You won’t have a moment to rest in Brazil according to the messages we’ve received from the future you. Don’t worry, they have some pretty strong coffee so you will have plenty of energy to make it 2,300 ft. above sea level to the Christ the Redeemer statue, swim in the Amazon River, dance the night away in Rio, and protect your food from hungry little monkeys. Yeah we told you so… lots to do.
Best Brazil Tour Operators
Brazil Travel Guide
Key Facts
Capital: Brasilia
Language: Portuguese
Currency: Brazilian real
Electricity: 127V and 220V
DiallingCode: +55
Top Places to Visit in Brazil
• Rio de Janeiro
• São Paulo
• Salvador Bahia
• Amazon Rainforest
• Pantanal
• Iguazu Waterfalls
Brazil Small Group Tours
Brazil is HUGE! Thrown in locals speak Portuguese, crime rates are high and driving here is a challenge, so what better excuse is there than booking an organised tour. Get an experience guide, travel with others, have fun, see amazing places… where do I sign up we hear you say.
For your travelling companions, expect travellers from all over the world. Some might have been on the road much longer, joining a tour weeks earlier as far away as Peru or Bolivia, there are so many epic overland tours of South America which travel the whole continent.
Highlights
These are some unmissable locations to see in Brazil, and travel operators include most of these places in itineraries.
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is one of the most spectacular cities in the world, with beautiful beaches, people, favelas and tourism attractions like the Chris Redeemer Statue. We recommend booking a trip to coincide with the city’s famous Carnival.
You’ll can find blissful, sandy shores on many of tours, from Côte d’Azur elegance in France to exotic idylls in Thailand. The pick of the bunch, however, is perhaps the world’s best beach. Music and passion are always in fashion in Copacabana, particularly at carnival time.
Book a Rio package (five nights’ accommodation; tours extra) and you can hit the beach, tour a favela, and gaze up at the Sugarloaf and Corcovado, where the iconic Christ the Redeemer figure welcomes you to the buzzing city with open arms.
Iguazu Falls
No Brazilian odyssey would be complete without visiting the border with Argentina, to see the spectacular Iguazu Falls, where the waters of the Iguazu River pour out of the rainforest down a string of cataracts nearly 3km wide. The World Heritage site, made famous outside South America by the 1986 film The Mission, was quite an introduction to the continent.
Pantanal
Outside the Amazon, the Pantanal region is regarded as one of the best places to see Brazil’s abundant wildlife.
Travelling deep into the wilderness region of the Pantanal, where caiman alligators bask in the sun and piranha feed in the shallow streams, is a magical experience. The region is more hospitable than it sounds: mosquitoes and hot nights pose the main threat. Insect repellent, hammocks and mesh huts open to the breeze kept you comfortable.
The caiman you will see will usually be docile enough to approach and even touch, gingerly, under the watchful eye of guides. Piranha, meanwhile, will show more interest in baited fishing hooks than bare legs and feet as if you feel adventures you can wade waist-deep to try and catch them. And they prove a tasty appetiser when fried later in the camp kitchen.
Paraty
The idyllic former gold-mining port of Paraty, 200km west of Rio, is where you’ll find cobblestone streets and the whitewashed villas of colonial Brazil cluster around a small harbour. This is the jumping-off point for a cruise industry that plies the area’s tranquil bays and islands – perfect for a cooling dip in the emerald waters.
Countryside
Moving further into Brazil’s vast tropical interior, the landscape gradually empties. The wide vistas, peopled mainly by cattle farmers and dotted with occasional roadside diners, bring Australia’s Outback to mind. A toucan taking flight across the wetlands stretching to an unbroken horizon was a sight that I will treasure.
Bahia
Sample the stunning beaches in Bahia and horse riding in Chapada Diamantina National Park before reaching historic Salvador.