| WHY GO |
| Granada, founded in 1524, is the oldest inhabited city in continental Latin America, and claims to be the most beautiful of Nicaragua's two major cities, the other contender to the title is its liberal, laid-back rival Léon. It has 17th-century adobe houses, crumbling courtyard gardens and elaborate Italianate villas. Granada's wealth and the generation of criollos (people of Spanish descent born in the New World who made it their home) contribute to its conservative character. Like Antigua in Guatemala, Granada is walkable, with arresting architecture and an incredible backdrop of Lake Nicaragua. The town is beginning to develop facilities for more upmarket travellers too, with the opening of elegant boutique hotels like the Colonial. |
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