The historical port city of Colon sits on Panama’s Caribbean coast, at the eastern entrance of the Panama Canal. It was founded on the island of Manzanillo in 1850s as a terminus of the Panama Railroad, built to transport prospectors more quickly to California to join the Gold Rush.

Still one of the most important ports in the Caribbean, there are still some crumbling colonial grandeur left here, even though there have been three devastating fires since its foundation. Easily reached from Panama City, Colon is a great place to see the workings of the canal.