Basics - The Rough Guide to Brazil - page 25

From the UK and Ireland

be worthwhile if you have the time to make the
most of a few stopovers.
From Australia , the most direct route is with
Qantas/LAN Chile, which involves an 11.5-hour
non-stop flight from Sydney to Santiago followed
by a 4-hour flight to São Paulo or Rio. Aerolíneas
Argentinas also flies non-stop to Buenos Aires,
from where there are good connections direct to
Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Rio and São Paulo. From
New Zealand LAN also runs non-stop flights from
Auckland to Santiago (10hr 20min) for connections
to São Paulo or Rio.
Flying via Santiago with LAN Chile, you can
expect to pay around A$3100/NZ$2800-3100. An
open-jaw ticket - flying into Rio and out of São
Paulo (or vice versa) on Aerolíneas Argentinas or
LAN Chile, for example - won't cost you any more
than a straight through-fare to Rio.
From South Africa , South African Airlines files
non-stop from Johannesburg to São Paulo (10hr),
where you can switch to TAM or domestic airlines
for Rio and other destinations. Prices range from
R10,000 to R12,000 for a return ticket, depending on
the exchange rate.

There are plenty of choices of carrier to Brazil from
the UK , though São Paulo and Rio are the only desti-
nations for direct flights. If your ultimate destination is
neither of these cities, it is usually best to connect in
Rio, or connect with a TAP flight in Lisbon to Belém,
Recife, Salvador, Fortaleza, Natal, Belo Horizonte or
Brasília. If you only want to go to the Amazon ,
Manaus via Miami with TAM is your best bet, but it's
unlikely to be cheaper or quicker than a flight to Rio
or São Paulo and then a connection north.
British Airways ( W britishairways.com) and TAM
operate direct flights to Brazil from London; o cial
fares are usually very similar, starting at around £800
return to Rio or São Paulo in low season and £1000
in high season (July, Aug & Dec 14-25). The
cheapest fares, however, are often offered on routes
via Europe - with Alitalia ( W alitalia.com) via Rome,
TAP via Lisbon ( W flytap.com), Iberia via Madrid
( W iberia.com), Lufthansa via Frankfurt ( W lufthansa
.com) and Swiss Air via Zurich ( W swiss.com) - all to
both Rio and São Paulo. Prices tend to be the same
whether you begin your journey in London or at
one of the UK's regional airports .
As Brazil is such a large country, an open-jaw ticket
- flying into one city and leaving from another - may,
according to your itinerary, make sense. Rio and São
Paulo offer most airline possibilities, but flying with
TAP, for example, broadens your options.
There are no direct flights from Ireland to Brazil:
you can connect via London or other European
capitals, though the cheapest deals often route
through the US on Delta and American, with rates
as low as €550 return but journey times of around
24 hours.

SPECIALIST TRAVEL AGENTS AND
OPERATORS
African American Travel Agency US T 1215 473 6495,
W africanamericantravelagency.com. Tours that focus on the legacy of
Africa in Brazil, in particular Bahia.
Birding Brazil Tours Manaus, Brazil E info@birdingbraziltours
.com, W birdingbraziltours.com. Specialist birding tours run by experts
in the field to the Amazon and Pantanal.
Brazil Nuts US T 1800 553 9959, W brazilnuts.com. Tours that
promise to take you off the beaten track to experience Brazil's cities, the
Amazon basin and the Pantanal.
Festival Tours US T 1800 225 0117, W festivaltours.com.
An all-encompassing tour operator to Latin America focusing on
main tourist sights.
Journey Latin America UK T 020 8747 3108, W journeylatin
america.co.uk. Flight agents and tour operators offering guided tours
of Brazil as well as larger-scale overland options, which also take in
Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru, or Chile and Argentina.
Last Frontiers UK T 01296 653 000, W lastfrontiers.com.
Tailor-made itineraries to Brazil with a strong wildlife slant. Friendly and
knowledgeable staff will point you towards small hotels in destinations
throughout the country and occasionally organize small groups to attend
rodeos or to learn to play polo.
Lost World Adventures US T 1800 999 0558,
W lostworldadventures.com. Customized individual and group tours to
Brazil, including Amazon River excursions, and multi-country tours.
Peregrine Travel Qld/Back Track Travel Australia T 07 3850
7699, W peregrinetravelqld.com.au. Independent and group
travel specialists.

RTW ticket options
Combining Brazil with a longer trip in the southern
hemisphere, or putting together a round-the-
world (RTW) ticket , is possible but expensive. The
most popular ticket option is a one-way to Sydney
via Brazil and Argentina and a separate ticket back
to London via Southeast Asia or North America.
Another possibility is onward to Johannesburg from
São Paulo on South African Airways ( W flysaa.com).

From Australia, New Zealand
and South Africa
The best deals and fastest routes to Brazil from
Australasia are offered by Qantas and LAN Chile.
Round-the-world fares that include South America
tend to cost more than other RTW options, but can