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Explore 60 protected areas in Panama, rated across 10 categories

Bosque Protector Alto Darién was established in 1972 as one of Panama's first large-scale conservation areas in the Emberá-Wounaan Comarca. The protected forest preserves dense lowland and montane rai

Alto Darién

Panama's first national park, established in 1966, Altos de Campana protects 4,816 ha of rugged volcanic terrain 80 km west of Panama City. The park's highest point, Cerro Campana at 1,007 m, offers p

Altos de Campana

The Archipiélago de Las Perlas Special Marine-Coastal Management Area encompasses 168,771 ha of islands, islets, coral reefs, and marine waters in the Gulf of Panama. The archipelago of over 200 islan

Archipiélago de Las Perlas

Bahía de Panamá Wildlife Refuge and Ramsar Wetland protects 85,664 ha of inter-tidal mudflats, mangroves, and shallow marine waters east of Panama City. The bay is a critical stopover for up to 1.5 mi

Bahía de Panamá

Barro Colorado Natural Monument encompasses the famous 1,500 ha island in Gatún Lake — created when the Chagres River was dammed for the Panama Canal in 1914 — plus five adjacent mainland peninsulas, 

Barro Colorado

Camino de Cruces National Park protects 4,000 ha of tropical rainforest in Panama Province, forming a green corridor between Metropolitan Natural Park and Soberanía. The park preserves a section of th

Camino de Cruces

Canglón Forest Reserve protects 31,650 ha of lowland tropical forest in Darién Province, declared a prohibited zone for settlement and agriculture in 1970. The reserve buffers the eastern edge of Dari

Canglón

Cenegón del Mangle Wildlife Refuge on the Azuero Peninsula protects 776 ha of mangrove ecosystem near Chitré. The refuge is a critical habitat for herons, caimans, and a range of coastal waterbirds. I

Cenegón del Mangle

Cerrezuela Water Reserve protects 1,100 ha of forested highland in the Penonomé district of Coclé Province. Managed by MiAMBIENTE, the reserve safeguards critical watersheds and biodiversity in the ce

Cerrezuela

Cerro Ancón Natural Reserve protects 48 ha of tropical forest on the 199 m hill that is the highest point in Panama City. Declared national heritage when Panama regained control of the former Canal Zo

Cerro Ancón

Cerro Gaital Natural Monument protects 335 ha of cloud forest covering the hills of Cerro Gaital, Cerro Pajita, and Cerro Caracoral north of El Valle de Antón in Coclé Province. Declared a natural mon

Cerro Gaital

Located on the remote southwestern tip of the Azuero Peninsula, Cerro Hoya protects 32,557 ha of endangered dry tropical and montane forest. The park's peak rises to 1,559 m and shelters several endem

Cerro Hoya

Chagres National Park protects the watershed that supplies 40% of the water used to operate the Panama Canal. Covering 129,000 ha of highlands and cloud forest spanning the provinces of Panamá and Col

Chagres

Chepigana Forest Reserve protects 146,000 ha of lowland and montane tropical rainforest in Darién Province, forming a critical buffer zone for the adjacent Darién National Park. Established among the 

Chepigana

A UNESCO World Heritage Site encompassing Isla Coiba and 37 surrounding islands in the Gulf of Chiriquí, Coiba protects 270,125 ha of tropical forest, coral reefs, and marine ecosystems. Once a penal 

Coiba

Damani-Guariviara is Panama's fifth Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, covering 24,089 ha in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé. The site encompasses coastal and inland wetlands including beaches, marsh

Damani-Guariviara

Panama's largest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Darién protects 5,790 km² of pristine rainforest along the Colombian border. One of the most biologically diverse places on Earth, it i

Darién

El Montuoso Forest Reserve protects 12,043 ha of tropical forest in the Las Minas district of Herrera Province. Created by Law No. 12 of March 15, 1977, it encompasses the corregimientos of Chepo, El 

El Montuoso

El Peñón de la Honda Wildlife Refuge protects 2,367 ha of coastal habitat in Los Santos Province on the northeast Azuero Peninsula. Declared a wildlife refuge in 1982, it shelters colonies of aquatic 

El Peñón de la Honda

El Salto de Las Palmas Natural Recreation Area protects a 45-meter waterfall and its surrounding tropical forest in the Las Palmas district of Veraguas Province. The area is managed for both conservat

El Salto de Las Palmas

Serranía Filo del Tallo Hydrological Reserve protects 26,305 ha of montane forest along the Filo del Tallo mountain range in Darién Province. The reserve safeguards critical watersheds draining into t

Filo del Tallo

Finca Caraña Forest Reserve is a small 80 ha conservation area in Chiriquí Province protecting a remnant patch of tropical forest. Despite its compact size, it serves as an important genetic reservoir

Finca Caraña

Fortuna Forest Reserve protects 19,500 ha of mid-elevation cloud forest on the Continental Divide in western Chiriquí, including the 2,213 m summit of Cerro Chorcha. The reserve is one of Central Amer

Fortuna

Golfo de Chiriquí National Marine Park encompasses 14,740 ha of Pacific marine habitat including 25 islands, 19 coral reefs, mangroves, and sea-grass beds in the Isla Parida archipelago. The park is a

Golfo de Chiriquí

Golfo de Montijo is a Ramsar-designated wetland complex covering 80,765 ha of coastal mangroves, estuaries, marshes, seasonally flooded grasslands, and marine waters on Panama's Pacific coast in Verag

Golfo de Montijo

Panama's first marine park, Isla Bastimentos protects 13,226 ha of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago including rainforest, mangroves, coral reefs with nearly 80 coral species, and nesting beaches for fou

Isla Bastimentos

Isla Cañas Wildlife Refuge is one of the most important olive ridley sea turtle mass-nesting (arribada) sites in the eastern Pacific. Located in Tonosí district, Los Santos, the refuge protects nestin

Isla Cañas

Isla Escudo de Veraguas Protected Landscape encompasses 16,125 ha around a remote Caribbean island 17 km off the coast of Bocas del Toro. The island harbors several endemic species isolated for approx

Isla Escudo de Veraguas

Isla Galeta Protected Landscape encompasses 688 ha of mixed forest, mangroves, and adjacent coral reef platform on the Caribbean coast of Colón Province. Created by Law 21 of 1997 under the Interocean

Isla Galeta

Isla Iguana Wildlife Refuge protects a tiny 53 ha island 5 km off the Azuero Peninsula, famous for one of Panama's largest frigatebird colonies and a thriving population of green iguanas. The island's

Isla Iguana

Isla Majé Hydrological Reserve protects the largest island in Lake Bayano, an artificial lake formed in 1976 by the damming of the Bayano River. Located in Chepo district, the island's tropical forest

Isla Majé

Isla Montuosa Wildlife Refuge protects a 136 ha remote Pacific island located 80 km offshore in the Gulf of Chiriquí. Designated as a wildlife refuge in 2008, the island harbors unique flora and fauna

Isla Montuosa

Panama's newest national park, created in 2019 and named after the Colombian priest who championed social causes in Santa Fe during the 1960s-70s. The park protects 78,405 ha of pristine cloud forest 

Jesús Héctor Gallego Herrera

A transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site shared with Costa Rica, La Amistad protects 207,000 hectares of the Talamanca mountain range in Panama. The park is a Biosphere Reserve harboring extraordina

La Amistad

Lago Gatún Natural Recreation Area protects 385 ha of tropical forest and shoreline on the northeast edge of Gatún Lake in Colón Province. Created in 1985, the area serves as a green buffer for the Pa

Lago Gatún

Laguna de Volcán is the highest-elevation wetland in Panama at nearly 1,200 m in the western highlands of Chiriquí Province. Protected since 1928 by Law 121, the two lagoons and surrounding forest cov

Laguna de Volcán

Laguna Las Macanas Wildlife Refuge protects 1,200 ha of the largest submerged wetland in Panama's central provinces. Located in Rincón de Santa María, 7 km from the Divisa crossing in Herrera Province

Laguna Las Macanas

La Tronosa Forest Reserve protects 20,759 ha of humid tropical forest in the Tonosí district of Los Santos Province on the Azuero Peninsula. Created by Law 52 of 1977, the reserve encompasses Cerro La

La Tronosa

Panama's first forest reserve, established in 1960. La Yeguada protects 7,016 ha of montane forest on the Central Cordillera in the Calobre district of Veraguas Province. The reserve features an artif

La Yeguada

Los Pozos de Calobre Natural Monument protects a 4 ha area of thermal hot springs in the Calobre district of Veraguas Province. The geothermal pools, fed by volcanic activity, create a unique microhab

Los Pozos de Calobre

Matusagaratí is Panama's largest continental wetland, covering 64,750 ha in Darién Province. Designated as the country's sixth Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2025, the complex of freshw

Matusagaratí

The only protected tropical forest within a major Latin American capital city, Metropolitan National Park spans 265 ha of dry and humid tropical forest within Panama City. Despite its urban setting, i

Metropolitan

Narganá Wilderness Area protects 99,400 ha of species-rich primary rainforest within the Comarca Guna Yala on the Caribbean slope, extending from the Continental Divide to the coast. Co-managed by the

Narganá

Known locally as El Copé, this cloud-forest national park protects 25,275 ha of montane forest straddling the Continental Divide in Coclé Province. Named after General Omar Torrijos Herrera, the park 

Omar Torrijos (El Cope)

Pablo Arturo Barrios Wildlife Refuge protects 15,026 ha of beaches, dunes, mangroves, and marine habitat near Pedasí on the Azuero Peninsula. Named after a local environmentalist, the refuge borders t

Pablo Arturo Barrios

Palo Seco Protected Forest is a 167,410 ha conservation corridor in the Talamanca Range linking Fortuna Forest Reserve with La Amistad International Park on the Caribbean slope of Bocas del Toro. Crea

Palo Seco

Playa Boca Vieja Wildlife Refuge protects coastal marine and beach habitat in Chiriquí Province on the Pacific coast. Established in 1994, the refuge conserves nesting beaches for olive ridley and oth

Playa Boca Vieja

Playa La Barqueta Agrícola Wildlife Refuge protects over 14 km of Pacific beach and approximately 5,945 ha of coastal habitat including mangroves and scrub vegetation in the Alanje district of Chiriqu

Playa La Barqueta Agrícola

Portobelo National Park encompasses a UNESCO World Heritage coastline of colonial Spanish fortifications, coral reefs, and tropical forest on the Caribbean coast. The park's 70 km of palm-fringed coas

Portobelo

Punta Patiño is a Ramsar-designated wetland of 30,000 ha on the Pacific coast of Darién Province, protecting extensive mangroves, tidal pools, coral reefs, beaches, and primary and secondary tropical 

Punta Patiño

Best Parks in Panama

Surrounding Panama's only active volcano and its highest peak at 3,475 m, Volcán Barú National Park covers 14,300 ha of rich cloud forest in Chiriquí Province. Both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean

One of the most accessible and species-rich tropical parks in the Americas, Soberanía hugs the eastern bank of the Panama Canal. Its 19,545 ha of pristine lowland forest record over 525 bird species a

San Lorenzo Protected Area encompasses 12,000 ha of diverse tropical ecosystems on the Caribbean coast at the mouth of the Chagres River in Colón Province. The area includes 12 ecosystem types — from 

National Parks in Panama

Top 10 Parks in Panama

La Amistad

Coiba

Darién

Volcán Barú

Soberanía

Barro Colorado

Chagres

Altos de Campana

Fortuna

Omar Torrijos (El Cope)

Top Parks by Category

Top 10 Parks for Uniqueness in Panama

Darién

Isla Escudo de Veraguas

Coiba

Barro Colorado

La Amistad

Isla Cañas

Cerro Hoya

Soberanía

Fortuna

Isla Bastimentos

All Parks (60)

La Amistad

Coiba

Darién

Volcán Barú

Soberanía

Chagres

Barro Colorado

Fortuna

San Lorenzo

All Parks A–Z

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