Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio is reachable nonstop from three US gateways: American Airlines flies Miami to Rio year-round (about 8.5 hours), and both American and Delta add seasonal nonstop service from New York and Atlanta during the Northern Hemisphere winter, when Rio's own summer is in full swing.

Christ the Redeemer, reached by a cog train up Corcovado mountain, and the cable car up Sugarloaf Mountain are the two views every first-time visitor plans around, and both are manageable half-day outings. Copacabana and Ipanema give families two very walkable, hotel-dense beach neighborhoods to base a stay in rather than needing a rental car.

Carnival, in February or March depending on the year, brings the city's biggest crowds and highest prices by a wide margin — book that window only if the festival itself is the point of the trip. September through November and April through June both offer milder weather and considerably better value than Rio's December-to-February peak season.

Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain give Rio two distinct high-vantage views of the same city, and both are worth doing on separate days given how different the light and crowds are morning versus late afternoon. Copacabana and Ipanema beaches sit within the city itself rather than requiring a trip out, and the Santa Teresa neighborhood's cobblestone streets and bohemian art scene are a common add-on for travelers staying more than a couple of days.

Three to four nights covers the main sights and at least one beach day; Rio is most often paired with other Brazilian destinations like Iguazu Falls or the Amazon on a longer trip. It suits travelers comfortable with a lively, densely populated city, and basic travel-safety awareness matters more here than in many other destinations on this list.

Getting there: About 8.5 to 9.5h nonstop — American flies year-round from Miami, with seasonal nonstops from Atlanta and New York. Since Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is best visited September to November, or April to June, we build the itinerary around that window rather than treating the flight search and the calendar as separate decisions.

Christ the Redeemer, completed in 1931 atop Corcovado mountain, was funded largely by private donations from Brazilian Catholics after a national campaign, and its Art Deco style was a deliberate choice by French sculptor Paul Landowski to feel modern rather than traditionally religious. Rio's Carnival, held the week before Lent, is built around fierce competition between samba schools — neighborhood-based organizations, many rooted in the city's favelas, that spend the entire year designing elaborate floats and choreography for a shot at the televised championship parade in the Sambadrome. Brazilian cuisine in Rio centers on feijoada, a black bean and pork stew traditionally eaten on Saturdays, and on the churrascaria tradition of continuous tableside-carved meat, both distinctly Brazilian rather than generically Latin American. The city's favelas, informal hillside communities that developed largely outside formal urban planning starting in the late 1800s, are now home to over a fifth of Rio's population, and several, including Rocinha, offer community-led tours that route tourism income directly back into the neighborhoods rather than through outside operators. Copacabana and Ipanema's beach culture runs on unwritten rules of its own — flip-flops over sneakers, and a can-collecting informal economy of vendors working the sand from dawn to dusk.