Went to Panama in 2016, friends sold everything they had here in Calgary and bought some land in the hills above Las Lajas and set up a little hotel with two villas and a pool.
https://lamaracuyapanama.com/main
On the way home we stayed a few days in Panama City proper. Booked a private room at a hostel in Casco Viejo and loved it. Lots of restaurants to walk to all around it, and we went over to the fish market next door to it a few times. We spent a good part of a day exploring the Metropolitan Natural park. Was very easy to get around via Uber. Make sure to get somewhat off the beaten path and find the little restaurants that have lots of food at very cheap prices. We'd hit one up a few blocks from our hostel every morning to grab pastries and sausage for breakfast. Nice that the tap water was drinkable, made traveling with the kids very easy. If you do rent a car driving was easy, used Waze to navigate around no problem.
If you have time and want to escape the city I recommend making the drive to Cambutal on the southern peninsula. We stayed at a small hotel called the Hotel Playa Cambutal, a huge black sand beach at such a low angle that you could surf/boogie board waves for long stretches. Very remote, and absolutely beautiful. Dinners every night on the lawn overlooking the ocean. It was where our friends living there went to get away. It's the best beach I've ever been to in my travels. Driving time from Panama City to it is about 5-1/2" hours.
https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Panam...6667!3e0?hl=en