Eleven Central American Towns from Antigua to La Chorrera

Start in the highlands at Antigua Guatemala, capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala from 1543 until earthquakes forced the move to present-day Guatemala City in 1776. Its colonial architecture and ruined churches earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 1979, and it sits between the Volcán de Agua and the active Volcán de Fuego.

Cobán, capital of Alta Verapaz, shows a different colonial path: the surrounding Verapaz region was brought under Spanish rule through peaceful missionary work by Dominican friars rather than conquest. German planters later introduced much of the coffee and cardamom grown here, and the Rabin Ajau pageant celebrates Q'eqchi' Maya culture.

San Ignacio is the commercial center of Belize's Cayo District, on the west bank of the Macal River across from its twin town Santa Elena. It is the gateway to Maya sites such as Xunantunich and Cahal Pech and to the Mountain Pine Ridge forest reserve, close to the Guatemalan border.

Dangriga, capital of Stann Creek District on Belize's Caribbean coast, is regarded as the cultural center of the Garifuna people, who were resettled on the Central American coast in the early nineteenth century. The town holds Garifuna Settlement Day celebrations each November 19, and its economy rests on fishing, citrus and tourism.

Puerto Cortés is Honduras's principal Caribbean port, at the mouth of the Ulúa River near the Bay of Honduras, and it was founded in 1524. Its deep-water harbor handles most of the country's maritime container traffic and serves the industrial Sula Valley behind it, including San Pedro Sula.

Sonsonate, capital of its department in western El Salvador, lies on the coastal plain within sight of the Izalco volcano. It is the commercial hub of a major coffee zone on the western volcanic range, works alongside the nearby port area of Acajutla, and has a sizable indigenous Nahua-Pipil population.

San Miguel, capital of its department in eastern El Salvador, was founded in 1530 and lies near the base of the active San Miguel volcano, also called Chaparrastique. It is the commercial center of the eastern lowlands and hosts the Carnaval de San Miguel each November, one of the largest annual festivals in Central America.

Granada on Lake Nicaragua was founded in 1524 by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and is one of the oldest European-founded cities in the Americas still on its original site. Its wealth came from being an inland port linked by the lake and the San Juan River to the Caribbean, which also drew raids by English and French privateers and later William Walker's campaign in the 1850s.

Bluefields, capital of Nicaragua's South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, sits on a lagoon opening to the Caribbean. Its English-influenced Creole and Miskito population traces to the era of British protection over the Mosquito Coast, English-based Creole is still widely spoken beside Spanish, and the city hosts the Maypole festival each May.

Liberia, capital of Guanacaste province in northwestern Costa Rica, is a dry lowland long tied to cattle ranching and the sabanero cowboy culture. It is the gateway to Pacific beach resorts and to Rincón de la Vieja, and its whitewashed adobe houses gave it the old nickname of the white city.

End at La Chorrera, capital of Panama Oeste province, west of Panama City across the Panama Canal. It is named for a waterfall on the Caimito River that once powered colonial mills, and today it is a fast-growing commuter and industrial satellite of the capital, linked by the Pan-American Highway and the Bridge of the Americas corridor.