Masaya Volcano National Park

Masaya Volcano is one of the few volcanoes in the world with a persistently active lava lake visible from the crater rim, making it accessible to visitors who can drive a paved road to within metres of the active Santiago crater. The volcano complex contains two calderas and five craters, surrounded by a national park established in 1979—the first in Nicaragua. In the colonial era, Spanish missionaries planted a cross on the rim to exorcise what they believed was the mouth of hell.