It is a country that exudes a passion for life among its people and boasts an abundance of it in its natural and urban spaces alike. Big and bold in every way, Brazil is an ideal destination for both the nature-lover and culture vulture. Coastal Rio de Janeiro offers breathtaking views and countless opportunities to sample local cuisine and marvel at its historic neighbourhoods and compelling architecture. Visiting Ouro Preto is a step back into the height of the colonial baroque, while a decidedly African feel permeates Salvador with its Capoeira and Candomblé. In the country’s humid northern reaches, the magnificent Amazon is home to pink and gray river dolphins, monkeys trouping through the forest canopy, colourful birds screeching through the understory and flying buttresses of eye-popping size propping up even more impressively-sizes rainforest trees. In the world’s largest wetland – the Pantanal – the continent’s greatest concentration of wildlife is found. Not to be forgotten is the Itatiaia region with its two extremes: Atlantic coastal rainforest and the treeless summit of Agulhas Negras.