Pure Brazil

This two-week escorted tour by Explore Worldwide starts in Salvador, where colonial architecture and Afro-Brazilian culture fill the narrow streets of Pelourinho. After an orientation, there’s time to stroll or cycle beside the beaches before flying to Manaus, gateway to the Amazon basin. Travelling upriver by boat and speedboat takes you to a remote lodge on the Rio Juma, where jungle walks, night canoe trips and fishing can be arranged.

Next comes a lengthy travel day to the Pantanal Wildlife Reserve, Brazil’s vast wetland, accessible mainly by jeep, boat or horseback. The variety of birds and animals seen here contrasts with the jungle’s dense canopy. An optional full-day jaguar safari is offered but sightings are by no means guaranteed. The final stretch brings you to Iguazu Falls, where the Brazilian side presents a wide view of the 275 separate falls shrouded in mist and coloured by toucans and butterflies.

Flying on to Rio completes the itinerary with options to visit Christ the Redeemer, the bohemian Santa Teresa and Sugar Loaf Mountain. The pace builds from laid-back historical cities to rainforest immersion, quarantine-like wildlife reserves, and a grand finale in a city not just famous for its beaches but its unpredictable rhythms.

These are the places the trip visits, in order. Explore Worldwide publishes the day-by-day itinerary on its own site.