Panama Canal

Pride of the engineering world and a testimony of sheer grit, the 80 km long Panama Canal will make you gawk at the colossal size of the vessels transiting it. To gather why the canal is a landmark, two things need to be understood—what is happening at the canal and how it is different from others? The canal around the isthmus basically helps avoid the sail around the long and winding southern tip of the Americas. The construction of this brilliant feat of engineering was an uphill task. With the construction starting in 1881, it took over a decade long failed attempts by the French and another decade by the Americans, after the takeover, to finish the project. Finally, the canal was opened on August 15, 1914. The canal was run and managed by the Americans until it was handed over to Panama on December 31, 1999.

Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatun are the three locks of the canal, which also has three visitor centres—Miraflores, Agua Clara and Gatun. Closest to the city is Miraflores Visitor Center at the Miraflores Locks. If you are running on a tight schedule, you could directly head to Gatun Lake towards the Gatun Locks, skipping the Pedro Miguel Locks. These three visitor centres close around 4 pm, so attempting to visit all three in a day is although possible but not advisable. The ticket prices differ for Panamanians and visitors, and can cost somewhere between $5 and $15 at individual locks. Plan to hang around for at least an hour or more to see the entire process—ship loaded with containers entering the canal, the doors opening and closing, the locks being flooded and emptied, and eventually, the ship waving goodbye and sailing into the ocean.