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The Atlas Obscura Guide To Brazil

145 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Brazil

Updated March 24, 2025

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  1. Blumenau
  2. Brasília
  3. Campinas
  4. Curitiba
  5. Manaus
  6. Porto Alegre
  7. Recife
  8. Rio De Janeiro
  9. Salvador
  10. Santos
  11. São Paulo
  12. Ubatuba

Unusual Attractions in Brazil

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Architecture 25
Museums 20
Architectural Oddities 17
Animals 16
Art 15
Nature 11
Water 11
Churches 10

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Stories About Brazil

Lightning strikes the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue that stands on a mountaintop above Rio de Janeiro.

In Rio, a Reincarnated Spirit Can Chase Away the Rain

Cacique Cobra Coral is often tapped by officials to keep weather from ruining important events.
by Constance Malleret
Capim dourado actually isn’t gold, and it’s not grass either.

How Brazil Protects and Preserves Its Luminous ‘Golden Grass’

In the Cerrado, the Mumbuca community spin capim dourado into hats, baskets, and jewelry.
by Jamie Ditaranto
The capelobo is said to stalk Brazil’s dense rainforests—always looking for its next victim.

The Blood-Sucking Capelobo Haunts Brazil’s Dense Forests

The humanoid anteater slurps its victim’s gray matter as if devouring termites in a mound.
by April White
Turns out there’s been a whole other species slithering quietly by.

It’s Official: There’s Another ‘World’s Largest Snake’

Even actor Will Smith saw it slither through the Amazon.
by Olivia Young
Scientists don’t know how many silky anteaters live in Brazil’s Parnaíba Delta. Densely vegetated mangroves make it difficult to count the elusive animals.

Brazil's Most Adorable Anteater May Be a New Species

These isolated, pocket-sized silky anteaters live among the mangroves of Brazil’s Atlantic coast.
by James Hall
Electric eels, native to the Amazon region, are known for delivering powerful, painful jolts to prey, would-be predators, and the occasional human. But much less is known about their reproduction.

The Shocking Sex Lives of Electric Eels in Brazil

Lightning and other environmental electricity may jumpstart reproduction for the Amazon Basin fish.
by James Hall
Of the 151 species they studied, all of them, including this tree frog, Dendropsophus rhodopeplus (shown under blue light), displayed some level of fluorescence.

Biologists Threw a Fluorescent Frog Rave in the Amazon, for Science

Turns out many of the frogs glow, maybe to communicate.
by Roxanne Hoorn

Podcast: Snake Island

Off-limits and full of venomous pit vipers, this rock has certainly earned its nickname.
by The Podcast Team

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