Most of Nicaragua's population lives in the hot, relatively dry and fertile Pacific lowlands , where much of the country's agriculture is centred. This region is also the political and cultural centre of the country - nearly everything thought of as being inherently Nicaraguan, whether food, music, dress or dance - comes from this area. Virtually every traveller passes through the capital, Managua , if only to catch a bus; but there's little to detain the tourist in the capital and many quickly make tracks for Granada , with its splendid lakeside setting and wonderfully atmospheric colonial architecture. The town of Masaya , 26km southeast of the capital, is the arts-and-crafts centre of the country, and both Nicaraguans and foreign tourists descend upon its Mercado Nacional de Artesanía for some of the best crafts in Central America.

Ecotourism is beginning to have some impact In the Lago de Nicaragua area, with more and more travellers visiting Isla de Ometepe and the Solentiname Islands. Volcano-viewing and hiking are the attractions of Ometepe, with its thrilling twin volcanoes rising out of the freshwater lake. Further south in the lake, near the Costa Rican border, the Solentiname archipelago and the Río San Juan are some of the most pristine areas in Central America, where flora, fauna and a unique tradition of primitive naif painting prevail.

Nicaragua's mountainous central region is distinctly different, with a cooler climate and strikingly independent peoples. Much of the country's rich mellow export-grade coffee is grown here, and farms dominate the scented landscape of blue-green pine-covered mountains. Hiking and bird-watching near the mountain town of Matagalpa are the main tourist attractions.

Physically cut off from the rest of the country, the Caribbean lowlands - called the Atlantic Coast in Nicaragua - actually make up nearly fifty percent of the country's landmass. Hot, humid and perpetually rainy, this area is sparsely populated and little-visited. Most of its inhabitants gain a living from fishing and subsistence agriculture. Politically and culturally distinct from the rest of Nicaragua, the region governs itself autonomously, regularly fighting tooth and nail with the central government. Descended from escaped African slaves and from the indigenous peoples, the Miskito, Rama and the Suma (who account for the majority of Atlantic Coast inhabitants) speak English - a legacy from the days when the area was a British protectorate. Food, dance, music and religion on the Atlantic Coast are West Indian rather than Spanish: rice-and-beans is cooked with coconut milk and the radio play is strictly reggae in the hot and ramshackle jungle towns of Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas . The beautiful - and as yet unspoilt - Corn Islands , just off the coast of Bluefields, offer a welcome respite from the stresses of mainland life.