On a sunny day, there are times when Rio de Janeiro really does become the Cidade Maravilhosa, the "Marvelous City," a place where nature is resplendent, the climate is benign, and the people are startlingly beautiful.
Sao Paulo is Brazil's largest city, with a population of about 11 million, and lies a 40-minute flight (270 miles by road) southwest of Rio.
Located at the foot of the Corcovado and part of Tijuca National Park, Rio's Botanical Garden is among the finest in the world.
Brazil is famous for its sapphires and emeralds. However, Francesca Romana Diana crafts her jewelry from indigenous semiprecious stones.
Until recently, the culinary scene in Rio was not highly regarded, the oft-repeated joke being that the only way to eat well was to catch a plane to Sao Paulo.
Despite the fame of Rio's hedonistic culture and the country's more than 4,500 miles of mostly tropical coastline, Brazil has surprisingly few beach resorts of an international caliber.
Andrew Harper's favorite Vietnam beach resorts
The Iguacu Falls are often compared to Niagara and Victoria falls, but arguably, they are more spectacular than either, being taller than the former and wider than the latter.
Strangely, Brazil offers no equivalents to the riverboats on the Peruvian Amazon operated by Aqua Expeditions, which offer sophisticated levels of comfort and cuisine.
The two-thousand-mile coastline of Vietnam is emerging as a major beach destination, and its fine resorts now provide ideal places in which to relax at the conclusion of a demanding tour of Asia.
The Vietnamese kitchen is as regional as that of Italy or Mexico.
The rich waters of the South China Sea make the area around Phan Thiet and Mui Ne an important production center for the most emblematic of all Vietnamese condiments, nuoc-mam.
Despite Vietnam’s rapid economic growth, the hotel choices in Ho Chi Minh City are surprisingly limited.
Recently, the Asian luxury hotel brands have taken Europe by storm, severely discomfiting the existing hierarchy.
Last year, the Travel Office opened a “Special Occasions Desk” dedicated to arranging events such as family reunions, honeymoons and milestone birthday parties.
In July, Tetiaroa will see the opening of The Brando, a resort of 35 villas, each with its own outdoor dining area, pool and private stretch of beach.
In February, it was announced that a U.S.-based private investor group, Peak Hotels & Resorts, had purchased Amanresorts for $358 million in a joint venture with the group’s founder, Adrian Zecha.
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