(CNN) — Brazil is South America's largest country, and it's full of natural and man-made wonders.

Porto de Galinhas is often nominated as one of the most scenic beaches in Brazil, while the island of Fernando de Noronha is a sea turtle and spinner dolphin sanctuary with some of the best diving and surfing in Brazil.

With a little luck when you travel here, you can spot jaguars, pink dolphins and giant otters at the Amazon rainforest, the world's largest and most biodiverse natural reserve.

Meanwhile, Oscar Niemeyer, widely considered one of the founders of modern architecture, completed the Museum of the Eye when he was 95 in the city of Curitiba, Parana's capital and an important cultural and economic hub.

In the south, as one of the centers of Italian immigration in the 19th century, Bento Goncalves has wineries, cantinas, boutique restaurants, craft shops, art studios and small cheese and other regional food production facilities scattered along the area's rural routes.

On the northeastern coast in Salvador, brightly colored buildings -- many with stucco facades -- line Pelourinho's photogenic streets, the colonial city where European, African and indigenous cultures have converged.