Diamantina

Diamantina needs 2 days: the UNESCO World Heritage historic center, with Casa da Glória -two 18th-century mansions joined by a covered walkway over the street- and the Metropolitan Cathedral, on one, and an excursion to Cachoeira dos Cristais or Biribiri, a textile village abandoned in the forest, on the other. April-September brings the driest weather. It's inexpensive for the Minas Gerais standard. It was the center of the 18th-century diamond boom and birthplace of Juscelino Kubitschek, the president who built Brasília, and still keeps the Vesperata tradition, classical music concerts played from the balconies of colonial mansions.