Acre

The state

Acre sits at Brazil's western edge, bordering Peru and Bolivia, and was the last major territory added to the country, acquired from Bolivia in 1903 after a conflict fought largely by rubber tappers. That history still shapes its identity: extractive reserves where families harvest latex and Brazil nuts, the legacy of environmental leader Chico Mendes in Xapuri, and the Santo Daime religious tradition born near Rio Branco in the 1930s. The state is also home to hundreds of pre-Columbian geoglyphs, vast geometric earthworks revealed by deforestation and now on Brazil's Tentative List for UNESCO World Heritage.

For agencies, Acre suits special-interest and small-group programs rather than volume tourism: archaeology and aerial geoglyph viewing, forest-community and sustainability themes, indigenous cultural encounters, and overland itineraries toward Peru along the Interoceanic Highway via Assis Brasil. Rio Branco is the practical base with domestic flight connections, while Cruzeiro do Sul, in the Juruá valley, is the gateway to Serra do Divisor National Park, reached mainly by boat and with limited visitor infrastructure. Distances are long and many rural routes depend on river levels, so dry-season scheduling and experienced local operators are essential.