One City with two legendary beaches: the Copacabana and Ipanema Beach, immortalized in song "The Girl from Ipanema" in 1962. The worldwide hit track still captures the mood of Brazil’s second biggest city (6.32 million inhabitants). Rio’s beaches are a magnet for people from all over the city, where sun worshippers congregate to see and be seen.

Watching the sun set over the rocky outcrops and islands off the coast of Rio de Janeiro is a spectular sight. The rocky edges of Ponta do Arpoador provide a great place to soak up this spectacle. You can see one of Rio’s famous landmarks, Sugar Loaf Mountain, at the centre of this picture.

Rio is full of breathtaking views. The vista from Sugar Loaf Mountain is among those that are not to be missed. Visitors have been taking cable cars to the top of the 395-meter high granite peak since 1913. You are guaranteed a fantastic view along the way – the gondolas going up the mountain also have panorama windows. But ascending on foot, however, is better left to extreme sports Lovers only.

The colossal statue of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) overlooks Sugarloaf Mountain. The sculpture stands thirty meters high, has an arm span of 28 meters and weighs about 1,145 tonnes. The ascent of the 710-meter high Mount Corcovado is impressive in its own right. From the statue’s pedestal, the view over the bay is simply fantastic. Up to 4,000 visitors flock to this sight daily.

More than six million people live in Rio and about one in five live in the so-called favelas. Hundreds of these shanty towns sprawl across Rio’s hilly slopes. Few tourists ever dare to venture there on their own. However, you can take guided tours conducted by locals.

Carnival is the most important event of the social calendar. With street parades just about everywhere locals and tourists alike end up partying until they drop. Unique to Rio, there's a competition between the city’s famous samba schools. Thousands of dancers battle it out in the Sambadrome for two nights in a row. They parade along a 1.7 km course to rapturous responses from the audience.

If you decide to take a trip to Rio, you shouldn’t miss the chance of exploring other parts of Brazil. The Iguazú Falls along the country's border with Argentinia are one of the world’s biggest waterfalls - and a stunning natural spectacle with 275 individual falls along a 2.7-km long divide. The best view of this UNESCO World Heritage Site is from the Brazilian side.

Thousands of sand dunes separated by glistening sweet water lagoons are actually a rather unusual sight amid the tropical temperatures of Brazil. This unique landscape stretches across 1,550 square kilometers in northern Brazil. Located in a coastal region of the state of Maranhão, it was made into a national park in 1981.

The Amazon River carries more water than any other river in the world and flows through the world’s biggest tropical rainforest. If you want to explore this natural habitat, you will need plenty of time. Tour operators can organize almost anything from a botanical expedition to a piranha fishing trip. You can also spend the night in jungle lodges or camps.

There is plenty of culture in the heartland of the Amazonas state: Opera fans from around the world flock to Manaus for a three-week Festival each year. The event dates back to only 1997, but the opera house itself, the Teatro Amazonas, was built in 1896 with profits from the local rubber industry. The building is a fascinating relic from a time when Manaus was known as the "Paris of the Tropics".

Few foreign tourists ever venture into northeastern Brazil. The city of Olinda is a jewel that is still largely considered to be off the beaten track. This charming town attracted many artists in the 17th century and still remains an artist colony today. With 33 churches and chapels, it is one of Brazil‘s best preserved colonial cities. Olinda was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.

Salvador de Bahia was the original capital of the former Portuguese colony as well as the center of Brazil’s slave trade for centuries. Today, it is the heart of Afro-Brazilian culture - and its heartbeat is the sound of the drum. The city is not just renowned for its rhythm, but also for its relaxed and inviting atmosphere. It‘s also the spiritual home of the dance-cum-martial art capoeira.

Brazil has had three capitals thoughout ist history: Salvador de Bahia at first, then Rio de Janeiro and since 1960 Brasilia - the world's biggest city created from scratch. Designed by urban planner Lúcio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer, Brasilia has now been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.