Heritage cities include urban, cultural and historical tourism, learning about Nicaraguan traditions and typical cuisine, and enjoying the architectural richness, highlighting the Ruins of León Viejo and the León Cathedral.
Granada and León are the oldest cities, founded at the time of the colony in 1524, moving the city of León in 1610 to its current location, due to the eruption of the Momotombo volcano.
Granada
Founded in 1524, it is the oldest city in Nicaragua and one of the oldest in the American Continent. Located just 40 minutes from Managua, full of history, majesty and culture, Granada today has become the capital of Tourism in Nicaragua.
In front of the imposing Cathedral of Granada is the Parque Colón, it is here where you can enjoy eating the famous vigorón, a traditional dish of Nicaraguan cuisine, accompanied with a cocoa drink, without a doubt an exquisite combination. After visiting this park, you can take a walk through the Plaza de los Leones and visit buildings built more than two centuries ago, one of them is the Casa de los Tres Mundos, where you can see art schools and painting exhibitions, which makes it one of the most important cultural references in the city.
Los Leones Square
San Francisco Convent Museums Cultural Center
Located next to the Church of the same name, this museum offers temporary and permanent exhibits of paintings, sculptures and life-size scenes of some ancient customs and traditions. One of the most extensive and interesting rooms has petroglyphs and statuary found through archaeological finds on Zapatera Island, very close to Granada.
This set of small islands is the result of the last eruption of the Mombacho Volcano millions of years ago. There are 365 in total, this is a magical place in the imposing Lake Cocibolca, full of lake nature and vegetation where you can see an immense number of birds in their natural habitat.
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- View of the Mombacho Volcano from the islets
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- Boats
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- Aerial view of the Isletas
Leon
Cradle of the traditional shouting to the Immaculate Conception of Mary, it was founded on July 15, 1524 by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, in its beginnings it was located on the shores of the Momotombo Volcano, a site that was abandoned in 1610 as a result of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. . Today, what was an ancestral settlement of the Sutiava indigenous people, is a majestic colonial, university city, the cradle of great poets and thinkers, full of legends, traditions, with historical and cultural heritages.
It is composed of two elegantly restored colonial buildings that contain true works of art between paintings, sculptures and crafts with pieces dating from the XNUMXth century.
In the urban area of the City of León there are more than 15 churches, all originally built between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, all with their original touch and with an interesting story to tell. Doing this tour guarantees to know the entire City of León and its friendly, brave and smiling people, likewise you can admire the murals that tell part of the history of the city, in times of war and in times of peace.
Leon Cathedral
Its full name is Real Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. Colossal building whose construction lasted more than 100 years since it began in 1747 and ended in 1860. It was in this same year that it received the title of Basilica by order of Pope Pius IX. It is the largest cathedral in the Baroque style and its interior is a work of architectural art with statues and paintings of exquisite manufacture, here lie the remains of important figures such as the Father of Hispano-American Modernism, Rubén Darío and the Prócer de la Independencia de Centroamérica, Miguel Larreynaga.
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- El Calvario Church
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- Reconciliation Church
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- Guadalupe Church
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- san francisco Church
Rubén Darío Archive Museum
Rubén Darío Museum
Classic colonial house, its construction dates from the year 1800, where the Prince of Castilian Letters Rubén Darío lived his childhood with his great-uncles. On the walls of the house the life of the poet is exhibited as well as in one of the rooms the bed where he slept and many other articles and original writings are still preserved. Here also lived the consecrated Leonese poet Alfonso Cortés, which is why it was a meeting place and social gatherings for famous poets and intellectuals of the last century.
Museum of Legends and Traditions
Nahua Wagon
It contains a very complete exhibition of myths, legends and typical traditions of our country represented in objects, dolls and life-size statues. Your guides know almost 20 different stories, it is without a doubt a unique place.
Named historical heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2000, it was the second oldest city in Nicaragua and one of the oldest in Latin America, founded in 1524 and buried by the ashes of the Momotombo volcano in 1610, it was until 1960 that a Scientific excavation succeeded in rescuing it from oblivion. Today it is an open-air museum where remains of important buildings and the mausoleum where the remains of its founder, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, were found.
Old City
Ciudad Antigua, is a municipality of Nueva Segovia and within its history it is known that it was the third town founded by the Spanish after their arrival in Nicaragua. There is no precise date or year of its foundation, but it is estimated that it was between 1536 and 1538.
According to historians, its founder was Gabriel de Rojas, unlike Granda and León, who were founded by Captain Francisco Hernández de Córdoba.
It is surrounded by mountains and pine forests, it has a cool climate, its buildings still retain their colonial influence.
