Gateway to the Chiriquí Highlands — Panama's second city sits at the foot of Volcán Barú (Panama's highest peak), Boquete's mountain coffee plantations produce some of the world's most expensive beans, and the Chiriquí lowland beaches are Panama's least-visited Pacific coast
David (pronounced Dah-VEED) is the capital of Chiriquí Province and Panama's second city — a tropical lowland city at the foot of the Chiriquí Highlands, serving as the gateway to Volcán Barú (3,475 m, Panama's highest point and only volcano), the Boquete coffee highlands, and the Pacific coast beaches of Chiriquí. The city itself is a functional commercial hub rather than a tourist destination, but its surrounding region contains some of the most spectacular natural landscapes in Central America: Boquete (45 km north, 1,160 m elevation) is Panama's premier coffee and adventure tourism town,…
Chiriquí Province has been inhabited for at least 12,000 years — the Chiriquí pre-Columbian cultures (1200–1600 CE) produced distinctive gold ornaments and Chiriquí-style pottery found throughout western Panama and Costa Rica. Spanish explorers reached the area in 1522; David was formally founded as a Spanish colonial settlement in 1602. Chiriquí's distance from Panama City made it one of the most autonomous regions in Panama — it has repeatedly threatened or discussed independence from Panama City's centralised government. The region's banana and sugar industries attracted significant immigr…