Sao Paulo

What was once a peaceful mission station in a patch of rainforest has, in the last century, hatched into a megalopolis - the biggest and most financially powerful city in South America. The view of São Paulo's skyline from the Edificio Italia is stupefying: an ocean of towering concrete and glass slabs multiplying ever outwards, quickly engulfing all but the most fortunate of older buildings.

You won't, then, be coming here to wander ancient avenues gazing at colonial architecture. You will - if you can take the pace - be visiting to dive headfirst into the best nightlife, shopping and arts scene in all of Brazil.

A mere one-hour flight southwest of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo may not boast the scenic attractions of its sibling, but the paulistanos (São Paulo dwellers) aren't complaining - having gleefully snatched the cultural crown away from the cariocas (Rio dwellers) decades ago.

The city's dominance in this department dates back to its 19th-century coffee-producing days when huge numbers of migrants from Japan, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Syria and Lebanon arrived complete with their artistic, intellectual and culinary heritages.

Massive, skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista (itself home to the excellent Museu de Arte de São Paulo) is the city's major thoroughfare. It runs southwest of the old Centro, where you'll find the Teatro Municipal, a major venue for classical music and theatre. South of the Centro is Liberdade, the bustling Japanese area and, to the southwest, Bixiga - a.k.a. Little Italy.

The leafy collection of upmarket neighbourhoods, known as Jardins, is shopping turf, as well as the domain of fine dining. And that's just the beginning. As there are so many areas in which to eat, drink, dance and be merry, the best idea is to try a new place each night until you've covered all the territory. It's tiring work - but oh so rewarding.