Brasília

Brasília needs 2 days: the Metropolitan Cathedral, with its curved concrete column structure evoking an inverted crown, on one, the Esplanade of Ministries ensemble with the National Congress and Palácio do Planalto, works by Oscar Niemeyer, on the other. May-September is best, with dry weather. It's mid-priced for Brazil, geared more toward institutional than leisure tourism. It was built from scratch in just 41 months and inaugurated in 1960 as the new capital, with an airplane-shaped urban plan devised by Lúcio Costa and Niemeyer's architecture that made it the first 20th-century city declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.