Manaus

Finished in 1896 with materials shipped in from Europe. The roof tiles came from France and the seats from Italy.

A black river and a brown one run side by side for more than six kilometres without mixing. Temperature, density and speed all differ, and the boundary shows plainly.

Two or three hours upriver by boat, lodges are built in timber on stilts. Power runs on a schedule and the generator goes off at night.

A freshwater dolphin of the black river whose body turns pink with age. Some operations feed them so visitors can touch, and that is not encouraged.

In the wet season the river rises and the lower trunks stand underwater for months. During those months a canoe can be paddled between the trees.

An iron framed market of 1882 whose structure was shipped from Europe. The fish hall lays out the river species one beside another.

A sand bank on the river that only opens up when the water falls. People gather in the evening while the forest across the channel stays dark.

The Amazon research institute keeps a patch of forest inside the city and opens it. Boardwalks pass wild sloths and monkeys.

A steel tower rises above the treetops for a view across the forest roof. Climbing before dawn shows the mist lying low over it.

On the boats working up and down the river people sling a hammock and travel for days. Space is claimed early, and the hammock is bought before boarding.

A German merchant who grew rich on rubber built this mansion in 1903; governors later lived in it. As a cultural centre today, it lets you wander rooms that keep their wooden floors and chandeliers. You can stroll there from the opera house.

Around 400 islands scattered across the Rio Negro form this freshwater archipelago, now a national park. Boats from the town of Novo Airao thread the channels between them. The drive from Manaus takes some 3 hours, so visitors usually sleep in Novo Airao.

A district some 100km north of Manaus where dozens of waterfalls and caves hide in the forest. Plenty of the falls have swimming holes at their feet. Forest paths turn to mud, so non-slip footwear helps.

Up a side channel by boat, a museum recreates an estate from the rubber era. See the owner's house, the tappers' huts and the smoke shed where latex was cured. Guides explain how workers lived trapped by debt during the boom.

An ecological park on the Meeting of the Waters tours, where Victoria water lilies grow leaves more than 1m wide. A wooden boardwalk crosses between the ponds. In the low-water season the pads can shrink or disappear.

Almost every jungle tour includes it: a bamboo rod, a scrap of beef on the hook, a cast into dark water. Lodges fry the catch for dinner. Those teeth are razor sharp, so let the guide unhook it.

A cable-stayed bridge opened in 2011, about 3.5km long over the Rio Negro. Before it, Iranduba on the far bank could only be reached by boat. From Ponta Negra at dusk you can watch its lights come on.