Camino de Cruces

About Camino de Cruces:

Camino de Cruces has no official boundary. The name belongs to the national park, and in property terms it means the gated house estates built against the park’s forest inside the Ancón corregimiento. The original one, Parque Residencial Camino de Cruces, sits on Avenida La Amistad, across from the national office of Aldeas Infantiles SOS and a short drive from the El Dorado shopping centre. Los Senderos de Camino de Cruces is on the Clayton side, close to Ciudad del Saber and the Corredor Norte. Avenida La Amistad is the road that ties Albrook, El Dorado and Clayton together, and the Ministry of Public Works has been improving it along with the Clayton roundabout. Buses stop outside the Residencial on their way to El Dorado and Betania, but nearly everyone here drives.

The forest is the reason for the address. The Camino de Cruces was the stone-paved track laid in 1527 to carry goods from Panama to Venta de Cruces on the Chagres river, where the journey to the Caribbean went on by canoe. Law 30 of December 1992 turned what was left of it into a national park of some 4,000 hectares, a green corridor that links the Metropolitan Natural Park with Soberanía. Its main trail runs 12.5 km through the forest to Venta de Cruces, and the visitor entrance is off the Vía Centenario, opposite Merca Panamá. Because the land beyond the estates is protected, nobody can build on it, and that is what keeps the green outlook from the back gardens.

Parque Residencial Camino de Cruces covers 16 hectares inside its wall, which was built as much to shut out road noise as to keep the estate secure. From the start it was sold as a propiedad horizontal in which the owners jointly hold the streets, parks, green areas and the gatehouse. Power, phone and street-lighting cables run underground, a single wide entry road passes the guard post, and every house was wired to an intercom at the gate. The social area covers more than 15,000 m², with a stream crossed by wooden footbridges, a basketball court, a tennis court, a putting green and children’s playgrounds. Los Senderos is a more recent estate of about a hundred houses, with wide streets, buried power lines, pools, a barbecue area and sports courts, and much of the original tree cover was kept when it was built.

Buyers are Panamanian families and executives who want a large house, a guarded gate and the city within reach, and many of the tenants are expatriate and executive families. Schools carry a lot of weight. Panama Christian Academy is a few hundred metres from the Residencial, and Balboa Academy and King’s College are in Clayton. In price, Camino de Cruces sits at the top of Ancón’s house market, clearly above Llanos de Curundú and Los Ríos and level with the newest gated houses in Clayton.

Houses for sale in Camino de Cruces:

In the Residencial, houses date from 2005 onward and stand on lots of about 950 to 1,250 m², with 350 to 800 m² built; a few owners have joined two lots. Expect three to five bedrooms with their own bathrooms, a family room or den, a maid’s room with its own bathroom, and parking for four cars, often with a pool and jacuzzi in the garden. In Los Senderos the houses follow the developer’s named models, such as Esmeralda and Ámbar, on lots from roughly 630 m² to 1,600 m², and one finished in 2022 has more than 1,100 m² of floor space. Among the houses for sale in Camino de Cruces, the older Residencial houses often come with extensions added years after they were built. Ask for the approved plans and check them against what stands on the lot.

Houses for rent in Camino de Cruces:

Rentals are whole houses on long leases, mainly three- and four-bedroom homes of 390 to 480 m² with a garden, a maid’s room and four parking spaces. They usually come with appliances and air conditioning, and some are let furnished. The rent is at the top of Ancón’s range, well above a family apartment in Clayton, and the tenants are mostly executive and expatriate families. Houses for rent in Camino de Cruces suit people who want a guarded estate, the forest at the back and the international schools a short drive away. Before you sign, ask whether the PH fee is included in the rent and how the gate handles your visitors and deliveries.

Land and Lots in Camino de Cruces:

A handful of building lots remain in both estates. In the Residencial they run from about 960 to 1,250 m², and one comes with a strip of green area that cannot be built on, plus four conceptual house designs of 350 to 516 m². In Los Senderos the remaining lots are around 700 m², and each is sold with a choice of the house models the estate allows. These lots in Camino de Cruces are serviced, inside the wall and under the same PH rules as the houses, so read the reglamento and its design rules before you pay for an architect.

Frequently asked questions:

• Where exactly is Camino de Cruces?

  It is not a single neighbourhood but the gated estates on the edge of the national park: Parque Residencial Camino de Cruces on Avenida La Amistad, opposite Aldeas Infantiles SOS, and Los Senderos de Camino de Cruces on the Clayton side. Adverts call them Clayton, El Dorado or even Betania. The deed should name the corregimiento of Ancón and the PH by its registered name, so go by that.

• What does the PH fee cover, and how much is it?

  The fee pays for the guard post and cameras, the private streets, gardens and lighting, and the upkeep of the courts, pools and social areas. Recent listings show around US$400 a month for a house. Ask the seller for a paz y salvo, the budget approved at the last owners’ assembly and any special levies voted for, such as a new wall section or resurfacing.

• Can I build any house I like on a lot here?

  No. Both estates control what goes up. In Los Senderos you choose from the models the estate permits for that lot, and in the Residencial your design must respect the PH’s architectural rules and any green strip that cannot be built on. Get the PH’s written approval of your plans before you apply for the municipal construction permit, and allow for both in your timetable.

• What should I check on the title of a house that backs onto the park?

  Start with the back boundary. Confirm on the registered plan where the lot ends and the protected land begins, and that any garden, deck or pool sits inside the finca and not on non-buildable green area. Then have your lawyer search the finca in the Registro Público for mortgages and marginal notes, check that the PH regime is properly recorded, and confirm that every extension added since the house was first built has a permit.

• Can a foreigner buy a house in Camino de Cruces?

  Yes. A foreign buyer can own a house here outright, on the same terms as a Panamanian, in their own name or through a company, with the purchase recorded in the Registro Público. Use a local lawyer and pay through a Panamanian bank so the source of the funds is documented.