Brazil is a vast and surprising country that could take you by surprise if you are not really prepared for it. To help you prepare your trip to Brazil, I share with you here my key advices.

Several months of traveling and living in Brazil, to make a success of your trip in this beautiful country still very little visited.

I have tried here to answer the most important questions asked by all those who are thinking of exploring the country. I have also added situations that you only think about when you have really gone through the experience of a long trip to Brazil.

Safety rules for your trip to Brazil

Free yourself from prejudice

The greatest danger you will face on a trip to Brazil is in your own head. If you allow yourself to be caught up in the paranoia – created mostly by the media and other stories circulating on the net – it would be best not to leave.

Brazil, like every other country in the world, like your own street, can be dangerous, very dangerous even. It is up to you to choose, and above all, to create the experience you want to live.

By ridding yourself of your own fears, you are already ensuring yourself an invaluable protection.

Be natural

When travelling in Brazil the key to safety is to be confident.  Walking with sure steps even when you are lost is paramount. Don’t hesitate to ask for help to find your way or to make sure you are not in a place known to be dangerous to the locals themselves.

No mystery, in Brazil do as Brazilians do. If necessary, ask them how they do it.  Don’t forget that they live naturally in this environment and that they live well there. Remember when they overzealously try to protect you from anything and everything.

Listen carefully to the advice of others and then judge the situation according to your own wishes. Decide on your personal approach by listening to your own intuition (the one already freed from paranoia is understood ;)).

Stay modest

An expensive camera around your neck or a watch shining on your wrist, in a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world, is a clear call to theft. Social disparity and poverty are glaring in a population of more than 300 million. On a trip to Brazil, don’t tempt the devil.

Colombians have a very relevant saying to that effect. So be modest. Keep your big camera for your hikes, your watches for your private parties and your phones in your pockets.

Again, do as the Brazilians do. Admire how light they go to the beach in Rio de Janeiro for example. They are often in swimsuits and sandals, towels on their shoulders. It’s an extreme, but snatch-and-grab flights are legion even on the very posh beach of Ipanema.

Get inspiration from the locals to find your own system, but don’t attract flies with your papayas.

At night, take a taxi

Wherever you visit during your trip to Brazil, always take a taxi at night. There is no point in trying to save a few euros by going home at night. A saving that would at best cause a lot of stress and at worst some serious incident.

This applies even if your hotel is only 2 blocks away from your restaurant. This is especially true in this case. Unless the streets are illuminated and crowded, don’t take any risks. It is often in such cases that the danger lies. Think that youth gangs, who specialize in trapping, really know how to do it. Don’t be paranoid, but stay alert and pay for a taxi.

There are several applications in Brazil that allow you to call secure taxis anywhere. This will prevent you from getting into the first car that looks like a taxi. Use them and enjoy your stay by paying much less than a purse ripped off in a deserted street.

A good budget for a trip to Brazil?

Determine your budget in advance

I travelled for several months in Brazil with an average of 36$/day, including transportation, a few plane tickets, hikes and tours.

Knowing your budget and how to manage it is a must to enjoy any trip but even more important when you are in a big country where distances are huge.

According to your budget you will determine if you will stay in hostels (excellent by the way in Brazil compared to many other countries of the continent, because relatively new) or hotels or airbnb.

Your well thought out budget will also give you an idea of how you eat; in rather expensive western-style restaurants or in stalls, markets or just like the majority of Brazilians do in Brazilian restaurants at the weigh-in; you fill your dish in a diverse buffet of local cuisine and weigh it. This is much cheaper than in a serviced restaurant and is clearly not inferior in quality.

If I have one piece of advice for a traveller to Brazil, it would be to put most of your budget on activities and transportation. I’ll talk about this in more detail below.

When traveling in Brazil, don’t hesitate to negotiate with the local authorities.

In Brazil, as everywhere else in South America, everything is negotiable, except maybe the bus tickets bought in agencies. So don’t hesitate to negotiate the price of your accommodation, the price of the taxi without taximeter, the restaurant and the caipirinia on the beach.

Doing it with humour and kindness is also essential. Don’t create trouble because you think you are being ripped off. Brazilians are very conciliatory and there is no point in forcing the dose when it doesn’t go through on the first try. So negotiate in an intelligent way and when the price doesn’t suit you, go your own way and stay zen, other opportunities will present themselves.

Favour the hovering

If you want to do too much, plan everything in advance, you’re often wronged. Plan your tours and hikes on the spot and not on the internet, unless you already have a recommendation.

Hostels in Manaus, for example, will offer you tours in the Amazon on the spot, so you can negotiate, customize your stay and ask other travelers for advice.

When you plan a hike to Chappada Diamantina go to the village agencies or directly to the guide association, meet your guide, talk about the route (insist on the Castillo for the best view, eh!) and the details of transport and accommodation before you commit yourself.

These are just a few practical examples, but the general idea is to reduce your expenses while also favouring the local economy. Agencies almost never pay enough for those who take care of you on your tours and hikes and this often creates frustration. By having direct access to the one who delivers the final service you are clearly in a win-win situation.

Travelling in Brazil, a question of distance

Think big

Because you don’t have a choice. If you want to discover the richness of the country you should not be afraid of its immensity. Brazil is the 5th largest country in the world and occupies one third of South America. So you have to think big and plan the necessary time if you want to visit it outside of the famous tourist spots. A 10 day trip to Brazil means spending time in the state of Rio de Janeiro and eventually a tour in Salvador de Bahia. Don’t try harder, as you risk more frustration than anything else.

When you have more time (3 weeks minimum) you need to know how to negotiate your route, without losing whole days in transport. How can you do this?  See you at the next point.

When travelling in Brazil, flying is cheaper

When you live in relatively small countries, you don’t often fly from one big city to the next. In Brazil, as in any other large country, it is quite different. It is better to fly if you want to avoid 24 hours of bus travel between Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. Cities that don’t look that far apart on a map (unless you pay attention to the scale used ;)).

That said, flights in Brazil are not necessarily more expensive than buses. On the contrary, planned a bit in advance or bought last minute with a bit of flexibility on your part, they can be much cheaper than a bus. A real-life example: when I had to fly from Recife to Salvador the next day, I discovered that the plane ticket cost a third of the price of the bus. So I buy it and spend a day lounging on the beach in Recife, instead of spending 12 hours sleeping in a bus.

My personal trick, because I don’t like to plan everything, is to buy tickets for the longer trips. I make sure to give myself enough time – and therefore freedom to roam – in one state before flying to the next.

Basically, keep in mind that you’re traveling in a third of a continent. Plan your major trips in advance.

What is Brazil without Brazilians?

Smile, we’ll give it back to you

A joyful and festive people, Brazilians will make you smile even when you lose it. They are curious and warm at the same time.  In other words: satisfy their curiosity and they will give it back to you. Don’t hesitate to start a discussion. And even if you don’t speak Portuguese, smile, gesticulate, be alive. With a simple smile you will open closed doors and invisible paths.

Trust

You know that trust is earned, but if you don’t try, you will never know if the person in front of you is worthy of your trust or not.

So be emotionally intelligent and study other people’s reactions. Try to be completely open to seeing beyond your prejudices.

I have had wonderful experiences trusting people I met in a port in the Amazon at 3am. I have trusted strangers in a stopover village, in the middle of the night, getting off a bus that arrived late. It was always a rewarding experience.

To people who approach you to help you or to offer you an evening out, don’t start by saying “no thanks”. Say yes first. Talk, listen and open your heart.  This will allow you to detect, with your intuition, whether the person opposite deserves your trust or not.

Brazil, a country off the beaten track

To make a success of your trip to Brazil is to let the “different” tempt you.

Leave it to you. Get out of your comfort zone. Go to places off the beaten path. Here’s everything you should really do to have a successful trip to Brazil.

Brazil is not really a tourist country (except for Rio de Janeiro). 6 million tourists a year is very very little for such a diverse and large country

There is therefore everything to discover in Brazil; Nature as well as culture and different music.  Samba in the Amazon? you’re kidding? we swear by Faro!  Your travel experience in Brazil will not be altered by an established tourism industry.

So let yourself be carried away by the surprises and riches of Brazil, it will not let you be impressed at every turn.