Manaus — The Jewel Of the Amazon
To explore Brazil’s Amazon, you’ll fly into the gateway city of Manaus. As you leave its glitzy, modern airport, a blanket of humid air wraps around you, signaling the beginning of your Amazon adventure.
Manaus, a sprawling city in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, offers a mix of stark contrasts and something for everyone.
Elegantly appointed hotels or even a cruise ship docked on Manaus’ Rio Negro offer four-star comfort. Juxtaposed with little mom-and-pop hotels and hostels out of an old Hollywood B-Movie stereotype.
Trendy uptown malls vie with blocks of open-air markets and bazaars, making Manaus a shopping Mecca for shoppers and a vibrant nightlife for the party crowd.
The comfort crowd can bask in the sun at a posh resort. Of course, Eco-tourists can rough it on a floating cabana in a secluded jungle setting or immerse themselves in the jungle on a rainforest charter.
The lifeblood of Amazonas enters the region through the port of Manaus, which is 1,500 KM miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean, where the Rio Negro and Solimões rivers meet and give birth to the massive Amazon River.
