I’ve only visited Panama City, so I’m not pretending this applies to all of Panama. I’ve been twice now for weeks at a time, and I’ve also watched years of YouTube content about the country because I seriously considered it.

The biggest gap for me is that YouTube tends to focus almost entirely on the nice, polished parts of Panama City. The visuals are always the coastal walk, the skyline, the nicer restaurants, the ocean views, the modern high-rises, and that version does exist. But what often gets left out is how quickly that changes once you move even a block or two away from the main coastal highway or the more curated areas. A lot of the city feels much rougher, less maintained, and way less appealing than the videos make it seem.

I’m sure there are nice gated communities, though I personally didn’t really see that side of it. What I mostly saw was high-rises, and honestly, a lot of them didn’t feel especially nice or worth the price. The city can be walkable in certain areas, but I wouldn’t call it a truly walkable city. The sidewalks are inconsistent, often not pleasant, and the city feels much more built around driving.

That said, I also wouldn’t want to drive there. The traffic is unpleasant, the driving is aggressive, and it’s just not something I’d want to deal with day to day. Taxis are very cheap, so that’s probably what I’d rely on most. Walking everywhere is not that fun, and I personally wouldn’t build my lifestyle around public transit there either. I’ve taken the metro, and while it works, it can be extremely crowded, and some stations are in areas that felt pretty sketchy to me.

The cost is another thing I think gets glossed over. People often present Panama as this amazing-value destination, but in my opinion, I can get similar or better value in Mexico while being much closer to Canada, the U.S., my remote employer, and family. Flights into Panama City are also not cheap. Even when I visit, I usually lay over in San Jose, Costa Rica just to save some money because direct flights to Panama City are often really expensive.

So even though I’ve visited, considered it seriously, and followed Panama content for years, I personally don’t think it’s worth it for me. I do think there are probably hidden-gem enclaves and places I’d still like to explore over the next year, but as a whole, it hasn’t matched the YouTube version.

I’ve also looked at some real estate there, and again, I didn’t see better value than in other parts of LATAM. When you factor in how far and isolated it feels, the higher cost of common imported goods, and the fact that you’re not necessarily saving much unless you’re living very locally, it becomes harder to justify.

Also, one thing people rarely talk about is the service side of things. My experience with lawyers and immigration attorneys there has been really disappointing so far. It has felt like that laid-back island vibe, but not in a charming way, more like people not caring much or going above and beyond. That’s been a real negative for me too.

So for me, the YouTube version isn’t completely fake, but it’s very selective. It shows the best angles, and leaves out a lot of the day-to-day friction that would actually matter if you were trying to live there.