Panama City Travel Guide

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Do Yourself A Favor and Make It An Ocean View At Westin Playa Bonita

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Km 6 Camino a Veracruz, Panama City, Panama
February 1, 2012 at 9:28 AM | by | Comments (0)

You're checking into your hotel. You're tired from the trip, yet excited to be somewhere new, yet disoriented by the unfamiliar scenery—often all at once. Without your wits about you, how are you supposed to determine which side of the building to request to get the best room view? Well, in the case of Westin Playa Bonita, let us point you in the right direction: between two options (Rainforest view and Ocean view), always, always pick the Ocean view.

We were lucky enough to get given a room with an Ocean view right off the bat. And sure enough, one of the first things we did upon entering our room was rush over to our balcony, slide open the door, and gush for a good five minutes (to ourselves) about how amazing the view was.

Facing south, the Ocean view side of the building looks straight at the Pacific. From here, you can see islands in the distance, watch the sun rise and set, and even spot ships queuing up to cross the Panama Canal.

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Men Get A Little Something Extra In The Bathrooms at Trump Ocean Club

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Calle Punta Colon, Punta Pacifica, Panama City, Panama, 0833-00321
January 31, 2012 at 9:15 AM | by | Comment (1)

There's no accounting for taste

We stopped in at the newly-opened Trump Ocean Club in Panama recently, and of all the hotel's glittering features (infinity pools, ocean views from every room, a Louis Vuitton-inspired wine bar), our curiosity was perhaps most piqued by these inverted semen-shaped turquoise urinals, found near the 15th-floor lobby. Nothing like a urinal with a tail on it to get you nice and relaxed!

These are the only urinals in the hotel with this specific design—the rest of the bathrooms (public and otherwise) are much more traditional, including the women's bathroom next door, which, for obvious reasons, has no use for turquoise urinals. The employee who showed us around the place explained, "This is what happens when you let a woman designs a men's bathroom."

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Guests Got A Taste of Carnival This Weekend At The Westin Playa Bonita

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Km 6 Camino a Veracruz, Panama City, Panama
January 30, 2012 at 9:15 AM | by | Comments (0)

Any Panamanians who were still unclear about that gigantic white tower that recently went up on a quarter-mile stretch of beach outside of Panama City had their doubts removed this weekend, when Westin Playa Bonita, a 650-room, Pacific Ocean-facing resort with three pools, six restaurants, and a forthcoming spa, officially opened.

Drawn by a few awesome firework displays, an open bar, and a steady stream of live music (salsa, merengue, reggaeton—you name it, they played it), an estimated 3400 people turned up to celebrate Westin's grand arrival in the city (though Starwood's Le Meridien Panama has been around for a few years now). And with yet another Westin set to open later this year, Panamanians aren't likely to be forgetting Westin's name anytime soon. Nor, for that matter, will the 700 (mostly US) guests who received a taste of Carnival-style partying that lasted well into Friday night/Saturday morning, during the hotel's grand opening event.

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Hard Rock to Open in Panama, Panama Oh-oh-oh-oh

May 26, 2011 at 9:25 AM | by | Comments (0)

Hard Rock Hotel execs including Michael Shindler, Executive VP (third from left), rock out with their guitars out at the Hard Rock Hotel Panama press conference.

Now that we've got the Van Halen tune in your head, let us give you some more detes on the Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis which is expected to open in December 2011 in Panama City.

The 66-story hotel will have 1,449 rooms, including a whopping 796 suites, some of which will be the brand's signature Rock Star Suites. The detes on the room designs and amenities are scant but guests will be able to create a music playlist all their own through the hotel's "Sound of Your Stay" music collection.

Throughout the property will be eight restaurants and bars, a club on the 62nd floor, a 7,800-sq.ft. Rock Spa and a Rock Shop where you can buy Hard Rock-branded gear. But sadly, no casino which means it will be more like the Hard Rock San Diego. Still a fun spot but we miss the slots.

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Sneak Peek at The Guestrooms of Trump Ocean Club Panama

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Punta Pacifica, Panama City, Panama
March 23, 2011 at 2:26 PM | by | Comments (0)

UPDATE: There's still no specific opening date other than "June" but room rates will start at $250 a night

The Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama is not set to open until June but we've finally got a sneak peek at the rooms that we will all be staying in when it opens. (Or at least we hope to stay in.) And y'all better be ready for some bathtime.

The Trump Panama rooms feature a very peekaboo bathroom with a freestanding deep-soaking oval bathtub. As you can see from the picture, the tub is in plain view. No need to turn on the TV for entertainment, just watch your lover splish and splash. Fortunately, if you do want some privacy there are curtains that can be closed around the tub.

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Ivanka Trump Is Taking the Family to Panama In June

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Punta Pacifica, Panama City, Panama
February 2, 2011 at 2:02 PM | by | Comments (0)

We caught the news about the new Trump Toronto last summer when the least annoying Trump—Ivanka—TwitPic'd photos of herself in hard hat and swish navy-and-white dress inspecting the site. But now word comes that the hotelier, spa visionary, occasional model and handbag designer is pushing south of the border too with a 364-room, 70-story, $400 million building in Punta Pacifica, Panama City, Panama.

The Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower will be the tallest building south of Miami, and Hotel News Now has even more details:

The first 15 floors feature a casino, restaurants, spas, shops and Bay Loft apartments; hotel rooms and residences both start on the 16th floor.

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Hilton Launches Four-Pronged Panama City Invasion

May 20, 2009 at 8:56 AM | by | Comments (0)

Now you don't see 'em, now you do: the Hilton chain is going back into Panama City, Panama. And they're not doing it lightly, with plans announced for four different Hilton-branded hotels to hit the capital within the next couple of years.

Two of the four will be brand spankin' new: the Hilton Panama in the financial district will take up 27 floors of a 68-floor building and be just 5 miles from that famous canal, and the Embassy Suites by Hilton Panama City is also in the financial district and should be ready in October 2011.

The other two Panama City Hilton properties are franchise agreements. One will be the Doubletree by Hilton Panama City, a big renovation of an existing eight-story hotel near the Iglesia del Carmen. The Doubletree reopening should be ready by the spring of 2010. Hilton's also taking on the Hilton Garden Inn Panama; it's the only one of the four where they explicitly mention free WiFi and wired internet access, but we're hoping they'll be including it everywhere. Hilton says they're looking to expand throughout the Caribbean and Latin America so this big Panama City expansion is probably just the beginning.

[Photo: thinkpanama]

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The Bristol Hotel in Panama City, Now With Video!

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Avenida Aquilino de la Guardia, Panama City, Panama
February 21, 2008 at 12:34 PM | by | Comment (1)

Yesterday we ran a short review of The Bristol in Panama's capital city, including a celeb spotting of James Bond boss Judy Dench. Today we have a video tour of room 806.

Rooms on the 8th floor are the prime ones as they have the best view of the surrounding Panama City high-rises and the even numbered ones face the Pacific Ocean in the distance. Plus they have ceilings that stretch up to some 25 feet. This room even has a fax machine and a CD stereo. Enjoy!

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Judy Dench Spies on the Bristol in Panama City

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Avenida Aquilino de la Guardia, Panama City, Panama
February 20, 2008 at 10:02 AM | by | Comments (2)

Our first clue that The Bristol in Panama City, Panama is the hot place to stay was the brand new Masarati parked out front. Our second clue was sitting down to check in and finding ourselves chatting with Judy Dench, who was checking out.

The famed actress was in town for a week shooting her Q role for the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. (Funny enough, that portion of the film is actually supposed to take place in Haiti, so the Panamanians are not too thrilled.) Being the Oscar-winning lady she is, Ms. Dench won raves from the staff for her graciousness and lack of midnight diva demands.

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