The main place to visit the Panama Canal, which stretches across the entire country, is at the Miraflores Visitor's Centre. Here, you will purchase tickets for the Panama Canal Experience. We bought our tickets on arrival, no need to buy in advance, however you can buy your Panama Canal tickets online if you already know the date you want to visit.
The Panama Canal Experience is self-guided so you can arrive any time you like. The experience includes two elements: firstly, access to the viewing deck which sits right at the Miraflores Lock at the Panama Canal. Here, you might get lucky with your timing and can watch boats (and if you're really lucky, a massive cruise ship that comes by a few times a week!). A running commentary is provided. Our favourite part of this moment was when everyone on ship and everyone on the viewing deck waved and cheered for each other... so wholesome!
→ Check out my episode of the Backpacking Series of visiting the Panama Canal!
After you have finished at the viewing deck, you also get to watch a gorgeous IMAX documentary (make sure you check the schedule in advance) narrated by Morgan Freeman. The documentary does an excellent job explaining the sometimes tumultuous history of the Panama Canal, how it functions today and growth plans for the future.
I genuinely loved our visit to the Panama Canal. It truly felt like an honour to stand there and witness something you've heard so much about your entire life. To see for yourself over 100 years of astounding engineering, for which more than 20,000 workers lost their lives, this is a heart-wrenching, mind-boggling feat.
