Panama City: Casco Viejo Cooking Class & Market Tour

You'll Cook Five Panamanian Dishes After Shopping Where Locals Actually Buy Fish

You shop two working markets in Casco Viejo with a local guide, select fresh ingredients, then cook five classic Panamanian dishes in a hands-on class. The chef teaches you techniques for tamales and carimañolas while explaining the herbs and spices unique to Panama. You finish with a sit-down lunch of what you cooked, plus complimentary drinks. The whole experience runs four hours and adapts to gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian diets.

Step-by-step itinerary

Market tour and Panamanian cooking class

• Start at Restaurante El Nacional
• Walk to Mercado de Mariscos
• Select fresh fish for ceviche
• Walk to Mercado San Felipe Neri
• Choose meats, fruits, and vegetables
• Return to cooking studio at El Nacional
• Prepare five course Panamanian meal
• Learn to make tamale and carimañola
• Enjoy sit down lunch with local drinks

The experience

The guide was supposed to meet us at Restaurante El Nacional at 9am, but she arrived at 8:45 with coffee and a laugh about the market vendors who'd already been working for three hours. That's the first thing you notice about this cooking class in Casco Viejo. It's not staged. You're walking into the real Mercado de Mariscos, Panama's largest seafood market, where fishermen unload catches from both the Pacific and Atlantic every single day, and your guide is pointing out which corvina will actually work for ceviche instead of which one looks prettiest for a photo. The market is loud and a bit chaotic, vendors calling out prices, ice melting on concrete, and you're there picking your own ingredients with someone who knows exactly what to look for.

After the seafood market, you walk a short distance to Mercado San Felipe Neri, where the organized chaos shifts: now it's meats, fruits, vegetables, local herbs you've never heard of. Your guide explains what makes Panamanian seasoning different, what grows here, why certain spice combinations matter. Then you head back to the cooking studio at El Nacional with your haul, and the actual class begins. You'll make five dishes from scratch: ceviche with the fish you picked, carimañola (mashed yucca stuffed with seasoned meat), pollo guisado (stewed chicken with local herbs), tamale típica wrapped in plantain leaves, and plátano en tentación for dessert. The chef teaching you has generations of knowledge. You learn the technique for wrapping a tamale properly, how to stuff a carimañola so it holds together, what the corn masa should feel like.

The whole thing takes four hours, and dietary preferences are built in from the start. If you're vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free, the dishes adapt. The carimañola gets a different filling, the tamale uses different ingredients, nothing feels like a compromise. At the end, you sit down to lunch with what you just cooked, and there's complimentary local drinks included: sodas, juices, beers, cocktails, wine. You're eating in the restaurant where the morning started, tasting food you made yourself, in the colonial heart of Panama City, and it doesn't feel like a tourist activity because it isn't one.

What’s included

Your four hours include the guided walk through Mercado de Mariscos and Mercado San Felipe Neri in Casco Viejo, cold bottled water to start, the hands-on cooking class where you prepare five Panamanian dishes, a sit-down lunch featuring the food you cooked, and complimentary local drinks: sodas, juices, beers, cocktails, and wine.

Options for this experience

2 options

Afternoon Class in Casco ViejoGuide in English or Spanish · 12:30Included in the class: every dish prepared during the session, namely tamale, carimañolas, ceviche and sweet plantain, plus beverages such as coffee, juice, soda and wine, among others

Morning Class in Casco ViejoGuide in English or Spanish · 08:00Included in the class: every dish prepared during the session, namely tamale, carimañolas, ceviche and sweet plantain, plus beverages such as coffee, juice, soda and wine, among others

You pick the guide language when booking.

You see the exact price of each option when you check availability.See dates & prices

Before you book

Days and timesTuesday to FridayDepartures at 08:00 and 12:30

AgesAdult (13 and older) · Under 13: can't be included in the booking

GroupUp to 8

Live guideEnglish and Spanish

Meeting point and pickupNo hotel pickup: you go to the meeting point. Ends back at the starting point.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.It may be canceled if the minimum number of travelers isn't reached. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund.

Prices and times updated 2 days ago

Good to know

Pets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Panama Day Trips

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to cook real Panamanian food with someone who knows it, not just taste it. The market shopping is what makes the menu personal instead of preset, and the four-hour format fits a morning or afternoon without eating up your whole day.

Traveler reviews

4.93★★★★★★★★★★

174 verified traveler reviews

5 ★167

4 ★4

3 ★1

2 ★1

1 ★1

Read all the reviews ›

Top questions

What languages is the guide in?

Live guide in English and Spanish.

What time does the cooking class start?

The tour starts at Restaurante El Nacional in Casco Viejo. Exact pickup time depends on your booking. Confirm with the provider.

Do I need cooking experience?

No. The chef teaches all techniques from the beginning, and the class is hands-on but guided throughout.

What if I'm vegetarian or vegan?

All five dishes can be made with vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free substitutions. Let the provider know your dietary needs when you book.

Is lunch included?

Yes. You eat the five-course meal you cooked, plus complimentary local drinks (sodas, juices, beers, cocktails, wine).

How long does it take?

Four hours total, including market shopping and the cooking class.

Which markets do we visit?

Mercado de Mariscos (Panama's largest seafood market) and Mercado San Felipe Neri (meats, fruits, vegetables, local herbs).

What dishes do we cook?

Ceviche, carimañola, pollo guisado, tamale típica, and plátano en tentación.

Is water provided?

Yes, cold bottled water is provided at the start of the market walk.

Can I bring a service animal?

Yes, service animals are allowed.

Is alcohol included?

Yes, complimentary drinks include beer, wine, and cocktails. The legal drinking age is 18.