Set in Casco Antiguo, the colonial quarter of Panama City, La Compañía Casco Antiguo sits inside the restored walls of an 18th-century Jesuit convent. The hotel has maintained the old stone walls, the arches, and the shaded courtyards. Guests step from the cobbled streets into a sanctuary of calm when entering the hotel, leaving behind the noise of the city.
What makes Hotel La Compañía truly unique is that it is composed of three distinct buildings, each thoughtfully restored to preserve its historical character and architectural heritage. Together, they represent three of the most influential cultures that have shaped Panama’s history. The Spanish wing began in 1688 as a Jesuit convent; the French wing rose in 1739 as the site of Panama’s first university, built in the French Colonial style by Jesuit priests; and the American wing was added in 1904, in the Beaux-Arts style that arrived with the construction of the Panama Canal. Fires and the expulsion of the Jesuits left the site in ruins for generations, and an eight-year restoration under UNESCO’s rules for the old town preceded the hotel’s opening in 2022. Its 88 rooms now wrap around a central courtyard, with original stone walls, balconies, and a colonial well still in place – a hotel that doubles as a living museum and historic record of the city itself. Stepping into the elevator in the American wing feels like entering a vintage time machine, adorned with restored early 20th-century gauges, copper piping, and retro instrumentation that pay homage to the canal era.
At La Compañía Spa, the signature treatment is the Ritual de Café Panameño, built around the country’s most famous crop and offered as an individual treatment or an experience for two. It opens with a body scrub made from Panamanian coffee that exfoliates dead skin and improves circulation. A massage follows, easing muscle tension through the shoulders and back. The aroma of roasted coffee, lifted by a note of citrus, creates a multisensory experience.
Coffee is also highlighted across the property. Panama’s highland Geisha beans fetch some of the highest prices anywhere in the world, and the hotel incorporated them into a mixology class, where guests can create their own cocktails based on a Geisha coffee tasting. A hands-on mixology class, held in the stylish bar adjacent to the lobby, allows guests to mix their own cocktails from local rum, utilizing citrus flavors, rosemary, and even smoke.
Guests should make a point of enjoying dinner at Villa Ana, a four-story mansion a short walk away, built in 1928 and named for Ana Mercedes Arias Icaza, its last resident and a prominent figure of Panama’s ‘Roaring Twenties’. Restored and furnished with exquisite antiques gathered from around the world, it now holds a dining room, the attic space bar, El Ático, an art gallery and a rum-and-cigar bar. The house keeps one firm rule: on arrival, phones are sealed into a locked pouch for the length of the stay, until guests leave.
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By Sara Jones, Editor
