Post - Everyday Travel Guides

by Rebecca Hollman
updated September 23, 2020

El Valle de Antón, Panama

El Valle de Anton is a small town located in a luscious green valley of an inactive volcano crater – it’s the largest inhabited crater in the world! When the volcano blew its top a casual 3 million years ago, the crater became a lush, green valley surrounded on all sides by the remaining volcanic ridges. The volcano has sat dormant for thousands of years and now is a favorite weekend getaway for Panamanians and visitors looking to escape the city. It’s unique cooler micro-climate, abundance of hiking trails, and many unique environmental and natural attractions make El Valle a popular weekend destination, especially for local Panamanians. It draws adventurous Panama City crowds who want to get out to the “mountains” in only 2 hours. There isn’t much nightlife or partying here and it’s a small outdoorsy town, so be prepared to have a relaxing and tranquil experience here.

Table of Contents

El Valle Itinerary Overview

Day 1: Hike Cerro La Gaita, visit the Butterfly House and swim in Chorro el Macho waterfall
Day 2: Hike La India Dormida for sunrise, dip in the Pozos Termales hot springs and hike Cerro Gaital for sunset
Day 3: Hike Cerro Chame for sunrise, visit las Cajones de Chame, hike Cerro La Cruz in Altos de Campana for sunset
Day 4: Visit the Serpentario and trek to the Filipinas and Nativa waterfalls
Day 5: Hike Cerro La Silla for sunrise, visit the Orchid House and hike Cerro Cara Iguana for sunset
Day 6: Take a tour to the Pozo Azul waterfall canyon and hike Cerro Turega
Day 7: Hike Cerro Pichachos de Ola for sunrise, visit Los Valles waterfall and hike the Golden Frog trail for sunset

Day 1: Cerro La Gaita, Butterfly House and Chorro el Macho Waterfall

Get your buns up at the crack of dawn to hike Cerro La Gaita and be at the top for sunrise. The trailhead is about 20 minutes from El Valle and the hike to the top should take at the most, an hour, so plan accordingly. Enjoy the sunrise colors and a snack at the top and take as many photos as you can. After you’ve had your fill, head back down the steep but short trail. Going down should take you less than half the time going up.

Once you’re back in town it’s time for a well-deserved breakfast. Head to Heaven’s Cafe and fill up on pancakes, eggs, smoothies and all sorts of coffee. This unassuming cafe has amazing food and coffee.

After breakfast, you could retire to your hostel/hotel to take a nap or you could spend some time walking around the town and exploring the area.

Once your full and rested, head to the Butterfly House to get some educational information about the life cycle of butterflies, what makes blue morpho butterflies so shiny, and about the many types of butterflies in Central America and Panama. You can also walk through the greenhouse and watch all the butterflies and even let them land on you. Entrance to the Butterfly House is $5 USD and the house is open from 9 am to 4 pm, with final entrance at 3:30 pm.

Next, it’s off to Chorro el Macho waterfall. Only a 30 minute walk from town, this waterfall is the tallest in the region. It has a pool big enough for swimming at the bottom so bring a bathing suit and towel. It’s $5 USD entrance to the waterfall and an additional $5 if you plan on swimming. Above the waterfall, there is a canopy and zip-line company. You could zip-line overhead and walk along the suspension bridges in the canopy for $53 USD per person. Make sure to give yourself enough time if you plan on doing both activities. The canopy tour lasts an hour and a half. The waterfall is open from 8 am to 5 pm everyday.

Finish off your day with nice, up-scale Italian dinner at Casa Florencia. All the bread and pasta is homemade in the restaurant. Make sure to try some Italian wines and don’t skimp on dessert!

Learn more about the Cerro La Gaita Trail here

Day 2: Cerro Gaital, Pozos Termales and La India Dormida

This morning you get to sleep in a little bit later and start your hike up Cerro Gaital around 8 or 9 am. The drive to the trailhead from town is about 20-30 minutes and the hike up Cerro Gaital takes about 2 hours. This steep, scrambling hike will get your adrenaline pumping! Be careful with the winds in the dry season.

Once back in town, head to Restaurante Camino del Inka for a cheap lunch and traditional Peruvian meal.

After lunch head to Los Pozos Termales, the hot springs in town. Since El Valle is located in the crater of a blown up volcano, expect there to be some volcanic activity and therefore some hot springs, still around. The hot springs themselves are pretty rustic but its worth the trip over for a mud facial and a dip in a warm water pool. Its $3 USD to enter and the springs are open from 8 am to 5 pm everyday with last entrance at 4:30 pm.

After soaking in the hot springs, make sure to give yourself enough time to hike along La India Dormida for sunset and to enjoy the petroglyphs and waterfalls along the trail. There are many different options on how to start and end this trail depending on whether you’re walking from town or have a car. Make sure to check out my post on this trail to learn all the ins and outs of hiking here.

Head back down to town after your hike and head to dinner at Restaurante Doña Nella, another local Latin cuisine restaurant. This restaurant was always full whenever we tried to go so maybe try to make a reservation in advance or expect to wait a little.

Learn more about the Cerro Gaital hike here

Learn more about La India Dormida hike here

Day 3: Cerro Chame, Los Cajones de Chame, and Cerro La Cruz

Another early morning, but the sunrise hikes in El Valle are the reason you’re here! Start off your third morning with an early alarm around 2 am to hike up Cerro Chame for sunrise. Make sure to pack breakfast and lunch because you won’t be coming back to El Valle until dinner time. You should leave El Valle at 2 am since it is an hour and a half drive and 10 km hike up to all the viewpoints of Cerro Chame. Explore all the extending trails around the peaks of Cerro Chame and eat a breakfast snack at the crosses at the true summit.

After heading back down the trail, stop at Los Cajones de Chame - a unique slot canyon perfect for swimming and cliff jumping. The Chame River has created a deep canyon that many people come and picnic and swim at. It can get busy during weekends and later in the day. The road gets pretty bad towards the end so you can park and walk the 20 minutes to the canyon or if you have 4x4, you can drive all the way. If you drive all the way there is a $5 parking fee.

After swimming all afternoon, head up the road to Altos de Campana National Park. This is another 20 minutes north of Chame and farther away from El Valle de Anton. Here you will hike up Cerro La Cruz, a steep and muddy 2 mile hike with amazing views. Try to time it so you’re heading up the trail for sunset because the sunset colors on the hills in this part of Panama are unreal.

Finally, after a very long day of adventuring, head back to El Valle for a well-deserved dinner. Go to DaVinci Pizza and Pasta for a filling carb-loaded meal of pizza and pasta.

Learn more about Cerro Chame here

Learn more about Los Cajones de Chame here

Learn more about Cerro La Cruz here

Day 4: Filipinas and Nativa Waterfalls and the Serpentario

Start off day 4 by having a quick breakfast at your hotel/hostel before heading out on your waterfall tour for the day. Both Filipinas and Nativa Waterfalls are in Sora, Panama about an hour drive from El Valle. The Nativa Waterfall is located on private property and both waterfalls are difficult to find. For this reason, it’s probably best to go with a guide and would be absolutely critical if you didn’t have a car. A local guide, Jerry, works out of Bodhi Hostel and could probably arrange this dual waterfall trip for you. Start at Nativa Waterfall, where you walk through private property to this crazy, unique waterfall that comes down a wide, rock face. The local family might even let you eat lunch there at their house. After chilling and swimming at Native, head a few minutes down the road to the Filipinas Waterfalls. This is a relatively short trail that leads you to 5 different waterfalls.

After most of the morning and afternoon spent out by these waterfalls, head back to El Valle and stop by the Serpentario to see some cool snakes, turtles and iguanas and learn about the wildlife rehabilitation around the area. The Serpentario is a pretty small place so you can be in and out in 20 minutes but they’ll let you hold a boa constrictor! Entrance is $5 USD and it is open from 8:30 am to 4 pm.

Head back to your hotel for some rest and relaxation before dinner. Once you’re ready to eat, head out to the nicest restaurant in town - La Casa de Lourdes. This fine-dining restaurant is located inside a 5 star hotel with views of the gardens and pools. Reservations recommended.

Learn more about the Nativa and Filipinas Waterfalls here

Day 5: Cerro Cara Iguana, the Orchid House and Cerro La Silla

Start your morning by hiking up Cerro Cara Iguana for sunrise. This hike is walking distance from town and is a short and sweet hike up to the top of the peak, giving views of the town in the valley crater below. This hike takes about an hour to an hour and half to the top so plan accordingly to catch those sunrise colors.

After starting your morning with this hike, head back into town and fill up on delicious coffee and pastries at El Valle Gourmet Coffee Shop. Once full on breakfast, head back to your hotel to take a nap.

Later in the afternoon, around 1 or 2 pm, head out to the Orchid House to learn about the different types of orchids and the unique conditions it takes for orchids to grow. Sit around and watch the many species of birds come to feed on the feeding platform in the Orchid House.

Head out to your sunset hike for the day - Cerro La Silla. This trail is about a 30-40 minute drive from town and the whole trail takes about 2-3 hours. Plan to give yourself enough time to get up before sunset and to walk the length of trail and enjoy the sunset colors.

After two full hikes in the day, it’s time to enjoy Irish-inspired dinner and drinks at O’Pedro’s Irish Pub.

Learn more about Cerro Cara Iguana here

Learn more about Cerro La Silla here

Day 6: Pozo Azul Waterfall and Cerro Turega Hike

Day 6 will be heading to a half day tour of the Pozo Azul Waterfall. This waterfall requires some serious 4x4 to get o and so it’s best to do it through a tour. Reach out to Jerry at Bodhi Hostel to arrange a tour. If there is a whole group, the cost is $15 per person. The trail leads to a series of waterfalls, one after the next - all bright, baby blue. All of them are great for swimming and even some spots are deep enough for cliff jumping. This is a super pristine and beautiful area that not many people know about or go to.

After getting back to town, grab a quick snack for lunch from somewhere quick - I recommend Heaven’s Cafe again before getting ready to head back out on another adventure.

From there you will be heading to Alto de la Estancia, a town on the outskirts of El Valle, to hike Cerro Turega. This 6 km hike is steep and slippery but the views are worth it. Again, this is something you can’t really do without a guide. You can either try to find a guide in El Valle or look around for a guide once you are in the town of Alto de la Estancia. Usually some guides hang around the trailhead. The trail is hard to see in many places and so you could get easily lost without a guide. The trail goes by some waterfalls and rises up to the three peaks. Only the first peak is accessible by the trail but the views are so worth it.

After two long adventures, it’s time to head back to relax and grab some food at L’italiano Ristorante - a decently priced Italian restaurant in the center of town.

Learn more about the Pozo Azul Waterfalls here

Learn more about the Cerro Turega hike here

Day 7: Cerro Pichachos de Ola, Los Valles Waterfall and The Golden Frog Trail

On your last day in El Valle, enjoy another adventure packed day full of hiking trails and waterfalls! Start off by driving an hour to the town of Ola before hiking up a short but steep trail to the top of Cerro los Pichachos. Spend some time taking photos at the top and following the trail farther along to secondary peaks before heading back down. The hike is on private property so do some research about asking permission to enter before going.

After hiking all morning, start your way back to El Valle but take a detour at the town of Río Grande to stop at Los Valles Waterfall. This waterfall is a series of 3 waterfalls making 2 big “punchbowls” at the bottom. This is a great spot for cliff jumping (with a big 15m jump) but also just chilling and swimming. The waterfalls are on private property so do some research about asking permission to enter before going.

After spending mid-afternoon swimming in the waterfalls, head back to El Valle and grab some lunch before gearing up for the second hike of the day. Head to the Golden Frog Inn to find the trailhead for the Golden Frog hike. The trailhead starts on the hotel property, so head inside and ask the hotel employees if they can give you info/show you the trailhead. This hike is very mellow compared to many others in the area and is more for wildlife viewing, not for any spectacular lookout points or views. The trail winds through forests with little elevation change and gives you a good chance to spot many types of birds and potentially sloths and/or monkeys.