Travel to Brazil

Flying to Brazil

Flights to Brazil are served by the main national airlines TAM (JJ) (www.tam.com.br) and Gol (G3) (www.voegol.com.br).

Flight times:

Flights from London to São Paulo and to Rio de Janeiro take approximately 11 hours. Flights from New York to São Paulo and to Rio de Janeiro take about 10 hours.

Air passes:

Mercosur Airpass: valid within Argentina, Brazil, Chile (except Easter Island), Paraguay and Uruguay. Participating airlines include Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR), Aerolíneas Del Sur (AS) and Pluna (PU). The pass can only be purchased by passengers who live outside South America and must be booked in conjunction with an international ticket. It is valid for a minimum of seven to a maximum of 45 days. At least two countries must be visited; dates can be changed but the flight route cannot. A maximum of three stopovers is allowed per country.

Oneworld Visit South America Pass: valid within Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile (except Easter Island), Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Participating airlines are American Airlines (AA), British Airways (BA), Cathay Pacific (CX), Iberia (IB), Finnair (AY), Malév Hungarian Airlines (MA), S7 Airlines (S7), Royal Jordanian Airlines (RJ), Japan Airlines (JL), LAN (LA) and Qantas (QF). The pass must be bought outside South America in the country of residence. It allows unlimited travel to 34 cities. A minimum of three flights must be booked, with a maximum of 20; prices depend on the amount of flight zones. For further details, contact one of the participating airlines. See www.oneworld.com.

Departure tax:

None.

Travel by rail

Rail travel is not a really a viable way of getting to or from Brazil, but there is the Trem da Morte (Train of Death) route between Santa Cruz in Bolivia and Corumbá in Brazil, which is popular with backpackers travelling to the Pantanal. Contact Ferroviaria Oriental (www.ferroviariaoriental.com) for more information.

Driving to Brazil

It is possible to drive or travel by bus to Brazil from all surrounding countries. Entry points include the border with Argentina at Foz de Iguaçu, the border with Uruguay at Jaguarão and from Santa Elena de Uairén in Venezuela. There are plenty of bus routes from surrounding countries, and it is possible to travel to Brazil from Montevideo (Uruguay), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and as far away as Santiago (Chile), and Lima (Peru). A particularly trusted international bus company is Crucero del Norte (tel: (11) 6221 0277; www.crucerodelnorte.com.ar).

Getting to Brazil by boat

The main port is Rio de Janeiro (www.portosrio.gov.br), which is used by many international cruise ships. Other popular ports include Manaus, Fortaleza (www.docasdoceara.com.br), Recife (www.portodorecife.pe.gov.br), Salvador (www.codeba.com.br) and Vitória (www.portodevitoria.com.br).

Passenger services are limited but Grimaldi Freighter (tel: +39 81 496 203, in Italy; www.grimaldi-freightercruises.com) does offer sailings from Europe. Most major international cruise lines sail to Brazilian ports.