Visiting the Brazilian Amazon: when to go, what to see and how to plan it

A metropolis of two million people at the meeting of the rivers, Manaus is the unavoidable starting point. Visit the Teatro Amazonas, an opera house opened in 1896 during the rubber boom, the Adolpho Lisboa municipal market and the Amazon Museum, whose observation tower rises 42 metres above the canopy. Ten kilometres away, the Meeting of Waters shows the black Rio Negro and the ochre Solimoes running side by side for nearly 6 kilometres without mixing. Two days in town are enough before heading into the forest. Manaus is the gateway to every part of the Amazonian region of Brazil.

This is the most accessible sector: 2 to 4 hours by road and boat north and west of Manaus. The acidic blackwater of the Rio Negro keeps mosquitoes down, making nights more bearable than elsewhere. Anavilhanas National Park strings together about 400 wooded islands explored by canoe, and pink dolphins come close near Novo Airao. Plan at least 3 nights at a lodge to link night outings, forest walks and sunrise on the river.

To the west, the Mamiraua Reserve protects Brazil's largest expanse of varzea forest, the kind flooded by the rising Solimoes. Access is a 1 hr 05 flight to Tefe then a 1 hr 30 boat ride. It is the country's best place for wildlife: endemic red-faced uakari monkeys, sloths, black caimans, giant otters. The community-run Uakari floating lodge requires a minimum of 3 nights and books up months ahead.

Two hours north of Manaus on the BR-174 highway, this sector counts more than a hundred waterfalls and caves in the forest. The turquoise Judeia cave, the Cachoeira da Iracema and the Cachoeira das Araras trail work as a day trip, but two nights on site let you avoid the weekend crowd coming from Manaus. Bring shoes you can get wet and a dry bag.

To slow down, board a hammock boat from Manaus to Santarem, about 30 hours of sailing, or on to Belem in four days. Half an hour from Santarem, Alter do Chao unfolds a long white-sand beach on the Rio Tapajos in the dry season, August to December, its clear warm water a contrast with the rest of the basin. See also the region of Bahia to continue toward the northeastern coast.