Brazil Travel Information

Posted on Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Take a stroll on Copa Cabana or Ipanema beach or to the Christ the Redeemer in South America’s most vibrant and beautiful city, Rio; and if you’re there for Carnival, pack your party shoes! Elsewhere fish for piranha in the Pantanal, visit Iguazu Falls and explore deep thick rainforests.

Popular places to visit in Brazil are Rio De Jan Rio De Janeiro, Copa Cabana Beach, Iguazu Falls, Atlantic Rainforest, Superagui National Park & Rio Carnival

Brazil is a massive country with quite distinct climatic regions. The hottest time of the year is from December to February, this is also when most Brazilians are on holidays too! Most rain falls in Brazil during the summer, however the Amazon receives rain all year round. The Brazilian winter runs from June to August, temperatures can be quite cool in the south - down to 15°C.

Visas

Australians, Americans and Canadians currently require a visa for Brazil. British and New Zealand travellers currently do not require a visa for Brazil. For all other nationalities please reconfirm your visa requirements with your travel agent.

Airports

Rio de Janeiro-Galeão Aeroporto is located 20km (13 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro. Bus and taxi are the best hassle-free ways to travel into Rio. Taxis are available, although you are advised to ignore the RDE taxi desk and go to the Rio de Janeiro State Tourism Authority desk instead and buy prepaid taxi vouchers. Otherwise, passengers should ensure that their taxi’s meter is cleared of the last fare. A taxi fare is approx US $20.00. There is an airport shuttle bus every hour, which stops at major hotels and beaches. Empresa Real have air-conditioned frescao buses that drive into the city as well as along the seafront stopping off at the hotels (journey time: 45 minutes). Public buses run to the city centre. The airport has a range of currency change facilities and banks.

Tour companies will include complimentary transfers if you book airfare with your land package, or transfers may be purchase at an additional charge if you book land only. The same applies to cruise lines. If you book air with the cruise line, or you add per or post hotel accomodations, transfers will be included in the package. If you book your own airfare, transfers would have to be purchased seperately.

Food

The staples of the Brazilian diet are feijão (black beans), arroz (white rice), and farinha (manioc or cassava flour), usually combined with steak, chicken or fish. Brazilian specialties include feijoada, a bean and meat stew (traditionally eaten for Saturday lunch), moqueca, a seafood stew flavored with dendê oil and coconut milk; caruru, okra and other vegetables mixed with shrimp, onions and pepper and dendê oil. On many street corners in Bahia, women wearing flowing white dresses sell acarajé, beans mashed in salt and onions, fried in dendê oil and then filled with seafood, manioc paste, dried shrimp, pepper and tomato sauce