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In this Panama Special Report, we bring you the peaceful mountain town of El Valle.

El Valle town and environs are home to a community of about 6,000 full-time residents that expands a bit on weekends and holidays. The community has grown over thousands of years from a collection of tiny villages centered around a local market, which is still a center of activity for the region. Many of Panama’s oldest families own second homes in this cool and healthy mountain spot, making the hour-and-a-half trip out from the capital as often as possible.

In this Panama Special Report, we bring you a closer look at the District of Chame and its most popular town, Punta Chame, which—in high season—draws beach-goers of all stripes, from surfers, kite-surfers, sport-fishermen, extreme sport-lovers, etc.

While it shares the same stretch of coastline as expat hot spot Coronado (which has seen major development over the past decade), Chame remains largely undiscovered, unpenetrated, and underrated.

Located in the Panamá Oeste Province, Chame comprises 11 small towns that sprawl out along the Panamerican Highway. On the hour-and-a-half drive it takes to reach the area from Panama City, you pass national parks, sleepy hamlets, mountains, and mangrove forests before finally arriving at the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean.