Miraflores Visitor's Center — Attraction in Ancón

Very chaotic and disorganized, they need to totally revamp the tourist experience. We arrived shortly after 2 pm (because the boats don't go through in the morning to 2 pm) and there was chaos and confusion. The entrance area had makeshift lines without any structure to them. Groups of people were bypassing the line, walking through the line, leaving the line to go elsewhere, etc. Once you got through the outdoor waiting area to get inside, you go to pay $10+7 for an entrance ticket and IMAX movie.

Then you go up some escalators to wait in more lines. (We went on a mid weekday to hopefully avoid longer weekend lines.) Once you get through the lines to view the Canal and boats, you see crowds of people already filled up the seating, the staircases, etc so it's hard to view anything. And yes, people line up the staircases leaving little room to safely walk up and down. Rain can also be an issue, so wet staircases full of people jockeying for position to see the boats is a major safety hazard. Anyways, if you're lucky to see the Canal, you might also see groups of random tourists who somehow got access to the dock area (assume with some special tour group, don't know how one gets that).

The IMAX movie was a good watch, as it told the story about how the Canal got built. Again, you will wait in another line, and if you get shuffled to the end of the line after leaving the Canal viewing area, you won't be able to purchase any popcorn/drinks/etc because you'll just walk right past that all. They are missing out on sales from those people who were told to stand in line (which is outside the theater area) then walk directly into the theater.

My suggestion would be to revamp the whole tourist experience, add more elevated seating and viewing, fix the line issues, move the tour group people away from the regular people who have paid and waited in lines (so our pictures aren't obstructed and annoyed we didn't get a similar experience). So many things could make this a better experience for tourists, a total overhaul would...

This place is Iconic yet the amusement wears off quickly...

Getting to the place is quite simple and once you arrive, there is staff on site that can help you get to wherever you need.

The tickets are a bit overpriced I would say, for a national (like me) is 5 dollars while for my visiting friend was 20 dollars. The place has a museum, a gift shop, a coffee house and a restaurant. You can get a ticket to get only to the restaurant but you will have to pay ~40 dollars for the buffet and drinks are not included which was laughable to me and my friend.

We waited for 3 hours for a ship to arrive and saw it go throught the lock. It was amazing to see such a display of modern engineering for the first 10 minutes... then it's just meh; but we paid 25 dollars for it and we were going to see it happen! There is a guy narrating everything that's happening with additional facts about the specific ship going through the lock as well as general facts about the Panama Canal in understandable english. Also there is a cinema with a movie of the history of the Canal narrated by Morgan Freeman... didn't see it but you can pay for it if reading it on Wikipedia is too cheap and boring for you.

The coffee house and the museum are great to distract oneself in case one has the misfortune of having to wait 3 hours for a ship to arrive, but remember this is a tourist place and stuff is overpriced as any other tourist place should and will be forever because money is the root of all delicious evil.

Conclusion: if you are into the engineering aspects of the Canal and ships, this is a must go. If you are into iconic places of countries, this is a must go since this is kind of like our Eiffel Tower. I personally would come back with my foreign friends but after warning them of the prices and the possible...

A little advice for those with airport layovers. I had an arrival of 7am in Panama (PTY) and departure at 12pm. 5 hour layover. It was at least 7:30 till I got through immigration and out of the airport. (Immigration barely left me out for such a short amount of time, but said it was okay as long as I was responsible to be back in time for my flight.) My plan was to visit Miraflores with a taxi then return. I talked to a taxi at the airport and the cheapest I could find was $75 to and from Miraflores. (They wait until you are finished) An Uber looked cheaper but the taxi driver said they would not be as fast because they avoid toll roads. The taxi driver also drove through the old city of Panama on the way back to the airport. I got to the museum from the airport in about 45 minutes because of heavy traffic. The way back was a bit faster. At Miraflores I waited about 15 min in line to buy a $17 ticket. I wish I could have had more time, I only got to see a ship going through the locks. I was not able to see the video in the museum for lack of time. I believe the video was another 45 min or so. There were lots of people on the observation deck and you had to stand shoulder to shoulder. They say ships only go through in the morning and again late afternoon. If you arrive over noon you may not get to see any. Overall it was a great experience and I got a Panama stamp in my passport! Next time I would plan a few hours extra. I got back to the airport in plenty of time to go back through security for my flight. My bag was checked to my final destination so I didn’t have to...