Veraguas Province

 

Veraguas Province is located in central Panama, and is the only province with both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines. The capital of Veraguas is Santiago, which is the fourth largest city in Panama. The town of San Francisco De La Montana is close to Santiago, and here you can find a gorgeous church with baroque style architecture dating back to the beginning of the XVIII century. The province of Veraguas also encompasses spectacular mountain terrain along the Cordillera Central that rises as it continues into Chiriqui Province. Veraguas Province offers tourists and visitors close contact with nature, while exploring it’s rainforests, mountains, beaches and islands where there are more than 200 varieties of orchids, more than 400 species of birds, as well as a diversity of mammals, reptiles and insects.

 Veraguas includes several islands including Cebaco, Isla Jicaron and Isla Gobernadora. The largest is Isla Coiba, which includes Coiba National Park . This park has the second largest coral reef in the Central-Eastern Pacific Ocean, and is one of the largest marine parks in the world. Isla Coiba also has beautiful beaches such as Playa Damas and Playa Blanca. Other parks in Veraguas include Santa Fe National, Yeguada Lagoon Forst Reserve and Montuoso Forest Reserve.

In addition to its mountains and jungles, Veraguas also offers beautiful beaches, such as Playa Santa Catalina, Playa Mariato, Malena and Torio, which provide great opportunities for recreation, surfing and fishing. In particular, Playa Santa Catalina is well known throughout the world, especially in the surfing community.