Caracas

Caracas's setting is as dramatic as they come: a coastal valley with, on one side, the lush, rather wild Parque Nacional El Avila and on the other heavily built-up hills where modern suburbs sit almost neck-and-neck with sprawling shantytowns. The city itself is a vibrant, fast-paced forest of skyscrapers where cutting-edge architecture is fast replacing the cute colonial buildings of the past.

What's left of the historic quarter, including the city's cathedral, is clustered around Plaza Bolivar, with its inevitable monument to 'El Libertador' (the liberator). A trip to the Casa Natal de Bolivar, and the nearby Museo Bolivariano will tell you all you need to know about the man who freed the country from Spanish rule and is buried with other local big shots in the grand Panteón Nacional.

Don't go to Parque Central expecting peaceful greenery: this futuristic concrete jungle is the city's art and culture district, packed with cinemas, museums, the Complejo Cultural performing arts complex and the must-see Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, one of the best on the entire continent.

Caraqueños (as the locals are known) may be culture vultures but they still know how to have a good time: this city is a great place for shopping, eating (you'll find plenty of both in the historic quarter) and having fun - although, in true South American fashion, things don't get moving till after midnight.

And in case all of a sudden you feel an irrepressible need to escape the urban noise and pollution, you can always don your walking shoes and take one of the 200km of walking trails (many starting within the city itself) that crisscross the Avila national park.