Manaus
Brazil
An opera house in the rainforest, and two rivers that refuse to mix
Remote destinations — A city of two million in the rainforest, reached by river or by air
Photo by Tadeu Jnr on Unsplash
Photos by Paulo Mateus Oliveira Guerra, Giovanni Moschini, Giovanni Moschini and James Cheung on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Brazil
June to November
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 353mm in Mar
Where it is
3.12°S, 60.02°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- See a performance in the Teatro Amazonas
- Go out to the Meeting of the Waters, where the black Negro and the brown Solimões run side by side for kilometres
- Spend two nights at a lodge in the Anavilhanas or Mamori
- Canoe the flooded forest between April and July, or walk its trails from September
- Watch pink river dolphins from a boat rather than a feeding platform
- Eat your way through the Mercado Adolpho Lisboa
Manaus travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Brazil
Good valueChange money in Manaus before going into the forest — a jungle lodge takes cards for the booking and cash for everything else, and the villages take cash only. Rates in the city centre beat the airport. Tips for guides and boatmen are expected and are best given in reais.
ATMs & cards
Draw what you need in the city, from Banco do Brasil, Bradesco or Itaú machines inside branches and shopping centres. There are no machines on the river. Decline conversion, and do not use street kiosks after dark near the port.
Avoid these
- machines near the port after dark
- assuming you will find one on the river
Use these instead
- Banco do Brasil
- Bradesco
- Itaú
There is no cash machine in the forest. Take what your lodge stay and your guide will cost before you leave the city.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Brazil
Reasonably safeThe centre is lively by day and best left by taxi at night, especially around the port and the Zona Franca shops. Ponta Negra and the hotel districts are calm. In the forest the risks are not criminal: heat and dehydration, sun on open water, and the need to go with a licensed guide rather than whoever offers at the dock. Yellow fever vaccination is strongly recommended for Amazonas, and some onward countries ask for the certificate.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Ponta Negra
- Adrianópolis
- Teatro Amazonas — and the square by day
Worth more attention
- Centro, Manaus — and the port after dark
- The floating markets at dawn with a camera out
- Swimming in the Rio Negro away from a guided spot
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Brazil visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Other passports
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$80
Brazil reintroduced visas for these three nationalities. It is an e-visa applied for online.
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Brazil
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Yellow fever — recommended for most of Brazil including the area around Rio
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
Getting treated
Public emergency care (SUS) is free to everyone including foreigners, but is crowded and slow. Private hospitals in Rio and São Paulo are excellent and expect insurance or payment up front.
Dengue, zika and chikungunya are all present and mosquito-borne — repellent matters. Yellow fever vaccination should be given at least 10 days before arrival.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodAmazonian food is unlike the rest of Brazil: tambaqui and pirarucu grilled whole, tucupi broth, jambu leaves that make your mouth tingle, and fruit — cupuaçu, açaí as the locals actually eat it, graviola — you will not have tasted. Eat at the Mercado Adolpho Lisboa in the morning and along Ponta Negra in the evening.
Nightlife
A river city with an opera house, a night market and a beach on the Rio Negro that fills at the weekend.
- Ponta Negra — the river beach, and the bars along it
- Teatro Amazonas — the square around it, and the concerts
- Largo de São Sebastião — the bars in front of the opera house
Closing: 03:00.
A beer in a bar: R$7–13
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- 99Works here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
99 the Brazilian one, often cheaper
- From the airport
- Guarulhos to central São Paulo R$80–130
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper than a taxi and, in the big cities, the default for everybody.
Some favela and periphery addresses will not be accepted by drivers at night; that is a driver safety decision, not a fare one.
Time zone and your working day
America/Manaus — the same time as you
8 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 09:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 09:00–17:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Brazil
Why these are Brazil's numbers and not Manaus's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.9× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 2.5× the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Manaus, so these are medians for all of Brazil. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Brazil, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Portuguese (Brazilian)
- HelloOi / Oláoy / o-LA
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youObrigado / Obrigadao-bree-GA-doo / -da
- Yes / NoSim / Nãoseeng / nowng
4 more phrases
- Excuse meCom licençakong lee-SEN-sa
- How much is it?Quanto custa?KWAN-too KOOS-ta
- The bill, pleaseA conta, por favora KON-ta
- Cheers!Saúde!sa-OO-djee
Softer and more open than European Portuguese, and the de sounds like "dje".
Religion
Catholic and Evangelical
The largest Catholic population in the world, with a fast-growing Evangelical share and Afro-Brazilian traditions such as Candomblé and Umbanda practised alongside.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with a kiss on each cheek between women, or a woman and a man; a handshake between men
- Expect physical closeness in conversation — standing back reads as cold
- Arrive late to social invitations; on time is genuinely early
- Learn a few words of Portuguese, and never open in Spanish
Don't
- Do not make the OK sign with finger and thumb — it is obscene here
- Do not walk with a phone visible in the street
- Do not wear obvious jewellery or watches on the beach or in the city
- Do not call Brazilians Hispanic or assume they speak Spanish
Where to stay in Manaus
No Holistay rentals in Manaus yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Manaus on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Eduardo Gomes MAO
30 minfrom the airport· 10 km as the crow flies
30 min to the centre. There is no road here worth the name.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
