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◆ Country guide · South America

Top 10s across Brazil

Half a continent under one flag: Atlantic beach cities, the Amazon basin, colonial gold towns and the Pantanal wetlands. Brazil is not a country you cross, it is a country you choose a corner of.

City guides

213M

People

Video guide

Region

São Paulo

Florianópolis

Feijoada

Best months

Apr · May · Sep · Oct

Ideal length

14–21 days

Budget / day

$55–110

Language

Portuguese

Getting around

Domestic flights & long-distance buses

When to visit Brazil

A country this wide has no single season. These are the months that work almost everywhere.

Full month guide →

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Best: April, May, September and October, dry across most of the country and quiet between the holiday waves Peak: December to February and July, Brazilian holidays, Carnival, and the highest coastal prices of the year Good: March, June, August and November, workable everywhere, with rain still about in the north

Quick answer · where to go in Brazil

Open in Rio de Janeiro, then pick one more region and commit to it. North for Salvador and the Bahian coast, where the food and the music are strongest. West for the Pantanal and the clear rivers around Bonito, where the wildlife is. Manaus or Belém for the Amazon, each a leg of its own. South for the falls at Foz do Iguaçu. Distances are continental, so fly between regions and travel slowly inside them.

Jump toCity guides Fun fact Stereotypes Famous Brazilians Food FAQ

3 Brazil city guides

Sorted by what travelers are saving this month.

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

Brazil borders every South American country except Chile and Ecuador. Counting French Guiana that is ten land neighbours, more than any other country in the Americas.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to fit in.

"Brazil is carnival and beaches"

The realityCarnival is five days a year and the coast is a thin strip of a very wide map. Inland sit the colonial gold towns of Minas Gerais, the world’s largest tropical wetland in the Pantanal, a purpose-built modernist capital, and a southern wine country with cold winters.

"They speak Spanish"

The realityPortuguese, and it is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas. Spanish earns goodwill and very little comprehension. Learn bom dia, obrigado and quanto custa before you land.

"It is too dangerous to visit"

The realityRisk in Brazil is a question of neighbourhood, and it changes by the hour and the street. Carry little, book a ride app after dark, and ask your hotel which blocks to avoid. That advice is most of the work.

"Two weeks is enough to see it"

The realityBrazil covers more than eight and a half million square kilometres and holds four time zones. Two weeks buys you one region done properly, plus the flights either side.

"The Amazon is a day trip from Rio"

The realityManaus, the usual gateway, is a long flight from the southeast, and the lodges are hours further by boat. The rainforest is a leg of its own, and it rewards the days you give it.

Football on every spare patch of sandHavaianas, worn to everythingCaipirinhas muddled at the tableSamba schools and Carnival costumesChrist the Redeemer over the bayChurrasco carved straight off the skewerSmall, sweet coffee, all day

Cultural notes that actually help

Greetings are physical. Handshakes turn into embraces, cheek kisses are standard, and the number of kisses changes by region, so follow whoever moves first.
Punctuality is elastic socially and firm professionally. Turning up well after the stated hour for dinner is normal. A meeting is not.
Pix, the instant bank transfer built by the central bank, now runs day-to-day payments. Cards are widely taken, and cash matters most in small towns and at markets.
A ten percent service charge appears on most restaurant bills. It is customary, though not compulsory, and it is usually the whole tip.
Sunday belongs to the beach and the family lunch. Cities thin out, and plenty of shops stay shut.
Do not photograph inside a favela without a guide who lives there and has asked on your behalf.
Portuguese first, always. Even a few words shift a conversation, and English is far less common outside hotels and airports than visitors expect.

Famous Brazilian faces

The names behind Brazil’s football, music, letters, cinema, art and science. Pick a field.

Pelé

Three World Cups, in 1958, 1962 and 1970, a record no other player holds

Ayrton Senna

Three Formula One world titles, and the driver Brazil still measures the sport against

Oscar Niemeyer

The architect of Brasília, and of Brazilian modernism in concrete

Antônio Carlos Jobim

Composer of the bossa nova songbook, "The Girl from Ipanema" included

Marta

Six FIFA World Player of the Year awards, more than any other footballer

Machado de Assis

The nineteenth-century novelist who founded the Brazilian Academy of Letters

Sebastião Salgado

Documentary photographer, behind the Genesis and Amazônia series

Garrincha

The winger who won the 1958 and 1962 World Cups alongside Pelé

Zico

Flamengo’s playmaker, and the creative heart of the 1982 side

Sócrates

Captain of that 1982 team, and a qualified medical doctor while he played

Ronaldo

Two World Cups, and top scorer of the 2002 tournament

Ronaldinho

The 2002 winner who made a decade of football look improvised

Neymar

Brazil’s record goalscorer, and the penalty that won Olympic gold in Rio

Emerson Fittipaldi

The first Brazilian Formula One world champion, in 1972 and again in 1974

Gustavo Kuerten

Three French Open titles, and world number one at the end of 2000

Rebeca Andrade

Brazil’s most decorated Olympian, with gymnastics gold in Tokyo and in Paris

João Gilberto

The guitar and the whisper that turned bossa nova into a form

Gilberto Gil

Tropicália founder, exiled in 1969, and later the country’s culture minister

Caetano Veloso

The other half of Tropicália, and still writing

Chico Buarque

Songwriter and novelist, whose lyrics outran the dictatorship’s censors

Elis Regina

The voice Brazilian popular song is still measured against

Carmen Miranda

The Portuguese-born, Rio-raised singer who carried Brazil to Hollywood

Anitta

The Rio singer who took funk carioca onto the global charts

Jorge Amado

The Bahian novelist who put Salvador on the world’s shelves

Carlos Drummond de Andrade

The poet of Itabira, and the plainest voice in Brazilian verse

Paulo Coelho

Author of The Alchemist, one of the most translated novels of the modern era

Fernanda Montenegro

Central Station, and the first Brazilian nominated for a Best Actress Oscar

Walter Salles

Director of Central Station and I’m Still Here, Brazil’s first Oscar winner in 2025

Fernanda Torres

Nominated for Best Actress in 2025 for I’m Still Here

Glauber Rocha

The Cinema Novo director behind Black God, White Devil

Tarsila do Amaral

Painter of Abaporu, the image Brazilian modernism starts from

Roberto Burle Marx

The landscape architect who drew the Copacabana promenade

Alberto Santos-Dumont

The aviation pioneer whose 14-bis flew before a Paris crowd in 1906

Oswaldo Cruz

The physician who cleared yellow fever out of Rio in the 1900s

Clarice Lispector

Novelist and short-story writer, and the strangest voice in Brazilian modernism

Milton Nascimento

The Minas voice behind Clube da Esquina

Lygia Clark

Neo-Concrete artist, whose works asked to be handled, not hung

Hélio Oiticica

Installation artist, and the man whose work gave Tropicália its name

César Lattes

Co-discoverer of the pi meson in 1947, at 22

Must-try Brazilian food

The everyday plates first, then what each region cooks. Pick a category.

Feijoada

Black beans and salted, smoked pork, with rice, greens and orange. A Saturday lunch dish.

Farofa

Toasted cassava flour, often fried with bacon and egg, scattered over a plate for crunch.

Pão de queijo

Cassava-starch cheese rolls, hollow and elastic. Baked all morning in Minas.

Feijão tropeiro

Mule-driver beans fried with cassava flour, sausage, egg and collard greens.

Moqueca baiana

Fish stewed in coconut milk, dendê palm oil and peppers, in a clay pot.

Acarajé

Black-eyed pea fritters fried in dendê and filled with vatapá, sold by Bahia’s baianas.

Vatapá

Bread, shrimp, peanuts and coconut milk cooked to a thick paste. Acarajé’s filling.

Baião de dois

Rice and black-eyed peas with coalho cheese and dried beef. The northeast in one pan.

Carne de sol

Salted, air-dried beef, grilled and served with butter beans and cassava. Sertão cooking.

Tapioca

Cassava starch set in a hot pan into a soft crêpe, filled sweet or savoury, for breakfast.

Cuscuz nordestino

Steamed cornmeal for breakfast with butter, cheese or eggs. Not the North African kind.

Tacacá

Tucupi broth with dried shrimp and jambu, a leaf that numbs the mouth. Belém street food.

Pato no tucupi

Duck poached in tucupi, the fermented juice of wild cassava. Belém’s festival dish.

Pirarucu

One of the world’s largest freshwater fish, salted, dried and shredded into stews.

Churrasco

Beef, sausage and chicken hearts on skewers over coals, carved at the table, gaúcho style.

Barreado

Beef slow-cooked overnight in a sealed clay pot on the Paraná coast. Eaten with banana.

Coxinha

Shredded chicken in a teardrop of dough, breaded and fried. The default snack.

Pastel

A thin fried pastry filled with cheese or beef. Market food, taken with sugarcane juice.

Pão na chapa

White bread split, buttered and pressed on the griddle. Breakfast at any padaria counter.

Pudim de leite

Condensed-milk flan under dark caramel, kept on every lanchonete counter.

Caipirinha

Cachaça, lime and sugar muddled over ice. The national drink, built on sugarcane spirit.

Guaraná

Soda made from an Amazonian berry, and the local answer to cola.

Arroz e feijão

Rice and beans, at almost every lunch in the country. The base of every plate.

Picanha

The rump cap, salted heavily and grilled over coals. The cut a churrasco is judged on.

Frango com quiabo

Chicken stewed with okra over angu, a soft cornmeal. The Sunday plate in Minas Gerais.

Açaí

In the Amazon, thick, unsweetened and eaten with fish. The sweet frozen bowl is southern.

Brigadeiro

Condensed milk and cocoa cooked down, rolled in sprinkles. At every birthday party.

Quindim

Baked custard of egg yolk, sugar and coconut. Portuguese origin, Brazilian execution.

Romeu e Julieta

Guava paste with fresh white cheese. Two ingredients, and no notes.

Cafezinho

A small, strong, sweet coffee, offered constantly and refused rarely.

Chimarrão

Hot yerba mate through a metal straw from a shared gourd, across Rio Grande do Sul.

Know before you go

The essentials for planning a Brazil trip.

Currency

Real (R$)

The Brazilian real, BRL. Cards are taken almost everywhere, and Pix, the central bank’s instant transfer system, has largely replaced cash in daily life. Carry some notes for markets and small towns.

Language

Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese, and the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas. English is limited outside hotels, airports and the bigger tourism operators, so a phrasebook earns its weight.

Power

127V and 220V, 60Hz, plug types N and C

The Type N socket is standard, and a Europlug fits it. Much of the southeast runs at 127V, parts of the north, northeast and Brasília at 220V, so check the label before plugging in.

Emergency

190 police · 192 ambulance · 193 fire

Three separate numbers, all free and answered around the clock. Calls to 911 and 112 are redirected onto the same lines.

Visa

By nationality

US, Canadian and Australian passports have needed an electronic visa since 10 April 2025. EU and UK passports stay visa-exempt for tourism, 90 days at a time. Confirm with a Brazilian consulate.

Getting around

Flights, then coaches

Domestic flights do the long legs, and there are many. Long-distance coaches cover the rest comfortably, and ride apps work in every city. Driving is easy on main highways and slow elsewhere.

Tipping

10% service, usually on the bill

Most restaurants add a ten percent service charge. It is customary but not compulsory, and normally the whole tip. In a taxi, round up.

Time zones

Four, UTC−2 to UTC−5

Brasília time covers the populated east. The Amazon sits an hour behind it, Acre two, and the Atlantic islands an hour ahead. Brazil no longer observes daylight saving.

Health

Yellow fever vaccination recommended

Recommended for most of the country, and it must be given at least ten days before travel to count. Take a travel clinic’s advice for your specific route.

Brazil travel FAQ

Do I need a visa for Brazil?+

It depends on your passport. Citizens of the United States, Canada and Australia have needed an electronic visa since 10 April 2025, applied for online before travel. Holders of European Union and United Kingdom passports remain visa-exempt for tourism, normally 90 days at a time and no more than 180 days in any twelve-month period. Confirm the current rules for your own nationality with a Brazilian consulate before you book.

When is the best time to visit Brazil?+

April, May, September and October suit most first trips: dry across the southeast and the northeast, and quiet between the holiday waves. December to February is the Brazilian summer, hottest, wettest in the southeast and most expensive on the coast. The Amazon and the Pantanal run on their own calendar, with the drier months from around June to October giving the best wildlife viewing.

Is Brazil safe to travel in?+

Millions of visitors arrive each year without trouble, and the risk is local. It varies by city, by neighbourhood and by hour. Carry a phone and a little cash, use a ride app at night, keep valuables out of sight on the beach, and ask your accommodation which streets change after dark. Check your own government’s travel advice before you go.

Do I need vaccinations for Brazil?+

Yellow fever vaccination is recommended for most of the country, including the Amazon, the Pantanal, Iguaçu and the southeast, and it needs to be given at least ten days before travel to count. Some onward countries then ask to see the certificate. Talk to a travel clinic six to eight weeks before departure and take the advice for your route, not for the country as a whole.

How do I get around Brazil?+

Fly between regions and travel slowly inside them. The country is wider than the contiguous United States, so a Rio to Manaus leg is a flight, and domestic routes are frequent and competitively priced. Long-distance coaches are comfortable and cover the country densely, and are the sensible choice for anything under about eight hours. Ride apps work in every city of any size.