Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The furthest north you can drive is
the Serra do Cachimbo
on the fringes of Pará state. The fastest road is
Highway
BR-364
(known as the BR-070 in Mato Grosso) through Cuiabá, which ultimately links São Paulo with Rio Branco and
Cruzeiro do Sul.
into Cuiabá on buses #202, #304 or #309, or 10min by
taxi (from R$20).
Bus companies
All buses run from the rodoviária; the
most useful companies are probably Expresso Rubi (for
Porto Velho and Chapada dos Guimarães;
T
65 3621 1764);
Real Norte (for Cáceres, Porto Velho, Rio Branco and Peru;
T
65 362 2920); and Eucatur (for most major destinations
to the south and east;
T
65 3901 2140).
Destinations
Alta Floresta (4 daily; 12hr); Barão do
Melgaço (3 daily; 3hr); Brasília (6 daily; 20hr); Cáceres
(3 daily; 3.5hr); Campo Grande (6 daily; 11hr); Chapada dos
Guimarães (9 daily; 1hr); Coxim (6 daily; 6-7hr); Goiânia
(6 daily; 14hr); Poconé (4 daily; 3hr); Porto Jofre (5 daily;
3hr); Porto Velho (4 daily; 23hr); Rio Branco (4 daily; 32hr);
Rio de Janeiro (1 daily; 31hr); Rondonópolis (10 daily; 3hr);
São Paulo (2 daily; 24hr-plus).
BY PLANE
The airport (
T
65 3614 2500), 8km south in Várzea Grande,
is connected to the centre by Metropolitano buses (R$2.95)
and taxis (from about R$35). From here take the bus
marked “Shopping Pantanal”, but remember to get off at Av
Getúlio Vargas, for the city centre. The new light rail system
from the airport was still under construction at the time of
writing.
Airlines
TAM, Av Isaac Póvoas 586 (
T
65 3682 1702); Gol
(
T
65 3682 1666). Webjet and Oceanair only have o
ces at
the airport; the latter is the least reliable.
7
BY BUS
Both the BR-163 and the BR-364 run to Cuiabá. Whether
you're coming from São Paulo, Rio, Brasília or the
Northeast, you'll want to take the BR-364 for travelling
onwards overland into the western Amazon. The
rodoviária (
T
65 3621 3629,
T
65 3621 4100) on
Avenida Marechal Rondon is a large concrete complex
3km north of the city centre. From here it's a 15min ride
BY CAR
Car rental
Localiza, Av Dom Bosco 965 (
T
65 3624 7979);
Unidas, Praça do Aeroporto (
T
65 3682 4052).
TOUR OPERATORS AND GUIDES IN CUIABÁ
All of Cuiabá's
travel agents
offer trips into the Pantanal or to the closer sites, like Chapada
dos Guimarães and Nobres, although their primary occupation is selling flights within
Brazil. For more personal service, however, you'd do better to contact one of the local
tour
operators
, which tend to be smaller and offer specialist local knowledge. Tours within the
region tend to cost upwards of R$200/day/person including transport, accommodation in
pousadas
, good food, horse riding and photo-safari outings. In
low season
it may be
worth bargaining, particularly if there are four or more of you travelling together: you may
also have to wait a day or two for enough tourists to make up your group, unless you're
happy paying more.
Independent
guides
and operators tend to approach arriving
passengers at the airport too.
★
Ecoverde Tours
Often has a presence at the
airport, but also has an o
ce at Av Getúlio Vargas
155A, as well as a base at Pousada Ecoverde
T
65
3624 1386,
T
65 9605 5406,
W
ecoverdetours.com
.br).
Highly recommended company run by the wildlife
ecologist Joel Souza, a very reliable operator who
speaks excellent English and German, among other
languages. Joel works with a number of very good
guides, including Alexsander Gomez Ramos, who also
speaks excellent English.
Pantanal Explorer
Av Governador Ponce de
Arruda 670, Várzea Grande
T
65 3682 2800,
W
pantanalexplorer.com.br.
Run by the inspiring
conservationist André Von Thuronyi, Pantanal Explorer
offers well-organized trips into the Pantanal and the
Amazon. A stay at the wonderful
Pousada
Araras Eco
Lodge
(see p.468) on the Transpantaneira is likely to be
included, where you'll see plenty of local wildlife while
staying in comfortable surroundings.
★
Pantanal Nature
Rua Campo Grande 487,
T
65 9994 2265,
W
pantanalnature.com.br.
This
fantastic and highly professional tour operator does
trips into the Pantanal - offering a choice of different
accommodation options - which can be combined
with trips to nearby Chapada das Guimarães, Nobres
and/or the Amazon in a customized package. They
also own the
Jaguar Camp
in Porto Jofre (see p.468),
which specializes in jaguar-spotting. Owner Ailton
Lara is a wonderful guide - both passionate and
extremely knowledgeable about the region and its
flora and fauna. Highly recommended.
