Experience the best of Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, in the far south of Brazil, built on hills along the broad Guaíba, a lake-like waterway where several rivers meet. The Mercado Público, a nineteenth-century covered market, anchors the centre, and the Usina do Gasômetro, a former power station beside the water, has become an arts centre whose terrace is a favourite spot at sunset.

Parque da Redenção is a large city park with a market of antiques and crafts, and the Fundação Iberê Camargo, a concrete museum designed by the architect Álvaro Siza, stands on the lakeshore. The wine country of the Serra Gaúcha lies north, with the Italian-settled town of Bento Gonçalves and the German-influenced mountain towns of Gramado and Canela within a couple of hours' drive.

Gaúcho tradition shows at the table: churrasco, beef barbecued over embers, and chimarrão, the bitter green mate that people sip from a gourd through a metal straw. Winters can be properly chilly, with frost on the nearby highlands, and the humid summer heat sends people to the lakeshore in the evening.