Miraflores Visitor Center, Panama Province, Panama

4Rowan H 5:00 PM Nov 15, 2022

Worth visiting but be aware that a lot of it is closed for renovations
The Panama Canal has three ‘locks’ (Gates that raise or lower ships) - Miraflores, Gatun and Pedro Miguel. Miraflores is the set of gates closest to Panama City and the Pacific Ocean. Thus, it is the most popular (by far) of the three and has a dedicated visitors centre. The simplest way to get here independently is just using Uber. Its so cheap in Panama City. We paid 5.17 USD to get there from downtown Panama City. We were easily able to get a uber back too (one was literally waiting in the car park). Its 10USD entry fee to get in. You MUST come here at around 0800 (for the morning session) OR 1500 (for the afternoon session). In the morning session boats from the Pacific Ocean are raised through the Miraflores locks. In the afternoon session boats coming from the Caribbean Sea are lowered from Miraflores lake into the pacific ocean. If you come outside of these times you wont see any boats transiting which is the highlight of the visit. The weekends are reportingly busier the weekdays. We visited today and enjoyed watching a boat transit from the 2nd floor observation deck. It was a circus though. People everywhere clambering for photos and videos. At the time of writing be aware that pretty much the entire visitors centre (3rd floor, 4th floor and 4th floor observation deck + the IMAX cinema that does the video about the Panama Canal) is closed for ongoing renovations. This means literally all your 10USD allows access to is the 2nd floor observation deck and a few information boards on the ground floor. Personally I thought it to be a bit cheeky to be charging full price despite only offering 1/4 of the visitors centre. Because of the reduced offerings the total duration of our visit was around an hour.

4Janek K 5:00 PM Feb 4, 2023

Impressive Feat of Engineering to See
We visited here on a Wednesday in early January 2023. The weather was perfect- sunny and warm. When our tour bus first arrived at 11 am, we were told that there were no ships arriving to pass through the locks until 2 pm. So, first tip- check when a ship will be going through, otherwise it would be a disappointing visit here. We came back at about 1:50 pm and the place was very crowded with spectators to watch a Holland cruise ship Zandamm pass. We did see the Miraflores locks open to allow the passage of the ship. Simultaneously, in the the new locks that are larger than Panamax south of Miraflores, we could see that an even larger cruise ship was passing through. One issue is that the cost of watching this is a bit exorbitant at over $16 USD per person. You cannot just see the Miraflores Locks, you are also given a ticket to an IMAX film about the Panama Canal's history.