Iguaçu Falls

A large urban rainforest replanted in the nineteenth century, with waterfalls, trails and viewpoints above the city.

The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland, flooding and drying on an annual cycle that concentrates animals along rivers and waterholes in the dry months. It offers the most reliable jaguar sightings anywhere, along with giant otters, capybara, caiman and hyacinth macaws. Access is via the Transpantaneira road in the north or Campo Grande in the south.

Lençóis Maranhenses is a field of white sand dunes on the north-east coast where rainwater collects between the ridges into thousands of clear blue lagoons. The water arrives with the rains and evaporates by the end of the year, so the lagoons are full roughly from June to September. Four-wheel drive from Barreirinhas is the standard access.

The 30-metre Art Deco statue of 1931 on Corcovado, reached by cog railway or van, looking over the bay and the city. The statue was designed by Paul Landowski and engineered by Heitor da Silva Costa, and it sits inside Tijuca National Park. It was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

A four-kilometre crescent of sand with a mosaic promenade, lifeguard posts that mark distinct social zones, and kiosks along its length. The 4 km crescent beach is lined by a promenade whose wave-pattern pavement was designed by Roberto Burle Marx. It hosts one of the world's largest New Year's Eve celebrations.

A 396-metre granite monolith at the mouth of Guanabara Bay, climbed in two cable car stages with a sunset view over the city. The granite peak rises about 396 metres at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. A two-stage cable car, opened in 1912, climbs via Morro da Urca to the summit.