the top, the third biggest crater of the world with a surface of almost 14 square miles is home of true gastronomic and hospitable treasures like Los Mandarinos and La Casa de Lourdes Boutique Spa & Hotel, offering a spectacular view over the green valley.
Special Destinations of Coclé
National Park Omar Torrijos Herrera
The National Park Omar Torrijos Herrera, also known as El Copé, covers more than 25.000 hectares of forested highlands with hundreds of hectares of virgin forest. It’s located above the central cordilleras, which divides the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean. Its highest point is the mountain Cerra Peña Blanca with an altitude of 1.200 meters above sea level. Birdwatchers definitively will find there a true world class hotspot. Above all the rare humming birds, Orange-bellied Trogons, Strong-billed woodcreepers, the Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, the Snail Kite and the bare-necked umbrella bird have been seen here constantly in the last years. Furthermore, the rare reports from Canopy Lodge announce that the following species have been seen the ultimate weeks: Rufous-crested Coquette, Black-crowned Antpitta, Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, Barred Forest-Falcon, Collared Aracari, Tody Motmot and Mottled Owl. Other animal species you can find there, also species in danger of extinction, are cougars, jaguars, ocelots, margays, jaguarundis, tapirs, collared peccaries, white-lipped peccaries and white-tailed deers.
El Valle de Antón
El Valle de Anton is one of the most preferred places for stressed citizens of Panama City to relax and recuperate. You can reach it very easy by car or bus.
Snugged in the crater of the world’s second-biggest extinct volcano, El Valle, how it’s called by the Panamanians, opens its treasure chest to the visitants. The steep valley is covered by colorful flowers, jagged peaks and verdant forest and the temperature is stable between 65º and 85ºF throughout the whole year. El Valle de Anton is famous for its Sunday Market that takes place along the Avenida Principal. It’s a colorful and vivace happening that attracts locals, tourists and vendors (many of them are indigenous peoples from the Emberá and Ngöbe-Buglé tribes from around the area). They are selling their traditional and hand-crafted products like baskets, woven bags, clothing, pottery, and much more.
Travelers looking for sport activities will be delighted by the range of possibilities. The Valle de Anton can be discovered perfectly by bike cruising easily on planar paths or fighting challenging pro mountain bike trails. Another way of exploring the valley is by horse, which is one of the best ways to enjoy the spectaculars mountain views. More than 350 species of birds are living in the valley, which makes it one of the best spots for birdwatching in Panama. The birdwatching lodge Canopy Tower just finished building their second property there to offer a place to observe birds typically found in cloud- and rainforests. One of the best places of Valle de Anton for birdwatchers is the Cerro Gaital National Monument also offering one of the most amazing hiking trails. Rewarding top of the trail: you can see the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Adrenalin lovers will find one of the most amazing ways to discover the rainforests of Coclé. After a short climb to a platform at the top of a ridge, you strap in a harness connected to a pulley on a steel cable and soar through the treetops, where you are part of a wealth of unexpected natural beauty. You will glide from platform to platform high above the sturdy forest trees, which are gradually descend from the canopy, allowing you to appreciate tropical vegetation from different vantage points. Canopy Adventure is one of the main operators at the Valle de Anton and offers Canopy tours, birdwatching trips and accommodations with fantastic views.
After such exiting activities, the exhausted adventurer might need to recuperate. Nestled within an ancient volcanic crater where clouds dance a top rainforest covered mountain sides, Crater Valley Resort & Adventure Spa specialized in wellness and outdoor adventure offers you perfect ways to relax and find back to yourself. Rich in charm and wrapped in tropical landscaping and water gardens the offered facilities cater to world travelers in search for the ultimate mind, body and soul vacation. Another good possibility to relax and one of the best hotels in Coclé is the Los Mandarinos Boutique, Spa & Hotel which rise with magnificent views in the middle of a great vegetation. This elegant hotel offers a full spa including massage, whirlpool, Turkish bath, fangotherapy, and a solarium.
You can find more information about Panama in general and the fantastic travel destination Coclé in special at www.ipat.gob.pa.
