Brazil Tours & Travel

With all the publicity regarding the importance of your personal safety in Rio de Janiero, the last thing you’d want to face is becoming a victim of a mugging right after you first arrive.
There have been reports of tourists being targeted by thieves and criminals as they exist from the Galeao airport arrival hall right out of the Brazilian Customs. Getting to your hotel safely is a key to starting your tour of Brazil on a happy note. So what are your options?

First of all, if you can avoid booking a flight that arrives late in the evening, not to mention in the middle of the night, do that. Arrive during daylight hours!
There are basically only two sensible choices how to get to your hotel from the Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport of Rio:

1. Certainly by taxi but not all taxis to be had at the Rio airport are recommended. It is best not to use the ordinary taxis. They are yellow with a blue stripe. There are many of them waiting outside the airport but you could best be overcharged if you do not know the route and the driver will take you the long way to your hotel.

2. Under no circumstances you should accept an offer from a professed driver scouting right by the exit door from the Customs. These people may be drivers with a car indeed but not a taxi and you could very well end up being taken for more than just your possessions.

3. The best though not the cheapest taxi service is that offered through the taxi booths still within the airport. The names of the three well-know radio taxi companies you will come across are Coopacarioca, Centro de Taxis and Coopatur. Their charges will be at least 30% more than the yellow taxi rate, probably at least 60 to 70 Brazilian Real to Copacabana or Ipanema but they are safe. They are radio-dispatched taxis, their vehicles are white with red and yellow stripe. When you buy the ticket at the airport booth they will not use a meter but if you should happen to get into one outside, insist that the driver does turn the meter on.

4. Your last choice and also one that will save you money is the “Executivo Bus” by a company named Empresa Real. Their buses leave from right outside the arrival hall every half hour and charge is only R$6 to Zona Sul where all the beaches are. When asked they will stop at any point along the beach beachfront boulevard. The only problem is that if you still have to walk a few blocks down the street where your hotel is and have lots of luggage, their service may not be as convenient or safe, as carrying all your luggage you will stick out like a sore thumb and may possibly attract attention of an alert thief scanning the street for his next victim.

All in all, do not sweat the decision, think safety first when first arriving in Rio, or the rest of your trip may not be as happy.

Most organized tours to Brazil average ten days, but as large as Brazil is, with as much diversity as Brazil has to offer, you have to set your priorities carefully before contacting an operator that specializes in custom design itineraries to Brazil.

Three weeks is a minimum amount of time to allocate for this striking country. So what can you see and do in three weeks?

Just to get a taste of Brazil, your first trip should include a major city experience, at least one natural wonder, and a sample of Brazil’s Portuguese colonial art and architecture.

Needless to say Rio de Janeiro is a must on your trip to Brazil and you should spend at least 4 to 5 days sightseeing the city.
As for a natural site, Iguazu Falls is a perfect choice and to do it as a side trip from Rio you’ll need to count four days, a day traveling each way and two full days sightseeing the waterfalls.

For the colonial Portugal experience you must travel into the interior, to the state of Minas Gerais. There are three small towns that may very well become highlight of your trip – Tiradentes, Ouro Preto and Diamantia. These three mountain towns prospered three centuries ago during the era of gold and diamonds mining. Today their charm is entailed in their cobblestone streets, baroque churches and other colonial architecture.

Of course no trip to Brazil would be complete without including at least a few days at the beach. You could fly from Belo Horizonte to Salvador, a must-see city in its own right for its Afro—Brazilian culture, and spend a week at one of its superb beaches north or south of the city. Or from Minas Gerais you could go to Buzios, fine seaside resort town east of Rio, and by day lounge around its countless beaches and party at night.

Before you know it your three weeks will be up and you wish you had six weeks to keep on going and venture to other parts of this colorful country.

With Rio de Janeiro selected to host 2016 Olympic Games, Brazil’s economy heating up and getting more exposure in the media, Brazil suddenly looms on the scene as the country to visit. There is no question that Brazil has grand variety of sites to see, from sophisticated cities to UNESCO towns and nature sites unlike any other. But have you looked at the graphs of the dropping dollar lately?

The greenback has fallen and is falling as we speak. One quick look at the price of lodging in Brazil, any accommodation, not just top hotels or resorts, and you quickly realize the costs are near if not higher that cost of travel in the United States. That means that to tour Brazil you best be prepared with quality guidebook to find where and how you could save a buck or two.

Last Lonely Planet Brazil guidebook was published in 2008; new edition is not to come out until 2011. Quick look inside you’ll note the maps are great, the coverage of where to go and what to see always in depth, but the lodging recommendations are nowhere being current.

The last edition of the Rough Guide to Brazil just came out in October of 2009. The series from the publisher are probably the closest LP’s rival but the last edition seems a rather fast update of the November 2006 version and not quite up to part of what one would expect.

Footprint, another of the top British guidebook series, is certainly in depth but too difficult to read, bulky and heavy. In that regard Lonely Planet learned from similar criticism in the past and now offers one can buy it by the chapter as most travelers will not travel entire Brazil on a single trip anyway so why log along the extra weight.

Fodor and Frommer’s guidebooks are rather poor, hardly in depth, their maps are even worse and the coverage is overwhelmingly focused on the mainstream American package tour traveler, hardly a reference guidebook for an independent traveler in search of places out of the beaten path.

One guidebook that stands out is concise though in depth, well written, nicely laid out, with good maps and easy to carry is Brazil Moon Publication. It seems also most up to date, published only in May 2009. The only problem I can see is it focuses mostly on the more affluent traveler, although it attempts to list samples of lodging appealing to the budget travel. Of course the last impression may well be relative as Brazil is definitely an expensive country to visit.

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