With a coastline 4,500 miles long, there is no shortage of opportunities but the current focus of development is the Marinho de Abrolhos national park in the south of the province of Bahia ( .br). The Abrolhos are a small group of volcanic islands whose surrounding waters provide a sanctuary for seabirds, dolphins and corals. Access is via flights from Rio to Porto Seguro and then by bus to the city of Caravales, 600 miles north of Rio, from where boats and yachts can be hired. Built in a former grain warehouse, the hotel is located in the city’s Puerto Madero district and overlooks an ecological reserve. Within walking distance of San Telmo, one of the city’s most charismatic barrios, the hotel comprises 83 rooms, along with a beauty centre and spa. Rooms are designed in the Imperial style, with 18-carat gold-leaf swan chairs, deep red velvet curtains and tables and ornaments made from light paloma sandstone Doubles cost from £180 per night.

4 Peru An alternative to the well-trodden Machu Picchu trail, the relatively unexplored region north-east of Lima is home to Kuelap, a fortress located high in cloud forest in the Andean plateau and home to 400 pre-Inca structures, including some formidable ramparts. Places to visit include the lighthouse and the Casa Rosada, a beautifully restored 18th-century private house. Kuelap is one of a number of forgotten cities located in the Chachapoyas Highlands that escaped discovery by the Spanish. The perpetual mist of the area has given the region the name of the Land of the Cloud People, or the Chachapoyans, who live in the “ceja” or eyebrow of the Amazon, just below the peaks of the Andes. Despite being perched on a mountain higher than Machu Picchu, Kuelap, the largest stone structure in South America, remains crowd-free. 5 Argentina The French designer Phillipe Starck has recently completed the Faena Hotel in Buenos Aires.

Up-river, some 150 miles from Ciudad Bolivar, you can visit indigenous Indians, including tribes related to the Yanomami, whose reputation for using their bows and arrows first and asking questions later struck terror into Redmond O’Hanlon in his travel epic In Trouble Again. There are also opportunities to see howler monkeys, parrots and anacondas. Accommodation is at Caura Lodge on the bank of the river, with a choice of conventional beds or hammocks. 3 Uruguay The Kempinski hotel chain ( ), which operates a number of five-star hotels in London and Europe, has opened its first hotel in Uruguay in Colonia del Sacramento, two hours’ drive east of the capital, Montevideo. The majority of visitors to the town make day trips to Colonia from Buenos Aires, but the hotel, adds to the appeal of staying overnight and enjoying the town’s return to tranquillity once the day-trippers have disappeared Doubles cost from £120 per night, suites from £180. Colonia, recently designated a world heritage site, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 and retains much of the architecture of that time.

Most tours start in the colonial city of Ciudad Bolivar, located on the Orinoco river, 200 miles south-east of Caracas. Travellers then head up the Rio Caura, using a dugout canoe carved from a single tree trunk. Plunging 741 feet through lush rainforest in the country’s first national park, the falls are believed to be the world’s largest water drop. In next-door Surinam, guided tours have started to the 17th-century capital of Paramaribo ( ), full of crumbling Dutch and British architecture. Another rarely travelled area of Surinam is Brownsberg Nature Park, on a 500m-high plateau with tremendous views over the Amazon – and a good chance of seeing tapirs. 2 Venezuela Venezuela has some of the Amazon’s best untouched jungle scenery, centred around pioneering tours to the deep south of the country, with few or no cattle plantations and ranches.