Gateway to the world's largest rainforest
Manaus grew rich on rubber in the late 19th century, and its pink-and-gold Teatro Amazonas opera house is the lasting proof. Most visitors pass through on their way into the rainforest: boats leave for the Meeting of the Waters, where the dark Rio Negro and sandy Solimões flow side by side without mixing, and for lodges up the Rio Negro and its flooded forests. Days there bring canoe trips through igapó forest, piranha fishing, night searches for caimans and a chance of pink river dolphins.