Explora Journeys in Manaus

Manaus is the million-person Amazonian capital that grew rich on the rubber boom of the 1890s to 1910s and spent that money on European architecture set down in the middle of the rainforest, a thousand miles up the Amazon from the sea. Its centerpiece is the Teatro Amazonas opera house, and just downstream the Rio Negro's black water runs alongside the sandy Solimões without mixing at the Meeting of the Waters. One day handles either the historic center on foot or a river excursion, not both comfortably.

What to do on a day in Manaus

• Teatro Amazonas, the 1896 rubber-boom opera house with a tiled dome and European interiors, about a 20 minute walk or short ride from the floating port, with English guided tours
• Meeting of the Waters, the line where the dark Rio Negro and the pale Rio Solimões flow side by side for miles without blending, seen on a half-day boat trip
• Mercado Adolpho Lisboa, the riverside municipal market in an iron-framed hall shipped from Paris and modeled on Les Halles, for Amazonian fish, fruit, and crafts
• Palácio Rio Negro, the former mansion of a German rubber baron, now a museum on the boom-era city, in the walkable center
• Largo de São Sebastião, the plaza beside the opera house with its wave-pattern paving and cafes, the heart of the historic core

Weather and when to visit

• High-water season (roughly December to May). Hot and humid with highs around 30 to 33 Celsius and frequent heavy rain, 220 to 320 mm a month. Rivers rise toward their peak, which favors boat access into flooded forest.
• Drier season (roughly June to November). Still hot and humid but with noticeably less rain, around 50 to 170 mm a month, and the most reliable window for jungle walks. September and October are typically the warmest.