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 ... read more »
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 rarely an easy task. To ease the transition, use the Web to become familiar with the transportation options in Brazil before you arrive.
Dulcinea's Insight
- If you’re planning on flying around Brazil, you have two options: purchase a 21-day Brazil Air Pass or book flights individually, which may save more money, according to Brazil Travel News.
- Travel by passenger train in Brazil isn't that common or reliable. Thus most of the sites we’ve included in this section focus on road and air travel.
- Consider hopping on a boat going up the Amazon River to experience Brazil’s ecological attractions. The Amazon begins just east of Manaus, Brazil, and is made up of two main rivers: the Rio Negro and the Solimoes. You can catch a boat in Manaus and take it all the way to Tabatinga, which is bordered by Leticia, Columbia, and Santa Rosa, Peru. For further details of the trip, visit Pacific Island Travel, and for insider tips regarding prices and schedule of riverboats consult Virtual Tourist.
- It is best to book basic boat trips once you’ve arrived at a port; for more luxurious boat tours, online tour providers are your best bet.
- Buses can take you all over Brazil, but you’ll probably have to purchase tickets once you’ve reached a rodoviária (bus station) in the country. Online, you’ll find schedules and routes but most information is in Portuguese.
Dulcinea's Picks
For general travel information …
Frommer's
offers some general travel information tips, whether you're interested in traveling around Brazil by train, plane, car, or bus.
For maps …
Lonely Planet
has a basic map of Brazil to help you get a feel for the layout of cities, bodies of water, and bordering countries.
Paesionline
provides a driving map of Brazil. Click on the basic map to zoom in for highways around the country, or try the “Hybrid” and “Satellite” versions for different views of the country.
For air travel …
TripAdvisor
discloses some helpful hints about internal flights in Brazil, including which airline is typically cheapest and which carriers fly in particular regions of Brazil.
BR Online Travel (BROL)
notes that one of the most economical and practical ways to travel around Brazil is with a Brazil Air Pass. Learn more and purchase an Air Pass on this site.
Varig
is Brazil’s national airline, and was also mentioned in the “How will I get to Brazil?” section. Varig flies to 14 destinations within Brazil. Check here for news, routes, and timetables but be aware that domestic flights in Brazil are not cheap.
For rail travel …
Seat61.com
offers advice on how to travel by train through countries in South America; scroll down to find specific information on train travel in Brazil. The site details various train routes and reviews the experiences. Text is supplemented with links to rail services in a number of countries.
UrbanRail.Net
provides metro rail routes for featured cities in South America, including Recife, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo, and Porto Alegre. Click the city of your choice for a description of its rail services, along with a map of the travel route and a history of its infrastructure.
For buses …
DonaBrasil.com
offers a helpful overview of bus options in Brazil, including the advice that, although bus companies are not difficult to find while you’re traveling, you probably won’t be able to book your ticket online unless you speak Portuguese.
Brazil Travel Blog
offers an essential resource for anyone planning to travel by bus in Brazil. In this entry, the writer provides links to bus companies (whose sites are in Portuguese only) and gives step-by-step instructions for how to use the sites to find bus timetables and prices.
For transportation on the Amazon River …
Frommer’s
offers a few recommended boat-tour options on the Amazon River. There’s a promising variety of options for general boat tours, luxury voyages, and information about the most basic option: old-style riverboats.
TravelBlog
presents travel stories and photos from real people, including a recent entry about a riverboat journey from Manaus to Tabatinga. You’ll see photos of the wooden riverboat and the people and sights encountered along the way.
For driving …
Travel Library
lists car rental companies with local service in Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Fortaleza, and Salvador. Scroll down to “Browse by Destination” to find the cities and link to operators like Avis and Hertz. Be advised that you’ll have to scroll past ads at the top of the pages to reach content.
For travel by taxi …
DonaBrasil.com
has some helpful tips about finding a legitimate taxi driver in Brazil to ensure that you won’t be scammed.
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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