Top Reasons to Go

Fly Like an Angel: You probably know Kerapa Kupai Mapú, the world's highest waterfall, as Angel Falls, named for barnstormer pilot Jimmy Angel, who crash-landed here in 1937. Your approach to this amazing cascade (15 times higher than Niagara Falls), deep within Canaima National Park, can be via boat, plane, or feet.

Scale the Andes: South America's preeminent mountain range simply juts into Venezuela. Pleasant university town Mérida anchors the country's highland region, and makes the perfect antidote to the urban sprawl of Caracas. Take a ride on the world's longest, highest cable-car system, and make a leisurely day trip through artisan towns that dot the mountains.

Bask on a Caribbean Beach: St. Bart's has nothing on Margarita, the continent's one true Caribbean island. Venezuelans call their favorite vacation destination La Perla del Caribe (the Pearl of the Caribbean), and the island, with its white-sand beaches, smart hotels, yummy restaurants, and historic sites, really does live up to the hype.

Hone Your Bird-Watching Skills: With more than 1,300 species of birds, Venezuela is one of the world's top destinations for avid ornithologists. In Los Llanos you will be awed by immense flocks of roseate spoonbills, giant egrets, green ibis, scarlet ibis, and jabiru storks. In the Andes, you can watch the magnificent soaring flights of condors. On the Caribbean coast, numerous lagoons shelter flocks of pink flamingos.