Most travellers experience RIVAS as a dusty bus stop on the way to or from Costa Rica, San Juan del Sur, or Ometepe, unaware of the important role this scruffy town has played in Nicaraguan history. Founded in 1736, it became an important stop on the route of Cornelius Vanderbilt's Accessory Transit Company, which ferried goods and passengers between the Caribbean and the Pacific via Lago de Nicaragua - Rivas's heyday came during the California Gold Rush, when its languid streets were full of prospectors travelling with the Transit Company on their way to the goldfields of the western US.

Rivas's ragged market and bus terminal , three blocks south and two blocks west of the Parque Central, is the transport hub of southern Nicaragua. From here you can catch buses north to Granada, Masaya and Managua; west to San Juan del Sur; and south to Sapoá and the Costa Rican border. Bus stops in the market are not marked but everyone knows where buses depart - ask around. If you're headed to San Jorge (for Ometepe), it's best to get a taxi (US$1.50) as buses are infrequent and leave from the highway, a good 1km hike from the market. Moneychangers frequent Rivas' bus stops, looking for Costa Rican-bound or departing gringos and offering Costa Rican colónes, Nicaraguan córdobas and US dollars at rates more or less the same as at the border. In town, Banpro, two and a half blocks west of the Parque Central, will change dollars.

Despite its history, Rivas is not a place you want to get stuck in for the night; several of the hotels rent beds by the hour. That said, the experience is survivable (earplugs help) and there are far worse dives in Nicaragua. The Hotel Nicarao , two blocks west of the Parque Central (tel 463-3234; US$5-10), is better than most, and its rooms are equipped with private bath and either a/c or fan. For rock-bottom budget travellers, the best bet is the Hospedaje Internacional next to the Hotel Coco (up to US$5), where you'll at least get a clean bed and a fan.

A quick, cheap meal can be picked up at any of the comedores on the Parque Central, where you'll find good chicken, pork or beef and rice dishes, and tamales . Surprisingly, Rivas has a vegetarian joint, La Soya , 50m north of the Parque Central, offering workaday salads and vegetable dishes.