Hotel near casa vieja in Panama City

@Lindaprock2

If this is your first time to Panama City, you DO NOT want to rent a car.  Besides the ridiculously hectic traffic and unmarked streets you will find it almost find it impossible to find a place to park it.  Many visitors use Uber, taxis or other ride sharing services. (There are actually tourist drivers you can hire them and their car for $25 to $30 /day to run you round to see the sights.)   You may even want to consider using the Metro to run to some places. It is safe and clean.  https://www.elmetrodepanama.com/

Your thoughts on renting a car from an agency in the city once you are heading out to the rest of the country is a good plan.

@Lindaprock2 If you can part with the dollars I highly recommend Hotel La Compañía... It is a stunning, full service hotel in the heart of Casco Viejo.

@Lindaprock2 Hotels in Panama City are like Starbucks in the US -- there are scads of them, serving many price points.  I'm a user of Booking.com; you can use their 'map' feature to identify hotels near your preferred destinations.  However, El Cangrejo is a swish part of town, so you might like strolling on foot there in the evenings.  As for getting around, Uber is amazingly inexpensive, and there are plenty of drivers.  Like: $3 to get from El Cangrejo to Casco Viejo in the evening.  Then you don't have to worry about driving in a strange urban environment which is jammed with cars, or parking at your destination.  Save the rental car (and exhorbitant daily rental rate to park it all day) until you're ready to leave the city.