Post - Everyday Travel Guides

Cerro La Silla - El Valle de Anton, Panama

by Rebecca Hollman
updated June 15, 2020

Cerro la Silla Hike - El Valle de Antón, Panama

El Valle de Anton, mostly shortened and called just El Valle, is a cool mountain town a short drive away from Panama City. Known as an outdoor adventure spot, it draws a big crowd of Panamanians from Panama City who want to come play in the mountains for the weekend. The town itself is located in a volcanic crater, with the ridges and peaks surrounding it in all directions. These leads to tons of epic hikes just steps away from the edge of the town. Besides the hikes in the town, there are a handful of good hikes that are day trips away. One of these hikes is Cerro La Silla - located less than 20 minutes away from downtown El Valle. Cerro La Silla (“Chair Mountain”) is a great hike to do at sunset, as the hills glow with bright yellows and oranges as the sun starts to set.

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About This Hike

This hike follows along the ridge of Cerro La Silla, on the outskirts of El Valle. The trail is relatively flat with little change in elevation - only around 300 feet. The trail can be narrow and steep in sections, but overall the trail is rated as easy. In total, the trail is 3 miles (or ~4 kilometers) in total and is an out and back. It is possible to hike to the trailhead from town, making the total trail length more like 7-8 kilometers. In total, the trail should take between 2-3 hours depending on how fast you walk. This trail gives amazing 360 views and is easily accessible and an easy hike, so great for families and children.

We started the hike around 4 pm and wanted to be out there for sunset. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the “last peak” although I’ve heard the trail does continue and makes a little loop that comes back around to the trailhead. It didn’t seem to us like the trail kept going so we turned around and went back the way we came. The walk out was awesome as the sun was starting to set and the temperature started to cool. The trail was very narrow and winded along some pretty steep ridges - the views all around were so dramatic! We reached the last peak as the sun set and sat down to take it in. It was so windy the whole time we thought we were going to lose our stuff if we set it down and we couldn’t get the drone out to fly it. Finally we headed back to the trailhead as it really started to get dark. By half way back we were in the pitch black using out phones as flashlights. Right before the last rays of sun were gone, there were some cool rainbow streak formations across the dark sky that I’d never seen before.

Trail Info

Hiking Time: 2-3 hours.
Distance: 3.5 miles (4-5 km) from trailhead. 8 km from town.
Elevation: 300-400 meters.

Getting to the Trail

From town, head east on 71 (Ruta las Uvas) which is the main road through town. About 10 minutes out of town, turn right on an unmarked dirt road (marked on the map below). Follow this dirt road as far as you can and park along the side of the road at any point. You will walk the rest of the way along the dirt road until you reach the very obvious trail. Follow the marked trail to the last peak of Cerro La Silla, and then follow the same trail back to your parked car.