Updated February 2024.

The Metropolis of the Amazon

This extraordinary city is located in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest and rose to prominence as the center of the Amazon’s rubber boom during the late 1800s. The “rubber barons”, who hailed from around the world, made it the gaudiest city with their extravagance and wealth sourced from the exploitation of the rainforest. Over time, the smuggling of rubber tree seeds to Southeast Asia led to Manaus’s deterioration as the rubber boom ended.

During Brazil’s military regime, due to the “demographic gap in Brazil”, more focus was put into interior parts of the country. Manaus became revitalized as a free trade zone with tax incentives for domestic and international companies to invest in the area, which is how it has become a large manufacturing city today.

Its name stems from the indigenous “Manaós” people who once lived in the area and it means Mother of the Gods.

Overview

  • 8:30 - 10:00 AM: Museu da Amazônia – MUSA - outdoor museum about the Amazon
  • 10:45 - 11:45 AM: Museu da Cidade de Manaus - history of Manus museum
  • 12:00 - 1:00 PM: Lunch
  • 1:15 - 1:30 PM: Mercado Municipal Adolpho Lisboa​ - marketplace
  • 1:45 - 2:30 PM: Palácio Rio Negro - cultural center
  • 3:00 - 4:00 PM: Teatro Amazonas - opera house
  • 4:00 - 4:30 PM: Largo de São Sebastião - central plaza
  • 5:00 - 7:00 PM: Dinner
​Click the star to add the map to your Google Maps!​ To view it, simply open Google Maps, navigate to the Menu, choose “Your Places,” click "Maps", and voila, the map should be added.

Tips

Getting To/From the City
Airport
  • The Manaus-Eduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO) is about a 25-30 minute drive away from the city. The best option would be to take a taxi or Uber to get into the city.

Cruises
  • Costa Luminosa, Oceania Cruises, Insignia, Sirena, Voyager, Navigator, Volendam, Seabourn Venture, and Silver Shadow are all prominent cruise lines that dock at port. Depending on the port, one may also need to call an Uber or take a taxi into the city as well.

Bus
  • One can take a bus from the following cities to enter into the bus station. There's not that many roads that lead into Manaus, so this may not be the best method.
    • ​Roraima
    • Porto Velho
    • Itacoatiara


​Getting Around the City
Unfortunately, Manaus doesn’t have a good public transit system set-up; however, one can easily get around the main historic center by walking.
To get around, it's easier to use Uber, but Manaus does have the option to take the bus. One can check the schedule here, but buses usually leave from the pier at the Matriz square bus station
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Buses in Manaus

1-Day Plan

An Uber takes about 45 minutes to reach MUSA, but one can also take the 448 bus.
8:30 - 10:00 AM: Museu da Amazônia – MUSA (R$40)
An outdoor museum on a 1 square kilometer area of the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve of the National Institute for Amazonia Research (INPA). This is a native dryland forest (compared to the wetland or flooded forests around the Amazon Rainforest rivers).

MUSA offers seven forest trails (although they can occasionally be closed for maintenance), exhibitions on native flora and fauna, including orchids, bromeliads, ferns, snakes, spiders and scorpions, butterflies, fungi, and a small aquarium, and a space to show fossil collections. In certain exhibits, the staff will provide information to the visitors (mainly in Portuguese) about what one is seeing.

One of the best things to do here is walk up the 138 feet tall tower with a beautiful view above the treetops of the forest and take in the impressiveness of the forest.
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Note that since one will be walking through the forest, it is required to wear closed-toed shoes. If one doesn’t have any, one can rent boots and socks for R$10 and R$5 respectively.
10:45 - 11:45 AM: Museu da Cidade de Manaus (Free, but ID is required)
This free museum is located in the Paço da Liberdade, formerly the seat of government of the Province of Amazonas, then the State government, before becoming Manaus City Hall. It reopened in 2012 as a cultural center.
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The museum consists of 8 visiting rooms with interactive exhibits, signage (in English and Portuguese), and exhibits dedicated to telling the story of Manaus.





Nearby is Praça Dom Pedro II, one of the oldest areas of Manaus that served as an archaeology site. It has the Fountain of Muses but is more well-known as an archaeological site with traces of indigenous people dating from 100 – 800 AD.
12:00 - 1:00 PM: Lunch 
​Biatuwi is nearby and definitely a place I’d recommend for people wanting to try some local food.
1:15 - 1:30: Mercado Municipal Adolpho Lisboa
​​Famous open marketplace on the shore of Rio Negro that was built in the Art Nouveau style from 1880 – 1883 due to concerns about the hygienic conditions of public markets around the city. It is based off the Les Halles marketplace in Paris, France, even the metallic structures were built in Paris and shipped to Manaus. Adolpho Lisboa is named after the mayor of Manaus at the time.
1:45 - 2:30 PM: Palácio Rio Negro

​​The former seat of government and residence for the governor of the state of Amazonas. It was built by Karl Waldermar Scholz, a German “Rubber Baron”, who mortgaged the house after the “Rubber Boom” ended and WWI began.
3:00 - 4:00 PM: Teatro Amazonas (R$20)
​An opera house that is the first place in Latin America to have running electricity. It has a strange composition of materials from all around the world:
  • 36,000 decorated ceramic tiles in the colors of the national flag from Alsace, France
  • Interior furnishing from France
  • Steel walls from Glasgow, Scotland
  • Carrara marble for stairs, statues, and columns from Italy
  • Paintings by Italian artist Domenico de Angelis the Younger
  • Curtain created in Paris by Crispim do Amaral
  • 198 chandeliers imported from Italy; 32 contain Murano glass.
It undergoes refurbishment in January through early Februrary, with shows from February through December and tours year-round.
4:00 - 4:30 PM: Largo de São Sebastião
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Plaza with the Monument to the Opening of the Ports Memorial
A plaza in the historic center that is known for its incredible nightlife with bars, restaurants, and performances every year. The Church of São Sebastião is nearby. It has a beautiful interior but usually only hosts private events. The sidewalk around the square has sinuous designs representing the Meeting of the Waters and later influenced the sidewalks of Copacabana.
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This is where Carnaval events take place, and in the center is the Monument to the Opening of the Ports, a memorial built like an obelisk in 1867 with the current one built in 1899. It commemorates the freeing the ports and rivers of the Amazon from foreign nations in 1866. All four sides represent the four “corners” of the world: Asia, America, Africa, and Europe. It remembers the date of November XV, in 1889, where the coup d’état established Brazil as a sovereign nation. At the top stands the god Mercury, symbolizing commerce and industry, and a woman representing Amazon with a torch in her hand.
​5:00 - 7:00 PM: Dinner
There are many great options to dine around the Largo de São Sebastião.

Museums

  • Indian Museum (R$5): A museum that needs a better name. Dedicated to the native Brazilian Tucano tribe, one of the original people of the Amazon. The exhibits showcase tools, clothing, rituals, and other items pertaining to the tribe

Other Activities

  • Zoológico Do Cigs: A small zoo where one can see animals of the rainforest like monkeys, jaguars, and birds.

Restaurants

  • Ants:
    • Biatuwi: A restaurant that’s only open on Lunch from Wednesday through Saturday, but they serve traditional indigenous Amazonian cuisine. One of the best dishes to try here are the ants, which have quite a crunchy flavor.
    • Restaurante Banzeiro Manaus: Another restaurant serving ants and local fish.
  • Largo de São Sebastião
    • Restaurante Caxiri Manaus: Considered one of the best restaurants in Manaus, the food here is exquisite, serving local fish (try piranha) prepared in the local style.
    • Jaraqui Forever: While they have seafood, they’re more well-known for their steaks. Come with a friend or a big appetite since they have 2 for 1 specials on alcoholic drinks and steaks!
    • Tambaqui de Banda: Since it’s in the name, one needs to try the tambaqui here! However, my favorite dish was an appetizer, the “Wrapped Caboco”, which is piracucu wrapped in fried banana.
  • Mercado Municipal Adolpho Lisboa:
    • Coreto Peixaria & Café: Great portions of fish for reasonable prices.
    • Taberna do Chef Procópio: Another great place to try delicious fish.
  • Picanha Mania – Ramos Ferreira: Churrascaria serving delicious Brazilian BBQ meats.
  • Other Seafood Restaurants (outside of the city center)
    • Peixaria Do Jokka Loureiro: A restaurant serving local fish that is right on the waterfront. Note that they only accept cash.
    • Peixaraia e Restaurante Recanto do Quixito: Affordable prices for high-quality, good-portioned fish.
    • Peixaria do Juvenal: Another seafood restaurant serving broth-based dishes.
  • Bars and Nightclubs
    • Bar Caldeira (da Vila): Great bar full of delicious food options and live entertainment
    • Curupira Mãe Do Mato: A retrofitted house that provides dance spaces and live music with great drinks.
    • Porão do Alemão Rock Bar: Live music venue that provides Rock and Roll music and drinks.
For a light snack, one should try X-Cabonquinho, the sandwich of Manaus composed of tucumã shavings, queijo coalho, and fried plantain between a sliced buttered French bread.

Other Resources

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