Brazil

Chapada Diamantina

Stony

Tumbling

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Chapada Diamantina ❘ Rosino/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0 Deed

Swimming hole at Chapada Diamantina ❘ Priscila Zambotto/Getty Images

Cachoeira do Mosquito, Lençóis ❘ Peu Ribeiro/500px/Getty Images

Cave in Chapada Diamantina ❘ Cavan Images/Alamy

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Swim in underground pools and beneath waterfalls surrounded by cliffs.

Particularly popular at sunset, Morro Do Pai Inácio offers sweeping views of the surrounding valleys and cliffs, which resemble the mesas of the American Southwest, but with a coating of green.

Chapada Diamantina is an enormous national park in Brazil, a little larger than the state of Maryland. It consists of mountainous plateaus edged by cliffs, some of which are 2,000 feet high. Trekkers in the area can see vistas of wide-open valleys, waterfalls, swimming holes, and underwater lagoons the color of sapphire.

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Most visitors to Chapada Diamantina start in Lençois, a cobblestoned mining town with colonial architecture and crayola-colored houses set into the surrounding hills. While wandering, stop by the 19th-century market perched atop a river, where local artisans sell their wares. Just on the outskirts of town, within easy walking distance, you’ll find Ribeirão do Meio, a swimming hole fed by a waterfall that runs down a rock surface so smooth that you can slide down it on your butt, into tea-colored water at the bottom. Nearby are two other waterfalls: Cachoeira do Sossego, 65-feet tall and thundering down striated tiers of rock, and Cachoeira da Primavera, a more narrow stream flowing down rust-colored boulders to a swimming area below.

Morro do Pai Inácio ❘ Pulsar Imagens/Alamy

From Lençois, it’s about a half-hour drive to the trailhead for Morro Do Pai Inácio (Hill of Father Ignatius), where a 0.3-mile hike takes you to one of the park’s most scenic overlooks. Particularly popular at sunset, the top offers sweeping views of the surrounding valleys and cliffs, which resemble the mesas of the American Southwest, but with a coating of green.

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There are hundreds of miles of trails within the park, and the majority are poorly marked, so guides can be helpful for safety and to find the best sites. Some hikes wind to the top of Brazil’s second-largest waterfall, Cachoeira da Fumaça, and up to Mirante do Pati, an overlook above the Pati Valley that can take three or four days to reach. If visitors opt not to camp on these overnight treks, guides can arrange stays in local homes. Hotels can help with booking a certified expert, but the Associação dos Condutores de Visitantes de Lençóis also offers a list of reputable guides as well as other tour resources.

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For a day trip from Lençois, drive about two hours to Poço Azul and Poço Encantado, cave ponds with shocking azure waters formed by underground rivers and pigmented by mineral deposits. The region is also full of limestone caves like Gruta da Fumaça, with yet more swimming, a towering ceiling, and a wide range of cave formations still being formed around you.