Brazil Attractions

Rio de Janeiro

Be warned: Rio's powers of seduction can leave you with a bad case of saudade (indescribable longing) when you leave. Planted between lush, forest-covered mountains and breathtaking beaches, the Cidade Maravilhosa (Marvelous City) has many charms, most notably the Cariocas, its exuberant residents.

The international tourist crowd takes advantage of Rio's ritzy side - there are innumerable opportunities to be decadent. But Rio also has much to offer the budget traveller: there are cheap hotels and restaurants aplenty, and the beach is a free entertainment zone.

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.

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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.