Set on a plinth of green land between the Orinoco and Caroni rivers as they flow into the cloud-wisped Sierra Imataca and towards the Atlantic, Ciudad Guayana is one of the fastest-growing metropolises in Venezuela. It's boomed with successful renewable energy and iron-mining industries, and now hosts over one million people.

Travelers who pass its way are in for a glimpse of lived-in, workaday Venezuela, albeit in a city that's unique in its adoption of American-style urban planning. Wide boulevards crisscross the center, monumental sculptures rise with manicured parks, there are suburbs of lawn-fronted homes, and neatly planned neighborhoods set out on rigid grids.

Ciudad Guayana tour guides can help you discover the tropical beauty of the city, at the La Llovizna Park, where gushing waters of the Caroni River cascade over the bluffs at the Llovizna Falls. The Cachamay Park is another great natural reserve flush with waterfalls and lakes, best visited in the mornings when the monkeys come out to play. For a more intrepid adventure, think about setting your sights on the wild Sierra Imataca. They rise to the east with blankets of forest and grass-dressed ridges that roll on until they hit the ocean.