El Nancito
Real Estate in El Nancito, Panama.
The volcanic boulders on the plateau at El Nancito carry spirals, suns and circles cut by people who lived here long before the Spanish arrived, and since 1984 those carvings have been national monuments. They lie around the village that gives its name to this hill corregimiento of Remedios district, in eastern Chiriquí, Panama, and the road up to it opens onto the Pacific coast and the islands of the gulf. Fewer than 600 people live across its 35 square kilometres. Property here means country houses on generous lots, parcels sold for their sea views and the odd finca large enough for a set of cabins. Playa Las Lajas is about 20 minutes away by car, David about an hour.
About El Nancito:
El Nancito is one of the five corregimientos of Remedios, the smallest district in Chiriquí, and covers 35.4 square kilometres of hill country. The village stands on a plateau above the Interamericana, while the sector of El Salado lies along the highway itself. On the drive up from the main road the coastline spreads out below, and there is a lookout at the roadside where people stop for it. David is about 80 kilometres to the west, roughly an hour’s drive. The beach at Las Lajas, in neighbouring San Félix district, is around 20 minutes away.
What brings most visitors is the Parque Arqueológico y Petroglifo El Nancito. Law 19 of 9 October 1984 declared the carved stones of Nancito national historic monuments, and a small site museum opened among them in 2003; it keeps Tuesday-to-Saturday hours. The designs, cut into rock of volcanic origin, run from spirals and lines of dots to stylised suns and abstract figures. Beyond the village, a trail beside the cemetery follows a creek for about 18 minutes to the Salto El Chayo waterfall, with tiny green poison-dart frogs along the way. Tour operators in Las Lajas bring beach visitors up for both.
The corregimiento had 593 residents at the 2023 census, almost exactly the number it had in 2010. Outside the village the land goes to pasture and crops, as it does across a district that lives mainly from farming and cattle. In February 2024 the public works ministry laid asphalt on some 900 metres of the village’s internal streets, work the junta comunal had pressed for. Children here meet the petroglyphs on school trips, and one nanciteña, as people from the village are called, has written a book about them. Supermarkets, hospitals and the airport are in David.
Height is what sets the price of land in El Nancito. From the plateau and the ridges around it you look across Las Lajas to the islands of the gulf, the Paridas among them and Coiba on a clear day, with the cordillera and Tolé behind. The same height means water is something you plan rather than assume: sellers advertise their storage tanks, and outlying fincas run on their own wells. The houses that change hands are country homes, and the larger parcels are aimed at buyers who want to build cabins or a small lodge on the strength of the view, the petroglyphs and the beach below.
Houses in El Nancito:
Homes here are country houses on lots far larger than a town plot. A three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on 900 square metres, with a covered laundry, a paved street out front and the Pacific on the horizon, is the kind of property that comes up. Anyone after houses for sale in El Nancito, Chiriquí should ask early how water reaches the house and how much it can store, since a large tank is listed as a selling point. Ask for the registry entry too, so you can see for yourself that the house is titled and free of liens.
Land and Lots in El Nancito:
Land is the larger market. Sea-view parcels are sold as single house lots and as fincas of ten hectares or more, some of them already drawn up as subdivisions of lots from about 4,000 to 9,500 square metres, with a bigger piece held back for a hotel or restaurant along the ridge. If you are comparing land with ocean views in Remedios, look past the view to the services. Outlying fincas come with a hand-dug well and electricity on the other side of the road, so cost the connection before you agree a price. And confirm whether each lot in a subdivision exists in the registry or only on a plan.
FAQ:
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Is this the El Nancito near Las Lajas in Panamá Oeste?
No, and the mix-up is easy to make. There is a hill community called El Nancito in San Carlos district, Panamá Oeste, close to the Las Lajas of Chame, and it is also sold on its sea views. This El Nancito is a corregimiento of Remedios district in Chiriquí, near Playa Las Lajas in San Félix. Check the province and district on every listing.
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What if a parcel has carved rocks on it?
Then they come with rules. The 1984 law makes the petroglyphs of Nancito national historic monuments, so carved stones cannot be moved, broken or built over. If a lot has them, plan the house around them and speak to the Ministry of Culture before clearing the ground.
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How does water work up on the plateau?
Plan for it from the first visit. Houses in the village rely on storage tanks, and fincas outside it draw from their own wells. Ask the seller how the supply holds up at the end of the dry season, and whether a well has the water-use permit it needs.
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What should I check before buying one of the subdivided view lots?
Start with whether the lot legally exists yet. Some large fincas here are subdivided on paper only, and until the segregation is approved and each lot receives its own finca number in the Registro Público, what you buy is a share of a bigger property. Then confirm the mother finca is titled in the seller’s name and that the lot has registered road access rather than a verbal right of way.
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How far is El Nancito from David and the beach?
David is about 80 kilometres west on the Interamericana, roughly an hour’s drive, and that is where residents go for hospitals, big supermarkets and the airport. Playa Las Lajas is around 20 minutes from the village.