Miraflores is the name given to one of the three sets of locks that complete the Panama Canal.  In this leg of the journey through the canal, vessels are lifted or lowered in three stages that allow them to transit to or from the Pacific Ocean into the port of Balboa.

Miraflores Visitors Center was open December 18, 2003.  Since then, it has become the place with the best view of the operations of the Miraflores Locks.  You can perfectly see how the locks open and close to let the water filled up or drained out the chambers that make possible this step to go to or from de Pacific Ocean. The Panama Canal is a channel that uses fresh water for operations, from which 26.7 million gallons of fresh water are necessary to operate the locks.

Depending on the size of the vessels the visitor can experience watching the transit of two to three vessels, or even more if they have simultaneous transit.  This transit, from the moment the vessel enters the canal to the end of the passing, takes only ten minutes to be completed.  

Miraflores Visitor Center is a 4 story building and is divided in four different rooms: The History Hall, The Hall of Water: Source of Life, The Canal in Action, and the Canal in the World.  The center features a theater, three observation decks, two snack bars, a restaurant, a gift shop, and a hall for special events. 

The Panama Canal is one of the best examples of modern engineering.  In spite of the predictions that in Panamanian hands the Canal would decay, today the Canal is in works of extension that will allow a 40% increment of the marine transit, allowing ships with bigger dimensions than the Panamax to be able to navigate through the Canal.