Pará, the second largest state in Brazil by area. It is located in the north of Brazil, and encompasses the mouth of the Amazon River.

Location of state Pará in Brazil

Cities

• 1 Belém — the capital and terminus for a trip down the Amazon
• 2 Algodoal — a coastal city on the island of Maiandeua
• 3 Alter do Chão — home to one of the most beautiful freshwater beaches in the world, leading to it being popularly known as the Brazilian Caribbean
• 4 Belterra — Henry Ford moved his rubber cultivation project here after he failed in Fordlândia
• 5 Capanema — an agricultural town on the way to Salinópolis
• 6 Castanhal — a regional center for education and trade
• 7 Fordlândia — a historic city where Henry Ford once tried to cultivate rubber
• 8 Itaituba — a small city near the end of navigable part of the Tapajós river
• 9 Monte Alegre — famous for some nearby ancient rock paintings
• 10 Ourilândia do Norte — the main city of southeast Pará
• 11 Parauapebas — this city was founded in the 1980s to support the world's largest iron ore mine, and still has an air of pioneers and adventurers
• 12 Salinópolis (also known as Salinas) — a beach resort some 300 km from Belém
• 13 Santarém — a small city located where the Tapajós river pours into the Amazon River

Other destinations

• 1 Ilha do Marajó — claimed to be the world's largest fresh water island (larger than Switzerland), it has a distinct birdlife and also huge water buffalo farms
• 2 Ilha do Mosqueiro — an island with 17 km of beaches with freshwater tides just outside Belém, which draw vacationers primarily in the dry season
• 3 Tapajós National Forest —
• 4 Amazônia National Park — 8,600 km² of very biodiverse habitat with a wide range of animals and plants (a bit smaller than Cyprus)

Understand

While the east is densely populated, the west is a barely developed rainforest wilderness that is being pushed back further and further by deforestation. It is home to about 40 indigenous groups.

Climate

It has a tropical climate in which there is no dry season — all months have mean precipitation values of at least 60 millimetres (2.4 in).

Get in

• Val de Cans International Airport (BEL ^IATA) in Belém
• Santarém-Maestro Wilson Fonseca Airport (STM ^IATA)

See

The Port of Belém has restaurants, art galleries, a small brewery, ice-cream shops, artisan stands, regional food kiosks, coffee houses, and a touristic harbour.

Fans on industrial-urban planning may be interested in visiting Fordlândia, a prefabricated industrial town built by Henry Ford to be inhabited by 10,000 people.

Do

Every October, Belém receives tens of thousands of tourists for the year's most important religious celebration: the procession of the Círio de Nazaré.

Enjoy the beaches in Salinópolis, Alter do Chão or Ilha do Mosqueiro.

Buy

In Belém look for the Marajó-style ceramics, based on the vanished Marajoara culture, which developed on an island in the Amazon River.

Eat

Among all the Brazilian states Pará has by far the heaviest influence of indigenous cooking. Many of these dishes will taste strange to an average European, but all are quite worth a try

• Tucupí: A yellow gravy boiled from manioc, quite bitter, goes in many dishes.
• Maniçoba: A distant cousin of the all-Brazilian Feijoada, easily shortlisted for worst-ever-looking-food. Mostly pork and manioc, served with rice.
• Pato no Tucupí: duck with jambú (vegetable) cooked in tucupí.
• Tacacá: soup with tucupí, dried shrimps and jambú.
• Açaí: soup-like dessert made from the Açaí fruit.
• Brazil Nuts: A nut native to the region.