Nobres is a small town in the limestone country north of Cuiabá, about two hours away, and the answer to a question many people ask about Bonito: is there anywhere else like it? Nobres is the Mato Grosso version — clear spring-fed rivers, snorkelling among fish, caves and blue lagoons — smaller, less organised and much less visited.
The best-known site is the Aquário Encantado, a spring pool of startling clarity in the Bom Jardim district where you float above shoals of piraputanga and other fish. The Rio Salobra and Rio Triste offer longer snorkel floats downstream, and the Lagoa das Araras is a buriti palm lagoon where hundreds of macaws come to roost at dusk.
Most attractions are on private farms around the village of Bom Jardim, about sixty kilometres from Nobres town, and visits have to be booked through local agencies, which set daily limits. It is simpler to stay in Bom Jardim than in Nobres itself.