Brazil is enormous, and the difference between its regions is bigger than most people expect. Rio’s beaches and mountains feel worlds away from São Paulo’s fast, sprawling energy, and the Amazon and the northeast coast are different again. It’s a country where the food, music and pace of life shift noticeably as you move between regions, and where a bit of local knowledge goes a long way
Community Tips For Brazil
Make sure you taste some of the amazing Brazilian food and drink. Guarana (soft drink and more popular than coke), coxinha (chicken dumpling), caipirinha (very strong run drink!), brigadeiro (sweet chocolate), farofa (cassava), feijao (black beans) etc (Vera.)
Trains don’t exist in Brazil so it is either long distances buses, which are OK but quite crowded. Flights are plentiful and cheap. Often access is into local airports. Santos Dumont (SDU) in Rio and Congonhas (CGH) in Sao Paulo. Ponte area is the Rio-SP flight.
Many items can be bought in installments, called pacotes. This means if you see a price on clothes, for example, it might actually cost 10 times that!
Beware of the rain! It rains a lot in the summer often for one dedicated hour in the summer. This can make a big impact on the streets of the major cities, that are already very congested. It means a trip to the airport can take much longer after the rain (Benjamin.)
Explore Brazil
Rio de Janeiro
Visit Floresta Tijuca, which is an urban rainforest and unrivalled anywhere in the world.
If you have a chance get out of the city to a nearby beach. Best way is by car if you can club together and maybe hire one for the day.
Do take care and only ever go into favelas with locals or on a guided tour.
Music scene is good all year round, not just during Carneval and New Years eve. Try some informal bars in lapa or Botafogo.
São Paulo
Although not everywhere, the metro is good and fairly efficient. Often much quicker than the packed streets.
Jardins is a great place to eat. Try a rodizio de sushi, which is a play on the normal meat BBQ but with a Japanese twist. There is a massive Japanese community in SP (Erica.)
The shopping centres are where locals often go to hang out, shop but also eat in the praça de alimentação, often on the top floors. There are many centres in the city. Food is good value but the stores are not!
Paulista is the most famous street but also good to visit some streets just off there. Avoid Centro which can be a bit run down (Vera.)
Bahia/north
Salvador is the heart and if you are up for it, the Carneval there is tuly authentic. Get abadas (t shirts) of your favourite bands and then follow the trucks for 10 hours. A long electric day.
Many Bahian dishes to try with more African flavours, such as Moqueca (coconut fish stew), Acarajé (deep fried fish balls), Vatapá (creamy coconut paste.)
Take a trip to Praia do Forte, which is a more relaxed holiday destination with many hotels and nice hostels. About 1.5 hours from Salvador.
Many other amazing beach destinations along the coast including Fortaleza and Recife. Easy to get cheap planes between them all because distances are large. Direct flights also in place from Lisbon.
Natural Wonders
Iguazu Falls are awesome and worth viewing from both Brazilian and Argentinian side. The town Foz de Iguazu is some distance from the falls. Bus about 24 hours from Rio or Sp or a short flight.
Whilst in Foz, you can also visit the town of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. Not that much to do there but cheap goods and a way of catching Paraguay!
Pantanal is a huge inland wetland and generally best to visit on a tour. You could also visit the nearby Bonito, which is beautiful like its name (Louise.)
The Amazon is also world famous but factor in time and money if you want to visit properly. Manaus is the gateway and not much to see there but you can sort out plans from there. Remember the mossie spray!
