Nicaragua

A colonial jewel on the northwestern shore of Lake Nicaragua, Granada is one of the oldest surviving colonial cities in the Americas, founded in 1524, known for its pastel mansions, horse-drawn carriages and the towering Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.

Nicaragua's intellectual capital, León is a vibrant colonial university city northwest of Managua, dominated by the massive Gothic bulk of its cathedral—the largest in Central America—and known for its revolutionary history, poetry festivals and the black sand beaches of the Pacific coast nearby.

A pair of Caribbean islands off Nicaragua's eastern coast, the Corn Islands—Big Corn and Little Corn—offer pristine beaches, world-class snorkeling and diving, and a distinctly Caribbean Creole culture quite unlike the Pacific side of the country.

A colonial fortress at the confluence of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, El Castillo was built in the seventeenth century to defend against pirate raids and English privateers, and remains one of the most evocative surviving examples of Spanish colonial military architecture in Central America.

Central America's most accessible active volcano, Masaya rises southeast of Managua with a spectacular caldera that glows at night, crossed by a sealed road that brings visitors within metres of the crater rim.

A volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua formed by twin volcanoes Concepción and Maderas rising steeply from the water, Ometepe is one of the most visually dramatic landscapes in Central America, with pre-Columbian petroglyphs, hot springs and a relaxed atmosphere.