Professional Review

A 20-minute drive from downtown Colon, this upscale hotel has an infamous history as the former School of the Americas, built in 1946 and where the U.S. Special Forces trained the Latin American military in counterinsurgency (Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was among the many less-than-savory graduates). The setting is splendid, as the hotel occupies a peninsula and is girded by the lake on three sides, with thick rain forest (part of the Panama Canal watershed) beyond. The hotel sits at the