BR Brazil: how to get around

Brazil has the largest road network in Latin America with over 1.6 million kilometres. A car is a good idea if you want to explore scenic areas, e.g. the historic cities of Minas Gerais, the Rio-Santos highway, or the beaches in North-East Brazil. There are the usual car rental companies at the airports. Many roads are in good condition, especially in the east and south of the country and along the coast. In other areas and outside the metropolitan regions there are also gravel and dirt roads for which an off-road vehicle can be strongly recommended. This especially applies to the Amazon area where many roads are difficult or not at all passable during the rainy season from November to March. This is why it is advisable to travel with a good map and to be well informed about distances, road conditions and the estimated travel time. Road maps of the brand Guia Quatro Rodas was available in the most newsstands in Brazil until 2015, but they ceased to be published from that year. Many Brazilian drivers also tend to use online maps such as Google Maps and Waze to find the best routes. In theory, the driving rules of Brazil resemble those of Western Europe or North America. In practice, driving in Brazil can be quite scary if you are used to European (even Mediterranean) or North American road culture, due to widespread violations of driving rules, and the toleration thereof.

Distances kept to other vehicles are kept at a bare minimum, overtaking whenever close to possible, and changing lanes without much of a prior signal. Many large cities also suffer from hold-ups when you wait at a red light in the night. Even if there is no risk of robbery, many drivers (including of city buses) run red lights or stop signs at night when they do not see incoming traffic from the cross street. Drivers also indulge in "creative" methods of saving time, such as using the reverse direction lanes. In rural areas, many domestic animals are left at the roadside, and they sometimes wanders into the traffic. Pedestrians take enormous chances crossing the road, since many drivers do not bother to slow down if they see pedestrians crossing. The quality of the paving is very varied, and the presence of enormous potholes is something that strongly discourages night-driving. Also consider the risk of highway hold-ups after dark, not to mention truck drivers on amphetamines (to keep awake for days in a row).

• In Brazil cars are driven on the right hand side of the road.
• A flashing left signal means that the car ahead is warning you not to pass, for some reason. If the car ahead of you wants to show you that it is safe to pass it will flash the right signal. The right signal is the same signal to indicate that you're going to stop on the side of the road, so it means you're going to slow down. On the other hand the left signal is the same signal to indicate you're going to pass the car ahead, meaning you're going to speed up.
• Flashing, twinkling headlights from the cars coming on the opposite side of the road means caution on the road ahead. Most of the time, it indicates that there are animals, cops or speed radar ahead.
• Keep the doors locked when driving, especially in the larger cities, as robberies at stop signs and red lights are quite common in some areas. You'll make it much easier for the robber if he can simply open up the door and sit down. Be equally careful with keeping your windows wide open, as someone might put their hands inside your car and steal a wallet, for instance. Leave your handbags and valuables out of sight.

In smaller cities and towns the bicycle is a common means of transport. This does not mean that cyclists are usually respected by cars, trucks, or bus drivers. But you may find good roads with little traffic outside the cities. It is also easy to get a lift by a pickup or to have the bike transported by a long-distance bus.

Cycling path are virtually non-existent in cities, except along certain beachfronts, such as Rio de Janeiro and Recife.

There are bicyclers groups around the country, e.g. Sampa Bikers in São Paulo which meets weekly.

Brazil has a nationwide law for inter-state bus travel that enforces that luggages should be transported free of charge provided that they are below 23 kg, 300 dm³ and has a maximum dimension of 1 m. Also, excess fees are regulated for the case of overweight, but not for oversize. Normally, bike have a lower weight and volume than the maxima, while one dimension typically is slightly larger than the maximum. In practice, this creates a limbo on which some companies choose to be actively friendly or actively hostile to bike transport, while the majority of companies simply don't have any rule whatsoever with the bike transportation being conditional on the bus driver goodwill (which is usually the case).

Some bus companies that are known for transporting bikes with no strings attached (and without requiring disassembly and packaging) are: Catarinense, 1001, Viação Cometa and Pássaro Marrom. Some other bus companies that are known for being actively hostile towards bikes (by asking for rigid cases, "nota fiscais" and extra fees) are Eucatur and Expresso Nordeste. There's a partial list of bus companies and reviews for them at [1]

For companies with unclear rules, getting on the bus with the bike disassembled (e.g. front wheel removed and attached to the frame) and packaged (in a plastic bag) will do the trick most of the time.

It is possible to ask the company channels for what are the rules, although most of the time it is inefficient. They are going to take forever to do it and will provide ambiguous or overly restrictive answers. Especially if asked in written (e-mail & messages) channels rather than oral (phone or talking in the balcony).

Brazil's railway system was mostly wrecked during the military regimes. Today, few interstate passenger lines remain after the dismantling and scrapping of rail transport in Brazil. However, there are several urban or short-distance tourist lines between municipalities in the same state, mainly in the southern and southeastern states.

• From Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais to Vitória, Espírito Santo - Daily trains operated by Vale leave Belo Horizonte at 07:30 and Cariacica (10 km of Vitória), at 07:00. Travel time is about 12½ hours. Seats are limited and it is not possible to reserve, so it is advisable to buy in advance at the Vale's website. The railway is the second longest passenger line of Brazil, almost 700 km long.
• From São Luis, Maranhão to Parauapebas, Pará - interesting because part of it passes through the Amazon rainforest and it's the longest passenger railway of Brazil, almost 900 km long. It is operated by Vale. The train leaves São Luís at 08:00 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. From Paraopebas, the train leaves at 06:00 on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. 15 hours of travel.

Long-distance buses are a convenient, economical, and rather comfortable way to travel between regions. Bus stations (Terminal Rodoviário, Estação Rodoviária or Rodoviária) in Brazilian cities play a role akin to train stations in many countries. You should check travel distance and time while traveling within Brazil; going from Rio de Janeiro to the south region could take more than 24 hours, so it may be worth going by plane if you can afford it.

Brazil has a very good long-distance bus network. Basically, any city with more than 100,000 people will have direct lines to the closest state capitals and also to other major cities within the same range. If there is no bus station in a city, there may be some form of public transport (a bus, probably) to a bus station of a city nearby.

Sometimes you may need to go to the bus station in person to buy a ticket, although today the big bus companies make reservations and sell tickets online, as long as you get your ticket in advance. In some cities, you can also buy a ticket over the phone and receive it at the hotel for an extra fee of R$3 to R$5. Some companies have also adopted the ingenious pricing policy of airlines: in some cases, buy with advance can save more than 50%. The ease of flagging a bus and getting on it (if there are no seats available, you will have to stand, still paying full price) is common in the country. This is less likely to work along a few routes where armed robberies have happened frequently, such as those leading to the border with Paraguay and to Foz do Iguaçu.

No bus company serves the whole country, so you must identify the company that connect two cities. Buser and National Land Transport Agency website can be a quick way to find bus tickets to many Brazilian cities. Another possibility is to call the bus station of one city. Flixbus serves the country and has rides in every part of Brazil except in the area of the Amazon river (updated Apr 2024)

Bus services are often sold in three classes: Regular, Executive and First-Class (Leito, in Portuguese). Regular may or may not have air conditioning. For long distances or overnight travels, Executive offers more space and a folding board to support your legs. First-Class has even more space and only three seats per row, making enough space to sleep comfortably. All trips of more than 4 hours are covered by buses with bathrooms and the buses stop for food/bathrooms at least once every 4 hours of travel.

Some big cities like São Paulo and Rio have more than one bus station, each one covering certain cities around. It is good to check in advance to which bus station you are going.

Bus stations in some Brazilian cities tend to be located far from downtown areas. They can be in quite remote neighborhoods, so if you travel at night, be prepared to take a taxi to and from the station. There will also be local bus lines. Even if you have a valid ticket purchased elsewhere, some Brazilian bus stations may also require a boarding pass. This can be obtained from the bus company, usually for an additional fee. If you buy a ticket at the departure bus station, you will also receive this boarding pass.

In Brazil, bus stations can include many services, including fast-food restaurants, cafes, internet cafes, restrooms and left-luggage office. As a general rule, the bigger the city, the more expensive the services can be (for example, leaving a suitcase as luggage in a smaller city can cost R$1, but in a capital like Recife it can cost R$5).

As required by Brazilian federal law, when buying tickets, as well as boarding the bus, an identification document may be requested (which for a foreigner means your passport). Not all drivers can read foreign passports, so be prepared to show them that the passport name really is the same as the ticket name.

Many people offer shared rides between many popular destinations. The most notable website for finding rides is BlaBlaCar, which also has a rating system for drivers, making the trip very secure, especially for Brazilian standards. This way, you can easily bring down your transport costs by 40-50%. Costs are about R$20 per 100 km.

Also, it can be considerably faster, without unnecessary stops at restaurants and such. The BlaBlaCar website is free, and you only pay the driver directly. But they will almost certainly charge in the future like they do for other countries as well. But until the taxation status of such services (including Uber) is settled by the government, the free system will not change.

If you would like to see the price of the shared ride in the app in reais, you need to select BRL (Brazilian real) after installing the app. If you have the app on your smartphone already in another currency, you need to delete the app and reinstall it.

Do not underestimate the desire of Brazilians to discuss and talk about everything, and to give their opinions about even the most remote nonsense. This can be highly stressful if you have a different temperament, prefer a quiet drive, and just want to reach your destination.

Most cities have extensive bus services. Multiple companies may serve a single city. There is almost never a map of the bus lines, and often bus stops are unmarked. Be prepared for confusion and wasted time. The bus schedule for the urban passenger transport service in large and small cities can be consulted on the site, in addition to Google Maps, it includes some services.

Buses have a board behind the windshield that advertises the main destinations they serve. You may have to ask the locals for information, but they may not know bus lines except the ones they usually take.

In most cities you have to wave to stop the bus when you want to take it. This in itself would not pose a problem; however, in big cities there may be dozens of bus lines stopping at a given bus stop and bus stops are not designed to accommodate so many vehicles. Frequently one cannot observe the oncoming buses due to other buses blocking the view. Bus drivers are reluctant to slow down for a bus stop if they are not sure someone will take their bus, so it is common to miss your bus because you could not see it coming to wave on time or the driver did not see you waving in between buses already at the stop. Some people go into the middle of a busy street to wait for their bus to make sure they see it and the driver sees them. In some places, like Manaus, drivers even tend to ignore stop requests (both to get on and to get off) if it is not too easy to navigate to the bus stop.

Most city buses have both a driver and a conductor. The conductor sits behind a till next to a turnstile. You have to pay the conductor; the price of the bus is usually advertised on the windshield. The turnstiles are narrow, and very inconvenient if one carries any kind of load (try balancing a heavy backpack over the turnstile while the bus is running). Larger buses often have a front section, before the turnstile, meant in priority for the elderly, handicapped and pregnant women - you can use it but you still have to pay! Typical prices are around R$3.

You can try asking the conductor to warn you when the bus is close to your destination. Depending on whether he or she understands you and feels like helping you, you may get help.

In addition to large city buses, there are often minibuses or minivans (alternativo). You pay the driver when you go aboard.

In northern Brazil, it is possible to travel many distances by boat. In fact, the boat is the main and most accessible means of transport to get around the Amazon, since the Amazon Forest is cut by many rivers and some cities are inaccessible by road. The best boat services in the country are in the Amazon, where you can ride on speedboats and comfortable yachts or small wooden boats. The main navigable rivers are the Amazon River, the Araguaia River, the Xingu River and the Tapajós River. It is necessary to know the geography of the region, as in some places waterfalls are formed.

Brazil has availability of some e-hailing services, Uber being the largest of them. Notable e-hailing services in Brazil, are:

• Uber. (updated Jul 2020)
• 99Pop. If the app is not available in your Google Play store, you can download it here. (updated Jul 2020)
• Cabify. (updated Jul 2020)