Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
long distances. It is valid for thirty days from the first
flight and costs US$532 for four flights if bought
together with a TAM international flight, and US$582
if you fly with another carrier. Additional flights are
around US$150 each; for flights of two hours' duration
or more, this is much cheaper than you are likely to
pay if you book a flight yourself.
GOL
, the low-cost
Brazilian airline, offers the
Brazil Airpass
, which
includes a minimum of four flight coupons (U$532)
and a maximum of nine (US$1152), with a maximum
stay of thirty days - all for flights within Brazil. Their
Northeast Brazil Airpass
starts at U$390 for any
three flights in the northeastern part of the country
(including all the airports between Porto Seguro and
Salvador to São Luis, but not Belém and Amazonas).
Lastly, if you have an air pass and change the time
or date of your flight, always remember to
cancel
the original flight
. If you don't, the computer flags
you as a no-show, and all your other air-pass
reservations will also be cancelled.
R$550-800 one-way). Again, book several weeks in
advance for the best deals.
Flying within the Northeast or Amazônia can be
tiresome, as many long-distance routes are no more
than glorified bus runs, stopping everywhere en
route. When planning your itinerary, it's a good idea
to check carefully how many times a plane stops -
for example, between Manaus and São Luis, a flight
may stop as many as four times or as few as once
.
There are
safety issues
to consider when flying in
the Amazon, where
Rico
was involved in a couple of
high-profile accidents in 2002 and 2004 (the airline
closed in 2011). Where possible, stick to GOL, Azul
and TAM when flying around Amazônia, or regional
carrier MAP Linhas Aéreas (
W
voemap.com.br). Air
travel in small planes, or
aerotaxis
, is very common,
however (Manaus Aerotáxi, for example;
W
manaus
aerotaxi.com.br) - the regional name for these flights
is
teco-teco
. Before taking one, you should be aware
that the airstrips are often dangerous, the planes
routinely fly overloaded and are not reliably
maintained, and no checks are made on the qualifica-
tions of pilots - some don't have any. Though it's one
of the better operators, a Manaus Aerotáxi Embraer
plane crashed in 2009, killing 24 people on board.
Budget airlines and fares
Budget airlines are now well established in Brazil,
the biggest being
GOL
(
W
voegol.com.br); its main
competitors other than TAM (which has been
forced to lower prices on domestic routes and cut
business class to compete) are
Avianca Brasil
(
W
avianca.com.br) and
Azul
(
W
voeazul.com.br),
launched by the founder of US budget carrier Jet
Blue. GOL has an extensive network, cheap seats, is
e
cient and usually better value than TAM -
though TAM still provides free snacks and drinks on
most flights (with GOL you have to pay for
anything other than glasses of water). Azul is also
very e
cient and has a large network, and though
its planes are usually small (mostly Embraer
aircraft), they generally come with live TV in each
headrest. GOL and TAM are the best equipped to
handle English-speakers, though
websites
for all of
these carriers have an English option and now take
most foreign credit cards (debit cards can be a
problem, however).
In Brazilian
holiday periods
(July, around
Christmas, and Carnaval) flights are often booked
up and you need to book as far in advance as you
can - as in other countries, prices for budget flights
become more expensive closer to departure. The
best deals are typically on well-travelled routes such
as the Rio-São Paulo-Belo Horizonte triangle (from
just R$130 one-way), and for flights of one hour or
less anywhere in Brazil rates can be very reasonable
- and still save 5-6 hours of bus travel. Travelling
further afield - Rio to Fortaleza or Manaus, for
example - starts to get a lot more expensive (from
By train
You probably won't be taking many
trains
in Brazil.
Although there's an extensive rail network, most of it
is for cargo only, and even where there are passenger
trains they're almost invariably slower and less
convenient than the buses. Exceptions are the
metrô
rail systems in Porto Alegre, Rio, São Paulo and
Brasília and a few
tourist journeys
worth making for
themselves, especially in the South and Minas Gerais.
By bus
The
bus system
in Brazil is excellent and makes
travelling around the country easy, comfortable and
economical, despite the distances involved. Inter-
city buses leave from a station called a
rodoviária
,
usually built on city outskirts.
Buses are operated by hundreds of private
companies, but
prices
are standardized, even when
more than one firm plies the same route, and are
reasonable: Rio to São Paulo is around R$80, to Belo
Horizonte R$70-80, to Foz do Iguaçu R$200-260
and to Salvador R$300, while São Paulo to Brasília is
around R$170-180.
Long-distance buses
are
comfortable enough to sleep on, and have
on-board toilets (which can get smelly on long
journeys): the lower your seat number, the further
