Why Brazil belongs on your list
Brazil is a continent of its own: rainforest, colonial towns, thundering waterfalls and some of the world's most famous beaches. Here are the experiences worth planning a trip around.
Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro
The 38-metre Art Deco statue atop Corcovado is Brazil's defining image. Take the cog train through the Tijuca Forest and arrive early to beat the crowds and the haze. Tickets run around R$100.
Sugarloaf Mountain and Rio's beaches
Ride the cable car up Pao de Acucar at sunset for the best view in the city. Below, Copacabana and Ipanema define Rio's beach culture, from football on the sand to caipirinhas at the kiosks.
Iguazu Falls
Straddling the Argentine border, Foz do Iguacu is a 2.7-km wall of 275 cascades. The Brazilian side offers the sweeping panorama; walkways take you right above the Devil's Throat.
The Amazon Rainforest
Fly into Manaus to see the Meeting of the Waters, where the dark Rio Negro runs beside the sandy Solimoes without mixing. Lodge stays bring you piranha fishing, canoe trips and night caiman spotting.
Salvador and Pelourinho
The heart of Afro-Brazilian culture, Salvador's UNESCO-listed Pelourinho dazzles with pastel colonial houses, capoeira circles and the drumbeats of Olodum.
The Pantanal
For wildlife, the Pantanal wetlands beat the Amazon for sightings: jaguars, giant otters, capybaras and hundreds of bird species across open floodplains.
Lencois Maranhenses
Between rains, this desert of white dunes fills with turquoise freshwater lagoons, a surreal landscape best reached from Barreirinhas.
Ouro Preto
This perfectly preserved gold-rush town in Minas Gerais is a treasury of Baroque churches and steep cobbled lanes.
Carnival
If you visit in February or March, Rio's Sambadrome and the street blocos of Salvador and Recife host the planet's biggest party.
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