Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo

Sofitel’s Legend sub-brand is just what it sounds like: a collection of historic hotels with stories to tell and reputations to uphold. In Panama, it’s represented by the Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo Panama City, occupying what was once the Club Unión de Panama, a century-old Spanish Colonial–style edifice in the city’s UNESCO-listed historic waterfront district. In its former life it hosted such luminaries as Albert Einstein and Queen Elizabeth, and in its new incarnation — after an extremely thorough restoration and modernization — it’s once again aiming for the top echelon of visitors to Panama.

Imagine a typical city-center Sofitel hotel — a modern high-end luxury hotel with a pronounced French accent — and add several decades’ worth of character and atmosphere, and you’ve got the picture. Thanks to the hotel’s unique position, the majority of its rooms and suites have views out to sea; the relatively humble courtyard- and city-facing rooms, however, are worthwhile as well. There’s a spa in partnership with KOS Paris, as well as a spacious fitness center. And it’s in the restaurants and bars that the combination of Paris and Panama shines the brightest, from proper Parisian pastries at Vera Café to locally inspired brasserie fare at Caleta.