Introduction to David

440km (274 miles) W of Panama City; 40km (25 miles) south of Boquete

David, Panama's third-largest city, with a population of 125,000, has an economy based around commercial services and Chiriquí Province's thriving farming industry. At just 45 minutes from the Costa Rica border, the city has the ambience of a frontier town, and there is little here to offer travelers other than a transportation hub and services. Travelers on their way to Costa Rica often stop in David for the night, but with so little to see and do in town they are up and packing early the following day. Also, owing to David's location on a coastal plain, the heat and humidity here can be suffocating -- another reason so many residents escape to the beach or the highlands during weekends, and so few tourists base themselves out of the city.