Las Tablas is the capital of Los Santos and the home of Panama’s best known Carnival and of the Thousand Polleras Parade. It is the driest place in this guide, with about 1,060 mm of rain a year, and it has its own public hospital.
Life in Las Tablas follows the folk calendar: Carnival, with the rivalry between Calle Arriba and Calle Abajo; the Thousand Polleras Parade in January; and the National Pollera Festival in July. The town also has the Belisario Porras museum.
The district of Las Tablas counted 30,440 people in the 2023 census, 8,655 of them in the town.
The old Las Tablas station recorded about 1,060 mm of rain a year, with a sharp dry season from December to April. The nearby La Palma station averages 27.5 °C (82 °F).
| IMHPA station | Altitude | Average | Months under 100 mm of rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Palma (126-006) | 39 m | 27.5 °C (82 °F), monthly averages 26.8 to 28.8 °C | |
| Las Tablas (126-001) | 43 m | 1,060 mm of rain a year | Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr |
By road it is about 300 km from Tocumen: 270 km to Chitré and 31.5 km more. Buses from Albrook take 5 to 6 hours. The nearest airport is Chitré, with flights from Albrook.
Las Tablas has the Joaquín Pablo Franco Sayas hospital of the Ministry of Health, and the Anita Moreno regional hospital of Azuero is in La Villa de Los Santos.
Las Tablas is part of the “rest of urban areas” food basket of the Ministry of Economy and Finance: B/. 343.81 in July 2026, for 50 items. There is no figure for Las Tablas alone.
February or March
The four days before Ash Wednesday, all over Panama and above all in Las Tablas, where Calle Arriba and Calle Abajo compete with queens in gala polleras and meet at dawn on Ash Wednesday. In 2027 it falls on February 6 to 9, by our calculation from the date of Easter.
Official source
January
The tourism authority’s parade of the pollera, the national dress, in Las Tablas, on the second Saturday of January. It moves to the next weekend when that Saturday is January 9, Martyrs’ Day. In 2026 it was on January 17.
Official sourceThe Pensionado visa is the same in every province: the US$1,000 monthly pension, or US$750 with a property of more than US$100,000, and the same documents, wherever you plan to live. The discounts of the retiree law apply all over the country.
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