Opening Hours, Holidays and Festivals
Business hours vary from establishment to establishment, but generally banks are open from 8 or 8.30am to 3 or 4pm, Monday to Friday, while some also open on Saturday morning. Businesses and government offices are usually open Monday to Saturday from 8 or 9am to 4 or 5pm, while museums generally open the same hours from Tuesday to Saturday, with some also opening on Sunday morning. Some or all of these close for lunch from around 12.30pm or 1pm to 1.30 or 2pm. Shops are usually open from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm. Panama has ten national public holidays , during which pretty much all government offices, businesses and shops close. Panama City and Colon also each have their own public holiday, and there is one public holiday for government employees only. When the public holidays fall near a weekend many Panamanians take a long weekend (known as a puente ) and head to the beach or the countryside, so it can be difficult to find hotel rooms. Several of these public holidays coincide with national fiestas that continue for several days. Carnaval , in February or March, is the largest and wildest of these, celebrated with parades, drinking, water-fighting and dancing in Panama City and across the country, most colourfully in Las Tablas. Holy Week (Easter) is celebrated with religious processions. In November, known as "El Mes de la Patria" , the anniversaries of the first declaration of independence and of both independence days (from Spain and Colombia) are celebrated by a succession of drum-band parades. In addition, local fiestas are held by every small town to  © 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd. as trustee for its Authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd. Buy the book here!
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celebrate its own anniversary and saint's day. The most vibrant of these are the Fiesta of the Black Christ of Portobelo on October 21, when up to 50,000 purple-clad pilgrims descend on that town, and the numerous religious and folkloric fiestas of the towns of villages of the Azuero Peninsula . In Kuna Yala , the Kuna celebrate their own independence day (the anniversary of the short-lived Dule Republic) in February, as well as several other dates throughout the year.
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