Language · 11 published
Country guide
Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest on earth, with over 213 million people, 26 states and a Federal District built to hold the capital, Brasília. Its Atlantic coastline runs 7,491 kilometres and it borders every country on the continent except Ecuador and Chile. Most of the Amazon basin is Brazilian, including the world's largest river system and the most extensive virgin tropical forest left standing; the same country also holds wetlands, savanna, plateau and low mountains. São Paulo is the most populous city and Rio de Janeiro the second. The distance between any two of these is the planning problem.
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · Thomas Hobbs · CC BY-SA 2.0
Photograph · Rafael Rabello de Barros · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
72 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
Cristo Redentor
Christ the Redeemer, known locally as Cristo Redentor, stands atop Corcovado mountain as Rio de Janeiro's most iconic monument. The Art Deco statue depicts Jesus Christ with outstretched arms, symbolizing welcome and protection over the city.
Parque Ibirapuera
Ibirapuera Park is São Paulo's flagship urban park and its most concentrated modernist cultural landscape. Located in the southern zone of Brazil's largest city, it occupies a significant portion of the Moema, Paraíso, and Vila Mariana districts.
Catedral da Sé
São Paulo Cathedral, or Catedral Metropolitana de São Paulo, stands on Praça da Sé in the historic centre of São Paulo, Brazil.
Edifício Copan
The Copan Building, known locally as Edifício Copan, stands as one of São Paulo's most distinctive architectural landmarks.
Biblioteca Nacional
The National Library of Brazil, or Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, stands as a major cultural institution in Rio de Janeiro.
Jardim Botântico
The Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, locally called Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, is a historic scientific garden in Brazil's famous coastal city. Established in the imperial era, it serves as a major center for botanical research and conservation.
Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí
The Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí is a purpose-built parade avenue in Rio de Janeiro designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer.
Teatro Municipal de São Paulo
The Municipal Theatre of São Paulo is the historic centre's principal opera house and a defining Belle Époque landmark. Built during the city's rapid early twentieth-century growth, it represents Brazil's aspiration toward European cultural sophistication.
Mosteiro de São Bento
The Monastery of Saint Benedict is a historic Benedictine complex in Sao Paulo's old city center. It anchors one corner of the old-city triangle, a zone of significant historical concentration.
Estação da Luz
Luz Station, or Estação da Luz, is a monumental railway station in São Paulo’s historic centre.
Pedra da Gávea, or Gavea Rock, is a massive coastal monolith rising above Atlantic Forest on Rio de Janeiro’s western side.
Arcos da Lapa
The Arcos da Lapa is a colonial-era aqueduct in Rio de Janeiro's Lapa neighbourhood. This monumental structure comprises two tiers of arches that originally served as a water supply system for the city.
Monumento às Bandeiras
Monument to the Bandeiras is a monumental granite sculpture by Victor Brecheret located in São Paulo, Brazil. The local name is Monumento às Bandeiras. It commemorates the bandeirantes, 17th-century Portuguese Brazilian explorers and fortune hunters who expanded Brazil's territory.
Parque Henrique Lage
Parque Lage is a public park at the edge of Tijuca Forest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It centres on a historic mansion that houses a visual-arts school, the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage.
Jardim Botânico de São Paulo
São Paulo Botanical Garden, Jardim Botânico de São Paulo, is a substantial green and scientific landscape within Brazil’s largest city. The garden protects and presents Atlantic Forest vegetation while also offering formal landscaped grounds for public visits.
Quinta da Boa Vista is a large historic public park in Rio de Janeiro, occupying former imperial grounds associated with the Portuguese royal family and the Brazilian imperial family.
Ilha Fiscal
Ilha Fiscal is a small island in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, notable for its distinctive neo-Gothic palace that formerly served as a customs house.
Pateo do Collegio
Pátio do Colégio marks the foundational site of São Paulo, established by Jesuit priests Manuel da Nóbrega and José de Anchieta in 1554. The name references the original Jesuit college courtyard where the city began.
Mercado Municipal de São Paulo
The Municipal Market of São Paulo, locally called Mercadão, is a historic public market in the city centre. Built in the early twentieth century, it occupies a prominent building with distinctive architecture.
Aterro do Flamengo
Flamengo Park, known locally as Parque do Flamengo, is a vast bayfront landscape in Rio de Janeiro designed by Roberto Burle Marx. The park stretches along Guanabara Bay, connecting multiple districts through green space.
Theatro Municipal
The Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro is Rio de Janeiro's principal opera house and one of the defining Beaux-Arts monuments of the Cinelândia district.
Parque da Independência
Independence Park, known locally as Parque da Independência, is a monumental public landscape in São Paulo. The park encompasses the historic site where Brazilian independence was proclaimed in 1822.
Edifício Martinelli
The Martinelli Building, or Edifício Martinelli, is a landmark skyscraper in central São Paulo. Built in the early twentieth century, it represents the city's first major skyscraper ambition and the commercial expansion that reshaped downtown.
Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Candelária
The Candelaria Church, known locally as Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Candelária, is a monumental domed church marking the northern approach to Rio de Janeiro's historic centre.
Two Brothers Hill, known locally as Morro Dois Irmãos, is a prominent mountain peak in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone. The summit rises above the Vidigal favela and offers panoramic vistas of the city's famous coastline.
Praça Quinze de Novembro
Fifteenth of November Square, or Praça XV de Novembro, is a historic public square in Rio de Janeiro’s Centro district. It stands beside Guanabara Bay and has long connected civic life, maritime movement and the city’s historic core.
Penha Church, formally Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Penha, is a Catholic pilgrimage sanctuary on a granite outcrop in Rio de Janeiro’s Penha neighborhood. Its defining feature is the long ceremonial staircase leading up to the church.
The Selaron Steps, known locally as Escadaria Selarón, comprise a world-famous tiled staircase connecting the Lapa and Santa Teresa neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro.
Campo de Santana is a historic public park in central Rio de Janeiro. The green space has served as a civic setting through major phases of Brazilian history and remains an important pause within the dense downtown fabric.
Parque da Aclimação
Aclimação Park, Parque da Aclimação, is a traditional public green space in São Paulo’s central-south Aclimação district. Its main landscape feature is a lake surrounded by planted grounds, giving the neighbourhood a calm outdoor focus within the wider metropolis.
Viaduto do Chá is a historic bridge in central São Paulo, crossing the Vale do Anhangabaú between the older city centre and newer downtown. Built in the late nineteenth century, it reflects the rapid urban growth of the coffee-boom era.
Passeio Público, represented here as Public Promenade, is a historic public park in central Rio de Janeiro.
Teleférico do Pão de Açúcar
Sugarloaf Cable Car is the aerial route through Parque Bondinho Pão de Açúcar, connecting the ground station at Praia Vermelha with Morro da Urca and Sugarloaf Mountain.
Vale do Anhangabaú is a broad civic promenade in São Paulo's historic centre, occupying the valley between two central ridges. It is an urban public space and movement corridor rather than a contained museum or monument.
Cratera de Colônia
Colônia Crater, or Cratera de Colônia, is a large meteorite-impact structure in São Paulo’s Parelheiros district. It is recognised as a protected geosite and represents an important geological feature within the metropolitan area.
Parque Burle Marx is a landscape park in São Paulo preserving a garden designed by Roberto Burle Marx, the renowned Brazilian landscape architect.
Catedral de São Sebastião
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian, known locally as Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Rio de Janeiro.
Auditório Ibirapuera
Ibirapuera Auditorium is a concert hall designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer within São Paulo’s Ibirapuera Park. The building belongs to the park’s modernist cultural ensemble and is recognised for its sweeping curves and bold geometric form.
Igreja e Mosteiro de São Bento
The Monastery of Saint Benedict, known locally as Mosteiro de São Bento, is a hilltop Benedictine monastery in Rio de Janeiro. Founded by Benedictine monks, it stands as one of the most significant colonial religious institutions in the city.
Casa do Grito is a historic rammed-earth house in São Paulo’s Ipiranga independence landscape. It belongs to a heritage setting that also includes the Monument to Independence, Parque da Independência, and the Ipiranga Museum.
Sala São Paulo is a major concert hall housed within the historic Júlio Prestes Station, a former railway terminal in central São Paulo. It serves as the permanent home of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP).
Parque da Água Branca is a historic public park in São Paulo's Barra Funda district. Established as an agricultural exhibition ground, it retains its heritage character while serving as urban green space.
Parque Natural Municipal Bosque da Barra
Barra Woods, or Bosque da Barra, is a restinga park in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone. It preserves native coastal vegetation on sandy ground within the rapidly developing Barra da Tijuca area.
Chinese View, or Vista Chinesa, is a pagoda-style observation pavilion in Rio de Janeiro’s Tijuca Forest. It honours the Chinese immigrants associated with the introduction of tea cultivation to Brazil in the early nineteenth century.
Praia Vermelha, known in English as Red Beach, is a compact sheltered beach in Rio de Janeiro's Urca neighbourhood. It sits directly beneath the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain and Morro da Urca, two of the city's most recognisable landmarks.
Cemitério da Consolação
Cemitério da Consolação is a historic cemetery in São Paulo, Brazil. Established in the late 19th century, it serves as the final resting place for numerous prominent Brazilian figures.
Confeitaria Colombo is a historic café and confectionery in downtown Rio de Janeiro, widely recognised as the city's most celebrated Belle Époque establishment. Founded in 1894, it occupies a prominent position on Rua Gonçalves Dias.
Praia de Copacabana
Copacabana Beach, known locally as Praia de Copacabana, is Rio de Janeiro's most internationally recognised urban beach and promenade. The crescent-shaped stretch of sand and adjacent Avenida Atlântica form one of the most iconic coastal cityscapes globally.
Praça Mauá is a renewed civic square in Rio de Janeiro's port zone, situated at the intersection of Avenida Rio Branco and Avenida Rodrigues Alves.
Ipanema Beach, known locally as Praia de Ipanema, is a landmark beach in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone. It stretches between Arpoador rock formation to the east and the Morro Dois Irmãos mountains to the west.
Praça Ramos de Azevedo
Municipal Theatre Square, known as Praça Ramos de Azevedo, is a formal public square in São Paulo’s historic centre.
Itaú Cultural is an arts and cultural research centre on São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista. The institution focuses on researching, preserving and sharing Brazilian cultural heritage.
Pedra Bonita is a granite summit in Rio de Janeiro’s Tijuca Forest National Park, above São Conrado and Barra da Tijuca. The mountain combines a natural viewpoint with a launch area for hang-gliding and paragliding.
Joatinga Beach is a small, secluded cove in Rio de Janeiro’s western zone, between São Conrado and Barra da Tijuca. Cliffs and coastal vegetation frame the sand, creating a quieter setting than Copacabana or Ipanema.
Prainha is a compact crescent-shaped beach in Rio de Janeiro’s far western zone. Atlantic Forest vegetation covers the surrounding hills, giving the cove a distinctly wild setting compared with the city’s built-up waterfront.
Parque Villa-Lobos
Villa-Lobos Park, Parque Villa-Lobos, is a large public recreation area in western São Paulo named after Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Samba City, known locally as Cidade do Samba, is a purpose-built complex in Rio de Janeiro dedicated to the preparation of Carnival floats and costumes.
The Church of Our Lady of Glory of the Outeiro is an octagonal colonial church perched on a hill in Rio de Janeiro. Its distinctive geometric form sets it apart from typical Brazilian colonial religious architecture.
Parque Augusta
Augusta Park, officially Parque Augusta - Prefeito Bruno Covas, is a central public park near Rua Augusta in São Paulo. Mature trees and historic structures give it a distinctive identity within the dense Jardins and Consolação area.
Praia da Barra da Tijuca
Praia da Barra da Tijuca is Rio de Janeiro's longest urban beach, stretching along the West Zone and serving as the district's defining coastal feature.
Praia de Grumari
Praia de Grumari is a long, less-developed beach located in Rio de Janeiro's West Zone. It sits within protected Atlantic forest landscapes, offering a more natural setting compared to the city's more urbanized beaches.
Praia do Leblon is an upscale beach in Rio de Janeiro's Zona Sul, forming the western continuation of Ipanema Beach.
Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco da Penitência
The Church of the Third Order of Saint Francis of Penitence stands on Santo Antônio hill at Largo da Carioca in central Rio de Janeiro.
Pedra do Telégrafo
Pedra do Telégrafo, known in English as Telegraph Rock, is a rocky outcrop in the Guaratiba area of Rio de Janeiro's West Zone. The site takes its name from military communications equipment once installed there.
The Templo de Salomão is a monumental religious complex located in the Brás district of São Paulo, Brazil. It serves as the headquarters of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
Solo Sagrado de Guarapiranga is a large landscaped sacred garden beside Guarapiranga Reservoir in the southern part of São Paulo. The destination combines designed gardens, natural vegetation and a waterside setting within the metropolitan area.
Beco do Batman
Beco do Batman is a narrow alleyway in São Paulo's Vila Madalena neighbourhood that has become a celebrated open-air gallery of street art.
Dona Marta Viewpoint, or Mirante Dona Marta, is an elevated scenic overlook in Rio de Janeiro with a broad panorama across the city.
Arpoador Rock, known locally as Pedra do Arpoador, is a rocky headland situated between two of Rio de Janeiro's most famous beaches: Copacabana and Ipanema.
Sampa Sky is a glass-deck viewpoint inside the Mirante do Vale tower in central São Paulo. Its defining experience is standing over transparent flooring while looking down toward the city, alongside panoramic views from a high-rise setting.
Centro Cultural São Paulo
Centro Cultural São Paulo is a large municipal cultural complex operated by the city government. Located in the Paraíso district, it serves as a major public venue for cultural activities.
SESC Pompeia
SESC Pompéia is a cultural and sports complex in São Paulo, Brazil, housed in a former industrial factory complex. The internationally significant adaptive-reuse project was designed by Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi and opened in the 1980s.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·
Brazil’s scale makes 10–16 days appropriate for one region rather than a national circuit. Build around a single gateway such as Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, then add one coherent coastal, nature or cultural extension.
Visa information is maintained by Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its consular portal. Eligibility depends on nationality and visit purpose; use the ministry’s current table instead of relying on a past visa waiver.
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro handle major international and domestic connections. Flights bridge the country’s long distances, coaches cover many regional corridors, and national passenger rail is not a general substitute for either.
Brazil has no single best month because Amazon, northeast-coast, Pantanal and southern conditions differ. April–June and August–October are broad shoulder periods, but the chosen region’s rainfall and access cycle should decide the dates.
The Brazilian real (BRL) is the unit used for prices. This guide does not record current bank fees or acceptance patterns; check the displayed total and conversion currency before authorising a card or cash transaction.
Brazil separates emergency services: 190 police, 192 ambulance and 193 fire. Type N sockets operate at either 127 or 220 V depending on location, and national tap-water suitability is Not recorded.
