Manaus Tourist Information and Tourism

(Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil)

The biggest city within the Amazon, Manaus is a thriving Brazilian tourist destination surrounded by lush rainforest and jungle goodies. Manaus is also rather surprisingly something of a prominent port for shipping, despite the fact that it is roughly 1,500 km / 932 miles from the actual Atlantic Ocean.

Visitors spending time in Manaus will discover a giant city with many truly impressive attractions. Countless Amazon tour operators will likely vie for your business, promising you the ultimate jungle excursion. Official tourist information in the city is provided by the Centro de Atendimento ao Turista (Tourist Assistance Centres), which are run by a state tourism agency named Amazonastur. The two most centrally located offices stand close to the Praca Sao Sebastiao and the Teatro Amazonas.

Manaus Tourist Information and Tourism: Top Sights

Manaus is a busy multicultural jungle city with much of its appeal relating to its closeness to the Amazon Rainforest, with the Jardim Botanico Adolpho Ducke (Adolpho Ducke Botanical Garden) offering an insight into life in the rainforest and its abundance of wildlife. However, there is much to do within Manaus itself, with the Parque do Mindu (Municipal Park of Mindu) providing a network of elevated trails, landscaped gardens and an outdoor amphitheatre, where numerous events are hosted on a regular basis. Families will enjoy spending time learning about the animals at the Zoologico do CIGS (CIGS Zoo), seeing the friendly monkeys living in the trees at the Bosque da Ciencia (Forest of Science), or relaxing of the riverside beaches, such as the Praia de Ponta Negra, the Praia da Lua or the Praia do Tupé. More information about Manaus Tourist Attractions.

During the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century, Brazil, and the Amazon in particular, enjoyed a period of great wealth, due to the demand for the extraction and production of rubber. This relatively short-lived period was known as the 'rubber boom' and created many wealthy local businessmen, who shaped the appearance of the Amazon's main cities and areas of commerce. Manaus was one city very much touched by the excitement and frenzy of the rubber boom and a number of its most impressive landmarks date from this period of opulence, such as the famous Teatro Amazonas (Amazon Theatre / Amazonas Opera House), the Centro Cultural Palacio Rio Negro (Rio Negro Palace) and the Alfandega (Customs House), all of which remain in a good state of repair. Nature has also created a number of important local landmarks of its own, such as the cascading Paricatuba Waterfall, and the truly unique Encontro das Aguas (Meeting of the Waters), where the dark Rio Negro joins with the much lighter, sandy Rio Solimoes. These two rivers then continue to run side by side without mixing at all, creating a meandering stripe for some 6 km / 4 miles. More information about Manaus Landmarks and Monuments.

A surprisingly cultural city, Manaus does contain some very good museums, which document life in the jungle and provide an assortment of information about the natives living within the Upper River Negro area. The best include the Museu do Indio (Indian Museum) and the Museu de Ciencias Naturais da Amazonia (Amazonian Natural Science Museum), the latter of which offers an insight into the rich Brazilian flora and fauna present in the Amazonas. If you find the stories about the past rubber boom rather fascinating, then a visit to the Museu do Seringal Vila Paraiso (Rubber Museum) is in order, which is best reached by taking a short cruise from Ponta Negra and explains how rubber sap is extracted from indigenous trees and then converted into latex. More information about Manaus Museums.

Organising your time well is always important when visiting Manaus, particularly if you are planning a jungle excursion. A number of local tour operators feature their own jungle camping sites and offer a true mixture of fun activities, which range from hiking and fishing for piranhas, to canoeing and river cruises, where you can often spot crocodiles basking in the sunshine. Although much of the wildlife in the Amazon is well camouflaged and therefore difficult to spot, you can be confident in seeing some beautiful scarlet macaws in flight, high above the canopy. Other possible day trips include excursions to the cities of Manacapuru and Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira, and also to the municipality of Presidente Figueiredo, where natural waterfalls and caves await tourists. More information about Manaus Attractions Nearby.

More Manaus Information / Fast Facts and Orientation

• Country: Brazil (north)
• Location: Amazonas
• Status: city, state capital
• Area: approximately 4,400 square miles / 11,400 square kilometres
• Population: approximately 2.1 million
• Language: Portuguese - English and Spanish are also spoken
• Currency: Brazilian Real (BRL)
• Time zone: BRT (UTC -2 to -4) / BRST (UTC -2 to -4)
• Country dialling code: +55
• Telephone area code: 092
• Religion: predominantly Catholic, remainder Candomblé, Jewish, Islamic and Spiritualist
• Average daily Manaus January temperature: 30°C / 86°F
• Average daily Manaus July temperature: 30°C / 86°F