Experience the best of León

León lies in the Pacific lowlands of Nicaragua, about ninety kilometres north-west of Managua, with a chain of volcanoes on its horizon. The cathedral, one of the largest in Central America, is a World Heritage site; its white roof can be climbed for views, and the poet Rubén Darío, Nicaragua's great literary figure, is buried inside, guarded by a stone lion. Colonial streets of low, colourful houses, with courtyards and churches, spread around the plaza.

The Sutiaba district keeps an old indigenous church, and the Rubén Darío museum occupies the house where he grew up. Cerro Negro, a young black volcano, is famous for volcano boarding down its ash slope, and the volcanoes of the Maribios range offer crater hikes. León Viejo, the ruins of the first colonial city founded in 1524, lies near Lake Managua beneath Momotombo volcano, and Las Peñitas has Pacific surf beaches.

Nicaraguan food is simple and filling: gallo pinto, rice and beans fried together, nacatamales, large corn tamales, and indio viejo, a shredded-beef stew thickened with corn dough. The cacao and corn drink tiste is sold in markets. It is hot all year, with a dry season from November to April and heavy rain from May to October.