Pacific to Caribbean: A Panama Driving Tour Through North Veraguas

Road trip on Route 33, through one of the last wild places in the Americas. Veraguas rises to the north from the Pacific lowlands up over the cloud wrapped continental divide, before dropping to the Caribbean. On this driving tour, you'll follow the Santa Maria River passing through small villages of both latino and indigenous people. You'll also hear how two national parks, created to protect vital watersheds and virgin rainforests, shape life for the Latino and indigenous communities along Route 33. At the end, you will find yourself on a remote Caribbean beach in the village of Calovebora.

The tour starts at the Boulevard Shopping Center in Santiago and climbs through the colonial village of San Francisco, with its historical 1620s church, before reaching Santa Fe, a coffee-growing town founded in the 1500s. Along the way, you'll stop at waterfalls, river swimming holes, and roadside bakeries, while learning how pine reforestation and cattle ranching have reshaped these highlands.

Beyond Santa Fe, the route enters Santa Fe National Park, one of the best-preserved rainforests in the Americas, where jaguars roam and centuries-old petroglyphs sit beside mountain rivers. You'll cross the continental divide at a cloud forest overlook before descending through Hector Gallego National Park along Ngabe-Bugle lands, passing thatched-roof villages, hand-woven Panama hat artisans, and the Calovebora River. The tour ends at the Caribbean in the village of Calovebora, where dugout canoes and water taxis connect communities split between river and sea.

On this 150-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Pass through and learn about four National Protected Areas, including two National Parks located in the rainforest.
• Visit San Francisco's Panaderia San Roque, famous for its cheekily named breads and traditional corn-based chicheme drink
• Hike to El Salto de San Francisco, a small waterfall once used for local baptisms
• Spot roadside hawks, vultures, toucans and iguanas
• Take a footbridge to visit the indigenous Ngabe lands.
• Explore Santa Fe's Coffee Cooperative, where over 100 small farmers process two distinct local coffee brands
• Search for orchids, bromeliads, and tree frogs at the misty Mirador Loma Grande overlook
• Spot Llanito Waterfall
• Hear the story of Columbus and Nicuesa's failed attempts to found Panama's first colony along this coast
• See Ngabe women's traditional Nagua dresses and handwoven chakara bags at roadside stops
• Walk a coconut lined Caribbean beach

By the time you reach the Caribbean, you'll understand exactly how geography, gold, and resistance shaped this remote stretch of Panama while viewing some of the prettiest landscapes in the country.