BackRead our guide on the best places to go in Brazil, whether you desire its world-famous cities or natural spectacles...
Why head on a Brazil tour with Wayfairer?
There is no other place on Earth more vibrant than Brazil. Its vibrancy pulsates through both its urbanised havens and its untrodden pathways. Whether exploring one of Brazil’s lively coastal cities or its sprawling wilderness, you find yourself utterly entangled in the soulful ambience that lives on across this marvellous country.
Being the largest country in Latin America, bordered by nine countries to its west and the Atlantic Ocean to its east, Brazil can appear as an enigma to travellers eager to unravel its secrets. With an abundance of fascinating cities, towns sprinkled with colonial architecture and undisrupted regions of raw beauty, there are endless incredible things to do in Brazil around its best locations.
This list highlights the top 8 best places to visit in Brazil, decided on with the help of Wayfairer’s Luxury Travel Specialists. We have encompassed as much of the country’s variety as possible, although for more information, feel free to get in contact with one of our experts.
The Best Places to go in Brazil:
1. Rio de Janeiro
Yes, an obvious pick. But, there was no way we weren’t going to include the astounding city of Rio on our list! A city overflowing with character, where joy and vibrancy permeates each indoor hub and outdoor haven, there are a multitude of things to do in Rio de Janeiro which will make your holiday in Brazil one to remember.
Its blend of charming, urbanised areas and flourishing wilderness, where Sugarloaf Mountain scrapes the sky and Tijuca National Park floods with bright flora and wildlife, makes Rio de Janeiro a force to behold. Between each day of exploring the city’s natural playground, cultural experiences and moments of beach-bound bliss await you.
Whether you seek the soft sands of Copacabana or Ipanema Beach or the music-filled spaces and open-air bars of downtown Lapa, you are sure to discover your personal heaven here. Revel in some of the most iconic things to do in Brazil during your Rio de Janeiro tour. 
If you are planning to travel to Brazil in the period before Lent (Feb 28-Mar 8 in 2025), you would be silly to miss the Rio de Janeiro Carnival! Packed with samba, eccentric outfits, sense-serenading street parties, and more, this is the best carnival in the world.
2. The Ibiti Project
Brazil’s natural world is a beautiful riddle, a labyrinth in which each turn welcomes more grandeur than one can expect to comprehend. The ibiti project is your gateway to unveiling the innermost beauties of Brazil’s natural wonderland, nestled into an ecological oasis, just 260-km from Rio de Janeiro, bordering the forested Ibitipoca State Park.
A stay with the Ibiti Project welcomes you to sync up with nature’s most deep-seated rhythms, offering an atmosphere defined by community, respect and passion. 98% of the areas encompassed by the Ibiti Project are “preserved or in the process of regeneration”, making this one of the best places to visit in Brazil for those who mean business when it comes to sustainability.
The Ibiti Project is also one of the best places to visit in Brazil with family, its serene sense of harmony and co-existence fostering an ideal atmosphere for bonding with loved ones. Whether you are admiring its splendid waterways and rivers, cycling along trails stamped with heavenly panoramas, or observing its 300 bird species fill the trees, you feel at one with nature at Ibiti.
See more about the wonderful Ibiti Project here: ibiti.com
The Ibiti Project encompasses beautiful, 18th-century houses and facilities nestled into its remote village
3. The Pantanal
For those allured by the complex movements of our natural world, the remote wilds of the Pantanal are an essential addition to many of our Brazil tours. First, it is the soothing sounds of the Pantanal’s waterways, fed by the majestic Paraguay River, that pull you in. Then, the intricacies of this magnificent natural region burst to life, transforming its sprawling flats into a biological utopia.
You are sure to be enchanted by the sheer richness of the Pantanal’s biodiversity, a unique map of life which shapeshifts with the seasonal rhythms of this part of Brazil. Here, over 1,000 aviary species fill its skies, marshes and treetops, 400 fish species meander its waterways, and 480 reptiles species crawl its riverbanks and forest floors.
Keep a keen eye out during your Pantanal tour in Brazil, as many of the region’s most famed species, like the jaguar and the caiman, are especially elusive. Elsewhere, groups of capybaras follow a much less careful path, playing and diving in shallow waters. There is no better wildlife wonderland in South America, making the Pantanal an obvious choice when deciding on what to do in Brazil.
4. Lencois Marannheses
Another marvel along Brazil’s extravagant natural pathway, Lencois Marannheses National Park, is a true phenomenon of rippling sand dunes segmented by rainwater lakes during wetter times of year. Listed as one of the best national parks in Brazil, visitors are immediately blown away by the 155,000-hectare, sweeping, white sands and glittering lagoons, a scene which can only be compared to a sci-fi setting.
Surrounding the famous sand dunes of the park, mangrove ecosystems reach from the crystal blue of the Atlantic’s coastal waters, homing a mind-blowing network of biodiversity. Spot endangered marine species, including fish and turtles, reptiles and colourful bird life.
Witnessing the spectacular landscapes of Lencois Marannheses National Park is enough to stamp any Brazil tour with lifelong memories. Still, similarly to many of the best places to go in Brazil, the park offers a cherry-on-top with its wide range of activities and experiences, including stargazing and surfing.
5. Paraty
The best cities in Brazil are renowned for their interactions with surrounding natural settings, often being interwoven into landscapes bursting with wild purity. The same goes with Paraty, a peaceful, colonial town located in the Rio de Janeiro State. Its charming cobblestone streets are lined with white-painted houses garnished with brightly-coloured doors and windows and buildings which resound with stories of the 17th-century.
A tragic history is embedded into each detail of this beautiful port town, as its positioning was once harnessed for the exportation of the gold mined by enslaved African people. Now, a peaceful ambience washes over Paraty, its architectural relics facing twinkling, turquoise waters one way and a majestic mountainous scene the other.
Spend special moments in the family-run restaurants along Paraty’s pretty streets, before visiting its iconic church and perhaps venturing into the rainforest which provides its celestial backdrop.
See the staple white-painted, colonial style of the buildings in Paraty, backed by verdant mountains
6. The Cerrado
Another eco-paradise, blanketing a vast portion of eastern Brazil, Cerrado, is a magical savanna which homes up-to 5% of the Earth’s animals and plants. Biodiversity is second to none across the Cerrado, where an accumulation of wildlife and flora represents nature at its purest. Draping across eleven Brazillian states, the Cerado has vital ecological functions like the burying of masses of CO2 and the sourcing of several major rivers.
Heading on a Cerrado tour introduces you to some of Mother Nature’s best work, with 45% of its plant species even being completely unique to the region. Hidden within each twist and turn of this tropical grassland biome is a web of fauna, including over 900 aviary species, 90,000 insect species, and around 1,200 species of fish. Among the 300 mammal species which wander the Cerrado’s sprawling grasslands, many are endangered, including the Giant anteater, the jaguar and the Maned wolf.
Just like many of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth, Brazil’s Cerrado has suffered huge consequences of deforestation for cattle farming and global warming. Its elaborate network of vegetation has been almost halved, making it even more of a precious natural wonder, as charities and tour companies fight to protect it.
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Observe wildlife like the majestic jaguar as they wander their natural habitats in the vast Brazilian Cerrado |
7. Praia da Pipa
Brazil is renowned for its exquisite coastal spots, from ocean-front cities glistening with culture to more “off-the-beaten-track” locations which spotlight the Atlantic. Praia da Pipa (or Pipa Beach) is one of the most dazzling beach locations in South America, and perhaps in the world, where one will encounter a perfect blend of heavenly natural scenes and first-class hospitality.
Pipa itself is a town which gleams with a distinctly peaceful, boho atmosphere, its laid-back restaurants, hotels and bars offering a peer into the beating heart of Northeast Brazil. The complete lack of high-rise buildings and preservation of the beach town’s rocky, coastal beauty makes a stay in Pipa feel serene and detached from the common thread of tourism.
Whether you decide to catch a swell and surf alongside young backpackers, or to wind between quaint shops before stopping for an ice-cold pina colada, a stop in Pipa is the perfect cherry-on-top to any trip to Brazil. Relax and explore to your heart's content in one of the most pristine places to go in Brazil.
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8. Iguacu National Park
Straddling the border between Argentina and Brazil, Iguazu Falls is the biggest waterfall system on the planet and a spot which should not be missed on your South America tour. The Brazillian portion of this spell-binding landmark is protected by the biologically rich Iguacu National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for obvious reasons.
Iguazu Falls is a spectacle which makes even the most well-travelled jaws drop. Its immense, cascades of white water are split into 275 individual waterfalls, the highest of which peaks at 82-metres. The falls are intertwined with safe walkways punctuated by viewpoints with carefully-measured vantage points, where even the most powerful of the falls, Devil’s Throat, can be observed.
There is a range of Iguazu Falls tours on offer with Wayfairer, including unique activities like boat safaris and helicopter tours which clarify the dramatic scale of the landmark. The national park which encases the falls is a subtropical paradise which overflows with further beauty, as monkeys and colourful birds scatter its treetops.
Explore some of our Brazil tours, including Iguazu Falls tours and much more:
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