Brazil Geography & Climate

Brazil is the largest country in South America, dominated by the Amazon Basin in the north, home to the majority of the world's largest rainforest.

The Brazilian Highlands cover much of the country's center and south, holding São Paulo and most of the population, while the Pantanal, in the west, is the world's largest tropical wetland.

The long Atlantic coastline, stretching over 7,000 kilometers, runs from the Northeast's colonial cities down through Rio de Janeiro's granite peaks to the cooler, more European-influenced south.

Brazil's enormous size gives it several distinct climate zones. The Amazon region is equatorial -- hot and humid year-round with no real dry season.

Most of the coast has a tropical climate with a hot, humid summer, while the south has a more temperate, four-season climate with genuinely cool winters.

The Pantanal follows a wet season (November-March), when the wetlands flood, and a dry season (April-October), when wildlife-viewing becomes dramatically easier -- exactly opposite the coastal beach season's own peak.