Panama and Bolivia – Tropical Trails and Andean Heights

The highlights

• Panama City: Canal, Colonies & Culture

  The tour opens in Panama City with two days exploring the contrasts between old and new. The ruins of Panamá Viejo stand alongside the colonial lanes of Casco Viejo, whilst the Mola Museum, Panama Canal Museum, and Cacao and Chocolate Museum add depth to the city's layered story. The Miraflores Locks bring the engineering reality of the Canal into sharp focus, with container ships passing at close range before the tour moves on into the interior.

• Panama's Rainforests, Reefs & Indigenous Communities

  Beyond the capital, the route ventures into some of Panama's most biodiverse landscapes. A dugout canoe journey on the Gatun River leads to an Emberá indigenous community, whilst the UNESCO-listed Fort San Lorenzo crowns the Caribbean coast. Boquete's cloud forest reveals hanging bridges and a specialty coffee finca, and the UNESCO La Amistad International Park opens its forest trails to the group. The Bocas del Toro archipelago adds coral reef snorkelling and a visit to a Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous community within Bastimentos Marine National Park, before Soberanía National Park and the Rainforest Discovery Center close the Panama chapter alongside the Biomuseo, designed by Frank Gehry.

• Bolivia's Colonial Cities & Mining Heritage

  Flying into Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the Bolivia section opens with the multi-civilisation archaeological complex at Samaipata — a fort used by the Chané, the Inca, and the Spanish in turn — and the Las Cuevas waterfalls, before the tour flies to Sucre. The White City's colonial centre holds the Cal Orck'o paleontological site, home to thousands of dinosaur tracks, and the Casa de la Libertad, where Bolivia's independence was declared, alongside the Museo Asur's exploration of Andean textile history. Potosí follows, where the working silver mines of Cerro Rico, the Challa ritual offering to the Tío figure, and the Money Museum bring the city's extraordinary mining past to life.

• Bolivia's Altiplano, Sacred Shores & Ancient Ruins

  The Salar de Uyuni forms the centrepiece of the altiplano section, beginning with the locomotive graveyard and the salt-processing village of Colchani before crossing the vast white expanse to Incawasi Island, ringed by giant cacti. The surrounding desert plateau delivers further spectacle: flamingo-filled coloured lakes at Chiguana, Hedionda, and Honda; the surreal rock formations of the Siloli Desert; Sol de Mañana's geysers; and Mallku Canyons with their Neolithic rupestrian paintings. La Paz delivers the Witches Market, Moon Valley, and the pre-Inca ruins at Tiwanaku, before the final days bring boat excursions to Isla del Sol — where the Pilkokaina Inca temple and a summit sunset await — and Isla de la Luna, with its Temple of the Sun virgins at Aclla Huasi.