Places to see

Amazon Jungle

The southern Amazonas region is thick with tropical rain forest, crisscrossed by rivers, and home to a number of isolated Indian tribes. The charming, balmy town of Puerto Ayacucho is rife with tour operators ready to whisk you deep into the Venezuelan Amazon on the Orinoco, Sipapo or Autana rivers.

Caracas

The capital of Venezuela is a huge, vibrant, energetic South American city, bringing together the tremendously wealthy and the desperately poor. In Caracas, gravity is defied by the city's skyscrapers and the teetering shantytowns that cover the hills around it.

Archipiélago Los Roques

Caribbean Sea

Los Roques is a beautiful archipelago of coral islands lying within the Archipiélago Los Roques National Park. It consists of some 40 islands big enough to deserve names, and 250 other unnamed islets, sandbars and cays. The archipelago's white-sand beaches are clean and lovely (although shadeless) and the coral reefs offer great snorkelling and scuba-diving.

Guácharo Cave

Northwestern corner of Venezuela

Cueva del Guácharo (Guácharo Cave) is Venezuela's longest, most magnificent cave. Depending on when you come, you'll find between 8000 to 18,000 (oilbirds) here. The birds inhabit only the first chamber of the cave, the 750m/2460ft-long Humboldt Hall. The cave also has amazing geological formations. All visits are by a 90-minute guided tour.

Hours: 8:00 AM-4:00 PM

Salto Ángel

Salto Ángel (Angel Falls) is the world's highest waterfall. Its total height is 979m (3211ft), of which the uninterrupted drop is 807m (2646ft), about 16 times the height of Niagara Falls. The cascade spills off the heart-shaped Auyantepui, one of the largest of the (sandstone-capped mesa), into Cañón del Diablo (Devil's Canyon).