Welcome to Managua!
Managua is the capital and largest city of Nicaragua. A city that saw the death of Sandino, the rise of the Somozas, and their fall from power at the hand of the Sandinistas, Managua is full of history and the closest thing to a metropolis Nicaragua has. Ever threatened by earthquakes, Managua mostly lost its historical downtown in a 1972 quake but is slowly gaining yet another face through the urban renewal policies of the current government. While many visitors to Nicaragua try to limit their time in the capital, you should not make the same mistake, as its theaters, museums, monuments, and historical remnants are quite worthwhile, to say nothing of the nightlife.
Managua is the capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and the center of an eponymous department. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Managua and inside the Managua Department, it has an estimated population of 1,055,247 in 2020 within the city's administrative limits and a population of 1,401,687 in the metropolitan area, which additionally includes the municipalities of Ciudad Sandino, El Crucero, Nindirí, Ticuantepe, and Tipitapa. The city was declared the national capital in 1852. Previously, the capital alternated between the cities of León and Granada. The 1972 Nicaragua earthquake and years of civil war in the 1980s severely disrupted and stunted Managua's growth. It was not until the mid-1990s that Managua began to see a resurgence.