Brazil

Brazil contains multitudes, and every one of them dances. Rio de Janeiro remains one of the most beautiful cities humans have ever built, mountains and beaches and samba interlocking beneath the open arms of Christ the Redeemer. Copacabana and Ipanema are rituals as much as beaches: join the sunset applause at Arpoador rock and you will understand. Then choose your Brazil. The Amazon, where riverboat lodges float you past pink dolphins into the world's greatest wilderness. The Pantanal, actually better than the Amazon for wildlife, where jaguars hunt caiman along riverbanks in broad daylight. Iguaçu's deafening curtain of falls. Salvador's Afro-Brazilian heartbeat, all drums and golden churches. Trancoso's chic barefoot beach scene. Brazil is vast, warm and rhythmic to its core. One trip will not be enough.