Portobelo's main draw is history made tangible. The ring of ruined Spanish colonial forts around the bay — now a UNESCO World Heritage Site — once made this the most heavily defended port in the Americas, and you can walk their battlements for free. Inside town, the Church of San Felipe holds the famous Black Christ statue, focus of one of the most dramatic religious festivals in all of Panama. The bay itself rewards divers and snorkellers with wrecks and coral reefs a short swim from shore. For a small town, Portobelo punches far above its weight.