Around Brasília

About 15 km along the Belo Horizonte road is the small wooden house, designed by Niemeyer, erected in only 10 days and known as

. President Kubitschek stayed here in the late 1950s during his visits to the city when it was under construction; it is open to visitors and houses memorabilia and some of JK's furniture and personal items.

Some 40 km northeast of the Plano Piloto via Saída Norte is

, originally a settlement on the colonial pack route from the mines of Goiás and Cuiabá to the coast. The old part still contains many colonial buildings. There are two good

on the main street and it is a good place for a rural Sunday lunch. About 5 km outside Planaltina is the

, the foundation stone laid by President Epitácio Pessoa in 1922 to mark the site that was originally chosen for the new capital.

Also outside Planaltina, at Km 30 on the BR-020, lies

. From the same point spring two streams that flow in opposite directions to form part of the two great river systems: the Amazon and the Plate. Permission from the biological institute in Brasília is required to visit. At Km 70 is the town of

. Some 20 km north of the town is the

(158 m high). From the top are spectacular views and the pools at the bottom offer good bathing, but it gets crowded at weekends. There are four smaller falls in the area and camping is possible. To get there from the centre of Formosa, follow the signs or ask. The only bus from Formosa to Itiquira leaves at 0730 and returns at 1700.

This park was founded in 1961 to preserve a remnant of the original

flora and fauna that Brasília replaced. The park covers some 28,000 ha, but only a small portion is open to the public without a permit. There is a swimming pool fed by clear river water, a snack bar and a series of trails through gallery forest, which is popular with joggers in the early morning and at weekends. The rest of the park is rolling grassland, gallery forest and

vegetation. Large mammals include tapir, maned wolf and pampas deer; birdwatching is good, especially for Brasília tapaculo, horned sungem, yellow-faced parrot and nighthawk.