Brazil
Alter do Chão
White Caribbean-style beaches lapped by clear water in the middle of the Amazon basin.
White sand stretches into clear blue-green water, and the treeline behind is not coastal scrub but unbroken Amazon rainforest. Alter do Chão in Pará rewires your assumptions — Caribbean-clear water in the middle of the world's largest river basin, warm enough to stay in until the light turns gold.
Alter do Chão sits on the Tapajós River, a clear-water tributary that runs blue-green and transparent against the muddy Amazon. Between July and December, the Ilha do Amor sandbar emerges as one of the Amazon's largest inland beach destinations — a crescent of white sand surrounded by swimmable water. The Tapajós is piranha-free and warm year-round, with visibility extending several metres below the surface. The Çairé festival in September, one of Amazônia's oldest continuous religious celebrations, has run for over two hundred and fifty years. Unlike the saltwater coast, Alter do Chão's beaches exist because of the river's seasonal rhythm — they appear and vanish with the water level, making each visit a different landscape.
Couple
Ilha do Amor at sunset, tambaqui ribs grilled over charcoal at a riverside table, and evenings where the only light is the stars reflected in still water. Alter do Chão is the Amazon made gentle.
Family
Warm, clear, piranha-free water with sandy bottoms — the Tapajós is one of the safest swimming rivers in Amazônia. Children can wade, float, and play while surrounded by rainforest instead of resort fencing.
Friends
SUP boarding on the Tapajós, kayaking into flooded forest channels, and the Çairé festival in September combine outdoor adventure with one of the Amazon's deepest cultural traditions.
- The Ilha do Amor sandbar emerges from the Tapajós between July and December — one of the Amazon's largest inland beach destinations.
- The Çairé festival in September is one of Amazônia's oldest religious celebrations, running continuously for over two hundred and fifty years.
- Swimming in the Tapajós is safe year-round — the clear water has no piranhas and visibility extends several metres underwater.
- The water stays a constant warm temperature regardless of season — independent of the Amazon current, the Tapajós remains blue-green and transparent.
Tambaqui ribs grilled over charcoal at riverside restaurants on Ilha do Amor.
Tacacá — tucupí broth with jambu leaves that numb your lips and dried shrimp — from street vendors at dusk.
Açaí so thick you eat it with a spoon, topped with farinha and grilled fish — the Amazonian way.
Hideaway Island
Vanuatu
Post a waterproof postcard from the world's only underwater post office, then snorkel its coral reef.
Isla Magdalena
Chile
Magellanic penguins in their tens of thousands, nesting so close you walk through their colony.
Buracona
Cape Verde
At midday, sunlight plunges through volcanic rock and ignites an underwater cave into electric blue.
Santa Maria
Cape Verde
Trade winds blast a long golden beach where kitesurfers trace arcs above turquoise Atlantic rollers.
Fernando de Noronha
Brazil
Volcanic spires rising from water so clear the seafloor glows up at you from the clifftop.
Salvador
Brazil
Drum rhythms ricocheting off pastel colonial walls where capoeira circles form before sundown.
Jericoacoara
Brazil
Windswept dunes where the sun melts into the sea from a natural stone arch.
Lençóis Maranhenses
Brazil
Thousands of rain-filled lagoons between white dunes stretching to the horizon like another planet.