A diverse multicultural city of almost 1.3 million, Panama City offers a lot more than an up-close view of the Canal. Shantytowns slink up alongside shiny high-rise condos. The Old City is an atmospheric labyrinth of churches, plazas and palaces. Fifteen miles from downtown Panama City, Soberania National Park is an excellent destination for hiking and birding. For a fascinating look at the canal, take a taxi or local bus to Miraflores Locks Visitor Center and look down on the traffic below

This $387 million dollar, 51-mile-long canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Completed by the U.S. from 1904-1914 under teddy Roosevelt, it is considered one of the greatest engineering marvels of all time.

A beautiful, quaint fishing town on the Atlantic coast of Colombia, Cartagena is full of pastel-painted buildings, Spanish colonial architecture and magnificent cathedrals. Walls and fortresses, once constructed to protect the city from British soldiers and pirates, still stand.

Located on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, Limon is noted as the landing spot for Christopher Columbus' fourth and final voyage. Serving as a gateway to the capital city of San Jose, the city is known as the "Little Switzerland of Central America" for its kaleidoscope of scenery.

Roatán's diverse blend of cultures and traditions is enough to charm anyone. But its mangrove forests, dense jungles, and swaths of white-sand beach will make you want to stay forever. Divers and snorkelers from all over the globe flock to the largest of Honduras' Bay Islands every year see to the world's second largest barrier reef firsthand. Roatán cruises provide access to laid-back beach towns and secluded shores. On the Big Island, you can mingle with monkeys and "Jesus" lizards, snorkel with stingrays, and zipline through rainforest canopies. If it's culture you crave, the island's unique and vibrant blend is more than satisfying? made up of ex-pat sun seekers, Hondurans from the mainland, descendants of European settlers, and Garífuna, whose Afro-Carib-Arawak heritage still flavors centuries-old communities like Punta Gorda.

Mexico's largest island is a heralded destination for divers and snorkelers. More than 30 reefs are strewn across the coast, and famous Palancar Reef offers more than 40 superb dive spots. Safari Jeep rides and horseback tours offer tremendous excursions through temples, caves, beaches and ruins.

This vast array of wonderful beaches offers you opportunities to swim with the dolphins in a tropical lagoon and come face-to-face with alligators during an Everglades airboat tour. Or stroll through a tropical rainforest while hundreds of butterflies flutter above you.