With two oceans and 48 kosher eateries, Panama is a kosher tourist's dream

With jungles, tropical cloud forests, amazing beaches on two oceans, a vital waterway, and, perhaps, the most dynamic, growing Jewish community outside of Israel, Panama is a great destination for travelers seeking the perfect vacation with every kosher option available.

Variety really is a keyword here. Indigenous peoples rub shoulders with Caribbeans, descendants of conquistadors, Chinese, and many others, including some 16,000 Jews, predominantly of Syrian and Lebanese origin.

A vacation in Panama usually commences in the renowned capital, Panama City.

Shortly after a 25-minute transfer from Tocumen International Airport, the excellent Panama Kosher Vacations tour guide, Noris, suggested an evening stroll through the historic Casco Viejo neighborhood, where the San Felipe Hotel is located in a 350-year-old building with an inner courtyard, rooftop bar, and a magnificent 360-degree view of the mountains, sea, and modern skyline.

The district feels lived in – real. Sure, there are colonial-style hotels, lively bars, and Panama-hat stores on every street corner, but for local families, this is home. That can mean that they’ve set up tables on the sidewalk where they gather, eating as they watch the world go by. Their kids play boisterously on the cathedral steps.

The following morning, reflective puddles pepper the streets, and the nearby hills are mist-covered: It’s an artistic photographer’s heaven on earth.

“Few people wear coats here,” says Noris. “We’re more of an umbrella society.”

There are two seasons in Panama: rainy and dry. May sees the start of the rains, and it can get very humid. Fewer tourists visit at the height of the Northern Hemisphere during summer. Temperatures are pleasant year-round.

A great way to understand any city is by visiting the food market. The Neri Market in the San Felipe area is divided into two sections, one offering choice meat cuts, the other – a fascinating mix of vegetables and fruits, many of which are not seen in the supermarkets of North America, Europe, and Israel.

Take the Gauba, also known as the ice cream bean. It looks like a seriously oversized carob on the outside. Its fruit feels like a juicy cotton wool ball with large, inedible, bitter seeds.

Locals also purchase a mixture of herbs and spices, some of which have medicinal properties, while others make for flavorsome bases for sauces and soups, such as the Panamanian national soup, sancocho, a chicken soup with yam, yucca, and cilantro.

The kosher cuisine makes Panama City a standout destination for the kosher traveler. There are as many as 50 kosher eateries offering every style of cuisine. The standard of cooking is high, the restaurants are tastefully furnished, and prices are reasonable compared to North American equivalents.

Adama’s centerpiece is its beautifully lit bar, with an extensive offering of wines, spirits, and cocktails. The menu offers a global array of high-class fish and meat dishes. The tuna steak, medium rare, is lightly peppered and succulent. For vegetarians, the crispy sweet potato salad in a rich vinaigrette is a winner. As the restaurant’s Hebrew name suggests, the focus is on flavors of nature and the connection between adama (earth) and the palate.

There’s a strip mall in the midtown Paitilla district that’s all kosher, offering burgers at Fuego Bistro and Yoss Burger, baked goods at Yoss Bakery, and the delightful dairy Aroma Gourmet restaurant. Don’t enter thinking this is like your local Israeli Aroma. We’re talking avocado toast, eggs Benedict, Mediterranean linguine, bolitas (potato balls stuffed with cheese and corn), poke bowls, and more.

Lula is a Panamanian-Israeli fusion restaurant in the heart of the old district. The portions are particularly large and tasty. The menu includes ropa vieja – shredded beef in tomato sauce, served with fried sweet plantain – and a shawarma hummus bowl. The lemonade is especially delicious.

Some of the kosher cafés do not outwardly advertise their kosher certification. In the case of Blame Kiki, there is a solitary line in the menu telling diners that the establishment is indeed kosher. The diners are predominantly a mix of local Panamanians. The establishment’s decorative theme is bright and neon, attracting a young clientele.

Here, too, the portions are generous, with starters recommended for two people, such as fried mozzarella cubes, and mains focusing on pastas, for example, a sweet potato gnocchi in a rich cheese sauce. The wine menu includes kosher whites, reds, and rosés from around the world.

For a great, upscale, outdoor gastronomic experience, Aria is an excellent choice. The menu has an eclectic mix of sushi, soups, sliders, and steaks, as well as a few tasty vegetarian options. There is no better way to finish a meal than with a decadent glass of Abuelo rum, available all over Panama with OU certification.

Lovers of Japanese cooking should head to the recently kosher-certified Spice Market, with its vivid décor and enthusiastic staff. Ask to meet sommelier Gustavo for some excellent wine (or sake) pairings for your crispy rice-topped salmon, lo mein noodles, and a to-die-for chocolate volcano cake with crunchy sesame ice cream.

A 45-minute flight out of Panama City brings you west to a tropical cloud forest, a high-altitude form of rainforest. The short hop takes you above forested mountains, isolated hamlets, and a magnificent delta on the approach to Panama’s third-largest city, David, capital of the Chiriquí province.

It’s a brief ride from there into the hills and the mountain town of Boquete. This small place of some 20,000 people, just 35 miles from the border with Costa Rica, is the launching point for mountain hikes, hanging bridges, zip lining, and chocolate and coffee tours.

The pipeline trail, including medium inclines, passes wild pumpkins, forest tomatoes, and huge ferns, with the ever-present rushing sound of a stream that bubbles alongside the pathway. A nighttime visit to the trail may include sightings of tiny frogs and pumas that can approach humans but are only dangerous if they feel the need to protect accompanying cubs.

Nearby is the Elida Estate coffee plantation, part of the Lamastus Family Estate. Following a quick introductory coffee, visitors are taken by off-road vehicle to a height of almost 2,000 meters for an incredible vista that takes in the nearby volcano and to see the world-famous geisha coffee cherries on a seemingly infinite number of coffee bushes.

There are plenty of photo opportunities in Chiriquí along the winding roads, including cascades of incredible rock formations, plants that only grow in the tropics, vultures flying overhead, and the chance to meet indigenous families who live temporarily in shacks on the roadside and work in the coffee plantations.

Back in Boquete, Jewish visitors can experience one of the most remote Chabad centers anywhere on the planet.

Rabbi Yakov and Hana Poliwoda arrived in the area approximately 10 years ago after a local Jewish woman suggested they set up a Chabad house in Boquete. After three years of deliberations, the young couple moved in, initially to cater to the spiritual needs of some 100 Jews, predominantly expats, who bought property in the area because of its outstanding natural beauty.

Now, with two small children, the couple has established classes on Judaism, a Jewish cemetery, and they have turned the local Jewish bakery and café, Morton’s, into an excellent kosher dairy restaurant.

Most of the clientele are not Jewish and largely unaware that the eatery is kosher. The menu includes Mediterranean dishes, Polish delicacies, and standard breakfast and lunch fare such as avocado toast, as well as lox and cream cheese on bagels. The sourdough breads are an excellent base for several of the breakfast dishes. The Poliwodas also offer meaty meal deliveries to Jewish guests staying in the area.

Boquete has a wide variety of plants, butterflies, stingless bees

There are some 1,000 plant species on the farm, many of which are vibrantly colored. The center also has a butterfly house with hundreds of butterflies from 15 species, some of which are happy to flutter close by and, occasionally, even rest on a human shoulder or finger.

While Boquete is extremely popular, a return to Panama City takes you to the number-one tourist attraction in the country, the mighty Panama Canal. The Miraflores Visitor Center includes a mezuzah, a kosher eatery, and an IMAX movie center that tells the story of the creation of the waterway in the wake of the construction of the Suez Canal.Very different geologies and climatic conditions between the African desert and the isthmus that separates North and South America meant that a one-size-fits-all approach was never going to work. Thousands of laborers lost their lives in that initial construction phase.

However, the 80-kilometer-long waterway has now been successfully operational for more than 100 years. Some 40 ships can traverse the canal in a day. The journey takes up to 10 hours, but the wait to enter the canal is often considerably longer.

There are some great hotels around Panama City, both chains and independents, with the Waldorf Astoria centrally located for both the waterfront and the synagogues, including a Chabad house, where dozens of Jews from around the world gather for Friday night meals, featuring the ubiquitous Chabad mix of Torah thoughts, bouncy songs, and glasses of vodka.

As opposed to many other tourist destinations, Chabad is far from being the only player when it comes to kosher food options for Shabbat. If one heads to remote parts of Panama’s inland or its resort beaches, Panama Kosher Vacations is a full travel service for kosher holidaymakers.

The company will book flights, create itineraries and excursions, and provide everything to make the perfect kosher vacation. They don’t just ensure all your kosher food needs, but, happily, courier urns, hot plates, and all the other paraphernalia one might need over a Shabbat.

Panama is a truly unique destination. The country lies at the very meeting point of South America and North America. It has a unique climate, and while humid, it does not suffer from the extremes of weather faced by the surrounding nations. Its beaches are pristine, and its rainforests are highly accessible, as are visits to villages of indigenous tribes and even a monkey island.

But for many readers of The Jerusalem Post, perhaps the biggest draw is the incredible range of kosher options. Synagogues are plentiful, and it is an incredibly safe environment for Jewish and Israeli travelers.

Mark and David host The Jerusalem Post Podcast – Travel Edition. They were the guests of Visit Panama.