During our trip to Panama last February, we visited El Valle de Anton, which was the third beautiful stop of our diy tour (after Panama City and Portobelo), as we wanted to explore some of the inland. We chose this location because it is not too many hours by car from Panama City and because in the area there are interesting excursions to do.
Where is El Valle de Anton located?
Located in the central region of Coclé, El Valle de Anton is a small village situated 600 meters above sea level that rises inside the crater of an ancient extinct volcano. It is a well-known tourist destination for Panamanians, and it is well-kept with beautiful houses and clean streets. El Valle serves as the starting point for numerous nature hikes, trekking, and waterfalls, plus the pacific coast is only 45 minutes far away by car.
The village has a main street with restaurants, shops, and the local market, but it’s not overly crowded or touristy. We enjoyed it.
How to get to El Valle de Anton
We had a rental car for the entire trip, and it took us approximately 2.5 hours driving from Panama City. From the capital there are also buses from the Albrook station. If you do not want to drive or take a bus, the nearest airport is Scarlett Martinez in Rio Hato, 1 hour drive from El Valle.
Where to sleep in El Valle de Anton
We stayed for 3 nights in this family managed cottage, it was in a very central location to the village, nice but quite basic. There was a kitchenette, a bathroom with shower, two queen beds, along with a covered veranda outside overlooking a wonderful garden. It was quiet and the center of the village was reachable by foot.
We chose this accommodation because we were looking for an apartment, but there are many other solutions in the village, if you are looking for a bit more confort:
- the Golden Frog Inn bed and breakfast with pool
- the Casa Morada, a 4-stars guesthouse
- the Casa Madre Tierra, a 4-star boutique hotel with pool and restaurant, located 20 km outside of the center village.
Where to eat in El Valle de Anton
We made breakfast and dinner at home, and for lunch we went all three days in the same restaurant that we liked very much, the Ranita Gourmet, where we we spent only 30/35 dollars to eat for 2 people. In the village you can find many other restaurants along the main road, and a couple of supermarkets and smaller groceries shops too.
Interesting hiking and tours from El Valle de Anton
The main trails that run along the crater of the extinct volcano, the Ruta de la Caldera, are of different degrees of difficulty, and the access points are all located in close proximity of the village:
- La India Dormida trekking, a moderate-difficult ring path of about 6 km, in which you also meet a stone with engraved hieroglyphics of pre-Columbian age (the Pietra Pintada)
- Sendero Cara Iguana 9 km ring path
- Macano – La Silla 9,5 km difficult path
We’ve completed the Sendero Mirador del Cerro Gaital, which is an easier stretch and leads to a panoramic viewpoint.
• Sendero Mirador Cerro Gaital
The beginning of this 3 km ring trail is about 15 minutes by car from the center of the village located; it leads to a Mirador from which you can see the crater of the extinct volcano within the town of El Valle rises. The path starts from a closed forest guardhouse, just pass on the right and you can access with no problems, even if it seems closed. At a certain point the path branches off into a ring, you can choose the shorter but steeper path or the longer but flatter one, this is the one we did.
The Mirador can be reached within an hour by taking your time and stopping to observe the flora and fauna. If you’re lucky, you might even spot hummingbirds and parrots. Plus, at the beginning of the trail, we spotted a sloth, other hikers pointed it out because it was really well camouflaged. It’s not an easy task to observe wildlife, as it requires time and patience!
We really liked this short half-day excursion, both for the beautiful view from up there, and for the fact that it was a nice step outside our comfort zone for us, since we are not trekkers. If you are in the area I recommend it absolutely, put closed shoes on and mosquito lotion.
Here you can find more information about the path>>
Please note: from the Mirador the trail continues to the top of Cerro Gaital (1167 meters high), but from here it is only for expert trekkers accompanied by a guide.
- El Chorro Macho Waterfall and Park
This is an easy accessible park with an entrance fee (6.5 dollars per adult, trail + natural pool) where you can spend a day or less in nature, with a waterfall to reach due to a short trail, and where you can take a refreshing swim in a natural pool or do a zipline over the forest. The trail itself is very easy, about 20 minutes, suitable for all, but also consider that it could be crowded by day tourists due to its easy accessibility (we saw the buses that were going away in the afternoon). For more information take a look at the official website >>
Tip: if you do not have a car, take a taxi from the village center to get to the entrance of the park and of the Cerro Gaital trail.
In the El Valle de Anton area there are many other waterfalls to visit, way more difficult to access, like the Cascada Arenilla, the Las Pailas Loma Grande waterfall, and Chorro La Poma. You can find useful infos on the Wikiloc webiste on how to reach them, it could be necessary to hire a guide to go.
El Valle de Anton what to see in the surroundings
At 1 hour drive you will find the ancient town of Penonomé known for being for a short time capital of the state of Panama and because in the location of La Pintada there is a craft center where to buy the original Panama hats.
Our 3 days in El Valle were wonderful, if you want to take a dip in the green inland of Panama not far from Panama City this place is ideal. After that we stayed a few days at the beach on the Pacific coast, in Punta Caelo residence which has beautiful apartments, and is only 40 minutes from El Valle located. This is a modern complex on the sea surrounded by jungle, with a restaurant and different pools to relax. Other nice locations in the area are Rio Hato and Playa Coronado.
To know more about the trails and trekking in Panama in general visit the Caminando Panama website, or the official webiste of El Valle de Anton.