Miraflores, Navigation lock at Panama Canal, Panama

Miraflores is a lock system on the Panama Canal that raises and lowers vessels through two chambers by approximately 54 feet, connecting the Pacific coast with Balboa port. The site includes observation terraces, an IMAX theater, and viewing platforms where visitors can watch large cargo ships make their passage.

The Miraflores Locks opened with the Panama Canal in 1914; the building above the channel carries the inscription "MIRAFLORES LOCKS, PANAMA CANAL, 1913". They form one of the canal's three lock groups, lifting or lowering vessels 54 feet (16.5 m) in two stages between the Pacific port of Balboa and the small lake that separates them from the Pedro Miguel Locks upstream.

The name comes from the small lake that separates these locks from the Pedro Miguel Locks upstream, not from flowers. The visitor centre lets tourists watch the two-stage lift of 54 feet (16.5 m) toward the Pacific port of Balboa, and binoculars are recommended to see Pedro Miguel in the distance.

The visitor centre closes at 18:00, and watching a full transit can take more than 30 minutes. Bring binoculars to see the Pedro Miguel Locks in the distance. Ships head from the Pacific toward the Atlantic between 06:00 and 15:15, and the other way from 15:45 to 23:00; outside those hours both directions are allowed.

Each lock chamber fills with about 26 million gallons of water in just minutes without external pumps, using only gravity and underground channels for water distribution. This ingenious system has operated reliably for over a century, allowing roughly 35 to 40 ships to transit daily.