Rio de Janeiro at $571 RT

Architecture nerds should already be jumping at the chance to visit Brazil, thanks to those two little words: Brazilian modernism.

After a century-plus of emulating European-style city planning, Brazil switched lanes in the mid-20th century, going all-in on modernist architecture that worked with the landscape instead of fighting against it. The undisputed king of this new style was Oscar Niemeyer, whose sweeping, elegantly curved buildings can be found all over Rio.

Add a little brutalist flavor to your architecture tour by checking out Rio's Metropolitan Cathedral, designed by Niemeyer's student Edgar de Oliveira da Fonseca. All concrete and stained glass, the cathedral was inspired by the angular shapes of ancient Mayan pyramids.

The movement didn't just extend to buildings, either. In parks and gardens throughout Rio, you can feel the touch of Roberto Burle Marx - your favorite landscape architect's favorite landscape architect. Besides his artful aesthetic vision, Burle Marx was also famous for being wayyyy ahead of the curve with his sustainable and ecologically friendly designs, making full use of native plant life.