Lencois Marenhenses

Lencois Maranhenses National Park, in northern Brazil, is one of the more unlikely landscapes on the continent: vast white sand dunes that fill each rainy season with thousands of pools of rainwater, turning brilliant shades of blue and green against the white sand. The effect lasts only a few months a year, typically June to September, so timing a visit matters more here than almost anywhere else in Brazil. Access is by small plane or 4×4, and it remains genuinely far from the usual circuit.