Santos, Brazil

SANTOS , one of Portugal's first New World settlements, was founded in 1535, a few kilometres east of São Vicente. Today it is home to Latin America's largest and arguably most important port, through which a large proportion of the world's coffee, sugar and oranges pass. The city stands partly on São Vicente island, its docking facilities and old town facing landwards, with ships approaching by a narrow, but deep, channel. In a dilapidated kind of way, the compact centre retains a certain charm that the development of the enormous port complex has not yet extinguished. It's massively popular with local tourists, and, although you may want to skip the rather murky beaches, there is a good deal of historical and maritime interest around the city.