Colourful colonial streets on Lake Nicaragua
Founded in 1524, Granada is one of the oldest European cities on the American mainland. Its streets of brightly painted single-storey houses lead to the yellow cathedral on the Parque Central, and climbing the bell tower of La Merced church gives views over red-tiled roofs to the Mombacho Volcano. Boats tour the Isletas, hundreds of small volcanic islands in Lake Nicaragua. Mombacho has cloud forest trails, the Masaya Volcano's crater often glows with lava, and the Laguna de Apoyo is a crater lake for swimming.