Manaus, located at the Amazon river and surrounded by rainforest. There is one road connecting the rest of Brazil with Manaus, but to our knowledge there are no buses driving from Manaus to for example Rio, if there are, it would be for sure a hell of a ride. Most people fly in and out of Manaus, but there is another option: a boat ride.
We actually took a boat from Leticia, which is the most southern point of Colombia. It is a very slow, but extremely adventurous and unique 4 days boat ride. We are soon going to release a detailed post about the whole trip.
They city of Manaus has a huge port and a very good fish market. The old town is rather small and there are not really any major sight-seeing spots. Therefore Manaus is not really famous for it’s beauty, but it’s location – in the middle of the rainforest – makes it probably the best spot to start a rainforest tour in Brazil. There are a couple of hostels in the city center you can stay at, a dorm bed will be priced at 10-15€ per night. If you want a private room for a decent backpackers price, you’ll have to stay way outside the center. That means you’ll have to take public transport (not recommended) or Uber in order to get to the market and center. Uber costs on average 3-4€ for a 20-30 minutes ride.
Tours are on an average Latin price level (compared to other Latin countries), you can expect to spend on average 250€ for a 3 days tour with guide, food, visits and overnight stays at indigenous towns. All tour operators offer more or less the same program. To decide which operator to go with, it is always best to do some research in advance. Also to choose an organization or guide that treats nature and indigenous in a respectful manner (don’t give this for granted, cause it’s not always the case). We actually did our longest rainforest tour in Colombia, right before the boat trip and therefore decided to not go for a tour in Brazil, as we had just left the rainforest.