2016 Olympics Goes to Brazil, Scout It Out Now

Thanks anyway, President Obama, for stopping through Copenhagen in an appeal to get the Olympics to your adopted home town. Today it was announced that Rio de Janeiro will welcome the 2016 Summer Games, making it the first South American city ever to host the Olympics. For the next six years Rio will be samba-ing its way through preparations for a huge influx of athletes, media, and spectators. Scout it out now with these authentic, off-the-beaten-path Brazil adventures.

World Class: The Little Amazon on Brazil’s Southern Coast

When German explorer Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied arrived in southeast Brazil in 1815, he stumbled upon one of the richest, tallest, and most impressive forests on Earth—and it wasn’t the Amazon. A haven for blue-chested parakeets, golden-headed lion tamarins, and other endemic species, the Atlantic Forest survives today only in fragile pockets. From the luxury bungalows of Ponta dos Ganchos, 710 miles south of Rio de Janeiro, guests can trek into the rare woodland, whitewater raft its interior rivers, and kayak, sail, and snorkel nearby coastal lagoons (doubles from $620; pontadosganchos.com.br).Text by Costas Christ

Best Island Vacations 2009: Brazil: Fernando de Noronha

Only 500 overnight visitors a day are allowed on this hilly, ten-square-mile isle, the centerpiece of a Hawaii-like 21-island volcanic chain 340 miles from Recife on Brazil’s equatorial northeast coast. The limit was imposed to protect the archipelago’s pristine National Marine Park, threatened by ever increasing buzz from just-back, big-eyed divers, snorkelers, and surfers. The catnip of the virtual velvet rope has also lured Hollywood A-listers of late—Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem unrolled their beach mats here last winter—as well as Brazil’s eco-leaning (and über-tanned) elite. You can stay at one of the dozens of modest guesthouses or do the island in high style by checking in to one of five spare, swank bungalows or three rooms at the Pousada Maravilha. Your to-do list should include snorkeling with sea turtles and juvenile lemon sharks in the blue-green waters of nearby Baía do Sudeste. Dune buggy your way to the northwest coast’s Sancho Beach, reached only by climbing down iron ladders mounted on hundred-foot cliffs, then drive to the lookout over Mirante dos Golfinhos, a bay where every afternoon the world’s largest resident pod of spinner dolphins—some 600 strong—exits en masse to fish. Try tow-diving, a uniquely Noronha activity that involves holding on to a small board and being pulled underwater behind a boat. "It was used by marine biology students to do research," says Pedro Capelossi, a dive instructor and travel agent with Trip Noronha. "Then someone saw how fun it was." As for nightlife, get yourself to the beachfront terrace at Bar do Cachorro, where, after midnight, caipirinhas and an irresistible local forro band will elicit dance moves you didn’t know you knew. Text by Meg Lukens Noonan

The Lure: Diving, surfing

Vitals: Trip Noronha, $97 for a three-hour dive; tripnoronha.com.br. Pousada Maravilha, doubles from $765; pousadamaravilha.com.br

Photograph Courtesy of Ponta Dos Ganchos Exclusive Resort

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