The central park is León's main gathering place and the best vantage point for the cathedral's facade. On weekday evenings it fills with families, vendors, and students from the nearby university. On Sundays after mass the square is at its most animated.
The park is flanked by the cathedral, the municipal government building, and a row of colonial structures that give it a genuinely historic feel. The equestrian statue of a general on horseback stands at the centre — a standard piece of Central American civic furniture, but the proportions here are particularly good. Sitting in the park with a fresh coconut from one of the street vendors costs almost nothing and is one of León's simple pleasures.