Sitting at the mouth of the scenic Rio Itajaí, this cosmopolitan city between São Paulo and the Uruguayan border offers a culture-rich respite from the frenetic pace of Brazil’s larger cities. Past the shops, bars and restaurants of the bustling port, stop into the eclectic Itajaí Historical Museum for post-colonial artifacts and Ethno-Archaeological Museum for local prehistoric finds. An influx of 19th-century German immigrants provides a modern-day bonanza of wineries and breweries. The white sands of Atalaia Beach beckon, as does snapping a photo of an iconic cliff formation called Parrot’s Beak.