Camino Real Trek

Lost World Adventures itineraries can be tailor-made according to your plans and preferences: budget, hotel selections, travel dates, optional excursions, length of trip, etc.

Day 1 : Arrive Panama City

On arrival at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City you will be greeted by your guide and transferred to your hotel. Tonight you will meet with the Expedition Leader and the rest of the trip participants.

Overnight at the Hampton By Hilton, breakfast included.

Day 2 : Panama City – Madden Lake

Your morning begins with a thorough inspection of your equipment for the hike on the Camino Real.

Afterwards, visit the ruins of Old Panama City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which holds historical relevance to the area that you will explore in the upcoming days. Early afternoon drive to Madden Lake, where you board your motorized dugout canoes en route to a jungle site where you will spend the night.

Overnight in the jungle in screened tents. All meals are included through breakfast on Day 8.

Day 3 : Chagres National Park

This morning you continue your adventure in the Chagres National Park. This protected area was created in 1985 to preserve 130,000 hectares (320,000 acres) of rainforests as part of Panama’s conservation strategy and to help preserve the watershed which provides all of the fresh water needed for the operation of the Panama Canal, as well as the drinking water for the two largest cities in the country.

The park is home to endangered species such as jaguars, Central American Spider Monkeys, and anteaters. It is also a bird sanctuary for more than 400 species, including the harpy eagle — the largest eagle in the world and Panama’s national bird.

As you skirt along the park’s boundaries you will come across peasant farms and hamlets and gradually enter the thicker and more pristine rainforest, where you run into vestiges of late 1800s manganese mines, including railroad tracks and locomotives encroached in the tropical vegetation that has taken over these relics.

You cross the watershed divide of the Boqueron River over a low mountain pass into the Nombre de Dios River basin as you head north toward the Caribbean Sea.

Overnight in field camp.

Day 4 : Camino Real Trek

Overnight in field camp.

Day 5 : Camino Real Trek

Overnight in field camp.

Day 6 : Portobelo

After four days of trekking, you finally reach reach the road where an expedtion vehicle will transfer you to Portobelo, the final destination of the Camino Real on the Caribbean Sea.

Set on a deepwater bay deemed easier to defend from the ravages of pirates, Portobelo was heavily fortified and for 150 years was home to the famous trade fairs, when the Spanish treasure fleet came to collect the riches that traveled across the isthmus on mule trains from Panama City and to leave merchandise brought from Seville for distribution throughout the Americas.

Unsurprisingly, the wealth concentrated in the royal warehouses here was an irresistible target for the pirates who scoured the Spanish Main.

Overnight in Portobelo at Casa del Rayo Verdo or Casa Congo.

Day 7 : Bay of Portobelo – Panama City

This morning enjoy swimming in the Caribbean Sea. In the afternoon you will drive to Colon to catch the train back to Panama City. The Panama Railway was inaugurated in 1856 and was the first train to cross the continent from one ocean to the other.

The completion of the trans-isthmian railroad was inspired by the Gold Rush when pioneers were in need of a fast and safe way to get to California.

The train ride is 1 hour long from coast to coast and skirts the Panama Canal. A farewell dinner is prepared for this evening.

Overnight at the Hampton By Hilton, breakfast included.

Day 8 : Int’l Departure

You will be met at your hotel and transferred to the Tocumen Int’l Airport.