Attractions
Rio de Janeiro
The cidade maravilhosa (marvellous city) is one of the most densely populated places on earth. The Cariocas - as the inhabitants are called - thrive on dance, drink, beach, sport and sun. It's a city of Dionysian spirit whose people live life head-first.
Rio is jumping with things to see. There is a good collection of museums housing everything from 20th-century Brazilian art to information on Brazil's indigenous people; charming old neighbourhoods; exotic parks and gardens, and unforgettable mountain views of the city.
Brasília
Brasília, the world's most ambitious planned city, is Brazil's capital. Unfortunately, its design favours cars and air-con to people, so you'll sweat your way around some hot, treeless expanses. Though it probably looked good on paper and still looks good in photos, in the flesh it's another story.
This World Heritage site was designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, urban planner Lucio Costa and landscape architect Burle Marx, the city was built in an incredible three years (1957-60) by millions of dirt-poor peasants working around the clock.
Foz do Iguaçu (Iguaçu Falls)
The Rio Iguaçu arises in the coastal mountains of Paraná and Santa Catarina and snakes west for 600km (372mi) before it widens majestically and sweeps around a magnificent jungle stage, plunging and crashing in tiered falls at the border with Argentina and Paraguay. The falls are over 3km (2mi) wide and 80m (262ft) high and their beauty is unsurpassed. The best time of year to visit is August-November, when there is least risk of flood waters hindering the approach to the catwalks.
Salvador da Bahia
Founded in 1549, Salvador da Bahia was Brazil's most important city for 300 years, and the Portuguese Empire's second city, after Lisbon. Bahia (often abbreviated to Salvador) is Brazil's most Africanized state and as its capital, it is a fascinating city and one of Brazil's cultural highlights.
As the centre of the sugar trade, it was famous for gold-filled churches, beautiful mansions and the slave trade. Now it is known for its many wild festivals and general sensuality and decadence; Carnaval in Salvador is justly famous and attracts hordes of tourists.
São Paulo
South America's biggest city in one of ethnic neighbourhoods, with around 17 million people, many of Italian and Japanese descent, living in this plateau megalopolis. Sáo Paulo's industrial development and cultural diversity has created Brazil's largest, most cultured and educated middle class.
These paulistas are lively and well-informed and, though they complain about the traffic, street violence and pollution, wouldn't dream of living anywhere else.
Sáo Paulo can be an intimidating place but it offers the excitement and nightlife of one of the world's most dynamic places. Attractions include the baroque Teatro Municipal, Niemeyer's Edifício Copan, the Museu de Arte de Sáo Paulo (MASP) and the 16th-century Patío do Colégio. The city is southwest of Rio and you can fly from there in less than an hour or take a six-hour bus ride.
The Amazon
For those with a love of mind-boggling numbers: the Amazon basin contains 6 million sq km of river and jungle and spans eight countries. Just over half is in Brazil. There are 80,000 kilometres of navigable rivers, and ocean-going vessels can sail 3500km inland up the mainstream to Iquitos, Peru.
Travellers enter the Amazon by bus, boat and air. Within the Amazon, boats are definitely the transport of choice, but flying can save a lot of time, is sometimes quite affordable, and most larger Amazon cities have airports.
The Pantanal
The Amazon may have all the fame and glory, but the Pantanal is a far better place to see wildlife. This vast area of wetlands, about half the size of France, lies in the far west of Brazil and extends into the border regions of Bolivia and Paraguay.
Birds are the most frequently seen wildlife, but the Pantanal is also a sanctuary for giant river otters, anacondas, iguanas, jaguars, cougars, crocodiles, deer and anteaters. The area has few people and no towns, and access is often by plane into Cuaibá, Campo Grande or Corumbá, then overland to the gateway towns of Cãceres, Barão de Malgaça, Poconé or Aquidauana; or by road via the Transpantaneira, which ends at the one-hotel hamlet of Porto Jofre. Boat trips are available along the Rio Paraguai from the Bolivian border.
Source: www.lonelyplanet.com
