Retirement & Lifestyle

For all intents and purposes, the “Zone” (as it was known prior to its handover to Panama in 1999) was U.S. sovereign territory. Residents were mainly U.S. military personnel or employed by the Panama Canal Company, which was controlled by the U.S. government.

With its old military barracks and facilities, these neighborhoods are tropical residential areas with unique architectural designs, popular with immigrants and those wanting to get away from the city and closer to nature.

Adjacent to the Amador area is the Balboa neighborhood, still a potential source of a convertible U.S.-style original home.

Albrook is filled with prior military barracks and officer quarters. One of the great things about Albrook, is how calm and quiet the area is. You can sit outside and listen to the breeze and kids playing in playgrounds nearby.

Clayton is spread over quite a large area separated by green areas and forest. There are a number of separate communities as well as some large private schools such as Colegio Javier, Las Esclavas, and Kings College, the British school of Panama. The U.S. Embassy is also located in this neighborhood.

As you enter the City of Knowledge area, you see row after row of one-story houses, which are now used for hospitality housing. Many visiting scientists and researchers stay in these houses while working in the area. City of Knowledge was really the original model by which the Panamanian government began to convert military installations to civilian facilities.

There’s plenty of entertainment around the former Canal Zone. Plus, you’re practically in Panama City, so you’re only minutes from everything else the city has to offer…

When the United States had control of the Panama Canal, this area was known as the Canal Zone (or Áreas Revertidas del Canal de Panama), and it is approximately 550 square miles.

The neighborhoods that make up the former Canal Zone, now known as Áreas Revertidas, are Ancón/ Balboa, Albrook, Diablo, Los Rios, Curundu, and Clayton/City of Knowledge…

In this Panama Special Report, we bring you the thriving metropolis of Panama City, complete with an in-depth comparison of the city’s neighborhoods.

In this Panama City comparison guide, we give you a good idea about where you might want to base yourself, be it permanently or just for a little while. Note that some of the neighborhoods encompass smaller areas within them, while others are amalgamated with adjacent, similar areas. With dozens of subdivisions and even more neighborhoods within those subdivisions, we’ve arranged them in ways that make it easier to analyze and compare.