Hotel Mirador del Istmo, Panama City

We arrived in Casco Viejo in the wet heat of late afternoon, the cobbles of San Felipe steaming, salsa drifting from an open doorway, and the glass towers of the new city shimmering across the water like a mirage from another century. Hotel Mirador del Istmo occupies a restored townhouse on Avenida A, its façade the colour of weathered coral, its wrought-iron balconies dripping with ferns. The lobby keeps the bones of the old house, exposed brick and a soaring timber ceiling, but lightens them with rattan, pale linen and a slow-turning fan. A bellman in a guayabera handed us cold coconut water and walked us straight to the roof, where the pool and that skyline made their case in about four seconds.

The room

Our room gave onto a juliet balcony over the plaza, tall louvred shutters folding back to let in the light and, when we wanted it, the sound of the street. The design was tropical-modern and restrained: whitewashed walls, a four-poster in dark tropical hardwood draped with gauze, a polished cement floor, woven Panama-hat-straw pendants overhead. A ceiling fan turned lazily above the quietly effective air-conditioning. The minibar leaned local, with Panamanian rum and single-origin chocolate, and a rattan chair by the window invited a long sit. The bathroom was a cool, dim retreat of dark stone and brass, with a generous rainfall shower and a window louvre that let the breeze in without the heat. Blackout shutters made the mornings entirely our own.

Few rooftops let you hold five hundred years of a city in one glance; this one does it with a rum in your hand.The Suite Edit

Service & food

The staff are easygoing and proud of their city, full of unhurried advice on where to hear live jazz and which seafood stall at the mercado does the best ceviche. The rooftop is the engine of the place: a plunge pool, day-beds, and a bar built around Panamanian rums and estate cacao, where the bartender talked us through a tasting as the towers across the bay began to light up. The small kitchen sends up sharp, modern Panamanian plates, corvina ceviche in leche de tigre, plantain tostones, ropa vieja with a contemporary lightness. Breakfast brings tropical fruit, hojaldres and good Boquete coffee. We never quite managed to leave the roof before sunset.

The verdict

Hotel Mirador del Istmo is for travellers who want Casco Viejo's romance and nightlife with a rooftop that frames the contrast between old and new Panama, and who like a rum bar within stumbling distance of bed. Couples and city-loving design fans will be very happy. The honest caveat is sound: San Felipe comes alive after dark, with bars, music and the occasional rooftop party drifting across the rooftops, and the plaza-facing rooms we loved by day can carry the buzz late into the night. Light sleepers should ask for a room on a higher floor at the back.