We are arriving in Brazil in the middle of October and are looking for a 3 or 4 day trip to the Amazon and/or Pantanal regions. Is it best to book before leaving or can it be done easily once we are there? Any advice or feedback on places to stay (good or bad) would be great! Thanks

Bumpy:

I have sailed the Amazones from Manaus to Belem ,wouldn´t recommend it. Nothing WOW.
Specially if you are expecting jungle sorroundings , animals etc...
I friend of mone has been at Pantanal and was very impressed. There are a few interesting tours I have found on the Web. I would book before arrival.

From Manaus to Belem by boat is quite a long trip and agree can be tiring sometimes. There are some "jungle hotels" where you can stay a shorter period of time (2-3 nites?).
For Pantanal, you will see much more animals than the Amazon and I can recommend Caiman Pousada (they have a good webiste www.caiman.com.br) which has excellent structure.

Sorry, I haven't been up the Amazon, but I really enjoyed a visit to Fazenda Rio Negro in the Pantanal. It's a conservation center and country-style hotel that is associated with Conservation International. They are trying to promote ecotourism in place of more destructive use of this amazing area. (They also have very interesting wildlife and conservation research on this site.) Beautiful area, and acomfortable (if not luxurious) old farmhouse that has been turned into tourist accomodations. When I was there, the tourists were all from Brazil and it was a wonderful experience.
Here is one descriptive link with a 3-5 day program...google will doubtless provide others
http://www.amazondiscover.com/amazon...o_pantanal.htm

The best Amazon boat trip that I could recommend is actually from the "meeting of the waters" up the Rio Negro with Amazon Clipper cruises. We had a wonderful guide who showed us all kinds of interesting things and took us to a couple of great little villages. Therre were only 17 people on the boat so it was a very relaxed and intimate look at the area. I think you would want to book before you go. We booked through Edson Alessi at fredsontravel.com and he got us a great price.