Brazil: Bem-vindos ao Brasil!
If you're looking for a place where you can follow up a jungle adventure with a visit to an exciting city, or conclude a day of wandering historic neighborhoods with a walk along a sandy beach, you can find that and more in Brazil. This land of samba music and Carnivale intrigues scores of visitors each year, and you can be next, with help from the Web. We’ve rounded up some excellent online resources revealing Brazil’s most sought-after cities and features, tools to help you find and book your accommodation and transportation to and within the country, plus sites connecting you with other travelers.
Expand All Guide SectionsBrazil Travel Basics
With the diverse mix of activities and experiences available in a country this large, it’s ... read more »
Travel Requirements for Brazil
You’ll want to know when the Brazilian skies will be blue and welcoming, and you’ve got to track down essential health and safety information before you take off. The sites in this section can enhance your trip and may just get you out of a heap of trouble by pinpointing the Web’s best pre-trip resources.
Dulcinea's Insight
- Some people mistakenly think that Brazilians speak Spanish. In fact, the official language of Brazil is Portuguese, making it the only Portuguese-speaking country in South America. A few native tribes also speak their own language.
- If you are planning a lengthy stay in Brazil (or any foreign country for that matter), it is important that you register with a U.S. Embassy or Consulate to make sure proper officials know your whereabouts in the event of an emergency. The U.S. Department of State allows you to register online.
- In addition to an Embassy in Washington, DC, Brazil has eight Consular Offices around the United States. If you have questions as you plan your trip to Brazil, a Consular Office might give you a quicker answer than the Embassy will. Make sure you check to see which office has jurisdiction over your state.
Dulcinea's Picks
For safety advisories …
The U.S. Department of State
provides this Consular Information Sheet with safety particulars and other important information you should know about Brazil. The section on the high rate of crime in Brazil is fairly detailed. Also use this page to familiarize yourself with Brazil's visa and passport requirements.
For health information …
MDtravelhealth.com
explains the vaccinations, medical advisories, disease outbreaks, and other health precautions you should be aware of both when you are in the planning stages of your Brazil adventure and when you're in the country.
For information about when to go …
Let's Go
explains that Brazil's size creates considerable climate variation depending on what part of the country you visit. Brazil is also in the southern hemisphere, which means the seasons will be opposite those in North America (summer lasts from December to March in Brazil).
Frommer's
bases most of its "when to go" recommendations on the activity in Brazil, noting that the holiday schedule greatly affects airfare and hotel prices and whether Brazilians will be spending time indoors with their families or enjoying festivities out in the streets. A good review of the weather patterns, including general temperatures for the regions of Brazil, is also provided.
For a few Portuguese phrases …
The BBC’s
Language section covers Portuguese, including lessons and multimedia features geared specifically to beginner- and intermediate-level speakers, and to those in need of a language “Quick Fix” before a trip.
The Brazilian Tourism Office
offers this page of useful Portuguese phrases. The main disadvantage is that there are no audio files, so you’ll have to figure out pronunciation on your own.
For currency conversion …
OANDA.com
is a reliable and comprehensive provider of foreign currency information on the Web. The site’s “FXConverter” provides up-to-date conversions for all world currencies in an extremely user-friendly format.
Getting to Brazil
Maybe you’ve got your heart set on arriving in Brazil via the mighty Amazon, or perhaps you ... read more »
Brazil Hotels
Brazil oozes excitement and color, and you can find accommodations capturing the country’s ... read more »
Getting around in Brazil
Navigating a foreign country, particularly with the challenges that language barriers can pose, is ... read more »
Brazil Travel Blogs and Forums
Personal accounts in blogs and forums often capture high and low points of a country that many ... read more »
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