 Brazil s the largest country in South America. Famous for its soccer tradition and its annual carnival in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador , it is a country of great diversity. From the bustling urban mosaic of São Paulo to the infinite cultural energy of Pernambuco and Bahia , the untouched wilderness of the Amazon rainforest and world-class landmarks such as the Iguaçu Falls , there is plenty to see and to do in Brazil.
Visas
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Citizens from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay may enter the country with a valid ID card and stay up to 90 days.
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No visa is required for stays of up to 90 days from holders of passports from South Africa, Croatia, all EU countries (except Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bulgaria, Colombia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Philippines, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR, Iceland, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Morocco, Namibia, Panama, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, Surinam, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Venezuela.
Citizens from the following countries currently need a visa for Brazil: Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, United States, El Salvador, Nicarágua, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Armenia, Lebanon, Siria, former soviet countries and others not listed above.
Requirements for TOURIST visas:
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A passport valid for at least six months beyond the applicant's intended period of stay in Brazil.
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One passport-sized photograph (2" x 2")
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A photocopy of the round trip ticket or itinerary
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A duly filled out and signed visa application form. Download a Visa Application form at http://www.brasilemb.org/consulado/consular_forms.shtml
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For American citizens the fee is U$100.00. For citizens of Canada the fee is U$40.00. For citizens of other countries, please check at http://www.brasilemb.org/consulado/consular_table_fee.shtml
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A non-refundable handling fee of US$10.00 per visa applies to visa applications submitted by mail or by any individual other than the applicant or an immediate member of his or her family (NOTE: New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco do not accept applications by mail ).
Vaccination
YELLOW FEVER INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION CERTIFICATE
A yellow fever vaccination is mandatory if applicant traveled within the last 90 days to any of the following Countries: Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Peru, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire) or Venezuela.
A yellow fever vaccination is advisable if applicant's destination in Brazil includes any of the following States: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins and the Federal District.
POLIO IMMUNIZATION
A Certificate of vaccination against polio is required for children between ages of three months and six years . If the child cannot be inoculated, a notarized letter from the child's physician will be required.
Hotels, Apartments, Cruises, Vacations in Brazil
Useful information
Currency and exchange
Brazil's unit of currency is the Real . Prices are written as R$1,50 (means one and fifty cents) for example. The Real can be difficult to sell after you leave South America, so convert any cash to US dollars if leaving the country for another continent.
Bank Machines often take VISA and other non-Brazilian credit cards. Check for the Cirrus or VISA PLUS logo. Shell Petrol/Gas stations with a shop might also have an ATM which does. Banco do Brasil may have many ATM's but only one per branch which accepts foreign credit/debit cards. There is often a long line of people waiting, as the machines are used by locals to pay bills. BankBoston, HSBC, Bradesco, and Citibank also accept PLUS and Cirrus ATM cards and usually have shorter lines. Credit card advance is through the ATM's (with the four digit PIN) ONLY -- no manual transactions.
In terms of the most common form of payment, cash in small bills is king in Brazil. If you have too many large bills, especially in the small towns and tourist destinations, you will find vendors often don't have enough small bills to make change. Therefore, make sure you carry a lot of small bills. Further, traveler checks are not easily or cheaply cashed in Brazil, except at international airports, which almost every main city of each state has: Sao Paulo, Rio, Curitiba, Salvador, Fortaleza, etc only to name a few. Brazilian banks charge really big to cash traveler checks and the process can take a while, so don't try it if you are in a hurry. It's good to go informed before you use this kind of service as only a few Brazilians would know about how its done.
Brazil redesigned its money in 1997 or 1998, and old coins are still in circulation. Old coins look more like each other than new coins of the same denomination, so read the numbers.
There are two different R$10 bills. One of them is blueish and made of plastic material. Although they're still valid and fully accepted everywhere, they are no longer being printed and are slowly disappearing as banks replace them for the red paper ones.
Business Hours
Banks
Banks are open 10am - 4pm., Monday through Friday in most of the country.
Malls
Most malls are open from Monday to Saturday, 10am-10pm. Some malls in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are open on Sundays, from noon to 8pm.
Stores
Most stores in Brazil are open 9am-6:30pm. on weekdays, and 9am-1pm on Saturdays.
 Telephone
Brazil has international country telephone code 55 and two-digit area codes, and phone numbers are eight digits long. The number of digits has been increased from seven to eight recently in some areas, meaning you might still find some old seven-digit phone numbers which won't work unless you prepend another digit (which depends on the area code and the first digit of the original number. Mostly, try adding 2 or 3). Eight-digit numbers beginning with digits 2 to 6 are land lines, while eight-digit numbers beginning with digits 7 to 9 are mobile phones.
All cities use the following emergency numbers:
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190 - Police
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192 - Ambulance
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193 - Firefighters
To dial to another area code or to another country, you must chose a carrier using a two-digit carrier code. Which carriers are available depends on the area you are dialing from and on the area you are dialing to. Carriers 21 (Embratel) and 23 (Intelig) are available in all areas.
The international phone number format for Brazil is +55-(area code)-(phone number)
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To dial to another area code: 0-(carrier code)-(area code)-(phone number)
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To dial to another country: 00-(carrier code)-(country code)-(area code)-(phone number)
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Local collect call: 90-90-(phone number)
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Collect call to another area code: 90-(carrier code)-(area code)-(phone number)
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International Collect Call: 000111 or through Embratel at 0800-703-2121
Public payphones use prepaid cards with a number of credits. Phone booths are nearly everywhere in the cities and do not accept coins, but the standard prepaid cards can be used in all booths, regardless of the owner phone company. These cards cannot be recharged, but are easily available in shopping centers, gas stations, post offices, etc. Calls to cell phones (even local) will use up your credits very quickly (nearly as expensive as international calls). Calling the USA costs about one real per minute.
Mobile phones
Brazil has 4 main mobile operators (this may change depending on the region you go, some operators doesn't have presence in all brazil, but they may have deals withe the others so you can go on roaming), VIVO is the largest one and operates cdma, the others are OI, TIM and CLARO which operates GSM. Check the price rates they may have big differences between the companies. The price policy may also be very different. Mobiles use mainly the CDMA or GSM system (some remote regions may still use the old TDMA). It is possible to buy a pay-as-you-go SIM card for GSM phones (this is called pré-pago (pre-paid)), but make sure your phone is unlocked and uses the same frequency of Brazilian mobiles (usually 800MHz or 1,8 GHz). Same thing applies to buying a phone in Brazil - make sure it is unlocked (usually not)so you can use another SIM card when you leave for a different country.
So far, only mobiles by TIM are able to send text messages to cell phones abroad.
Internet
Internet cafes and Lan houses are increasingly common, and even smaller tourist cities often have at least one spot with more or less decent connections.
If you attempt to send mail directly from a LAN house with your laptop, it may be bounced. Anyone, including a spammer, can do this. Use POP-before-SMTP or a securely authenticated connection to your home mail server.
Mail
The Brazilian Correio is fairly reliable and post offices are literally everywhere. Be sure to use PRIORITÁRIO (priority mail) or foreign letters and postcards will take a VERY long time to arrive. With this service you only pay for the actual weight -- not rounded up to the next full pound (half kilo) like in the USA. Rates are similar to first-class overseas airmail elsewhere. If mailing postcards, beware of the HUGE postage stamps which could cover your writing. Make it clear you want small stamps ( selos pequenos ) for postcards, not souvenirs for a stamp collection.
Electricity:
127V/60Hz or 220V/60Hz (North American or European plug)
 Time zone:
UTC -3 (-2 to -5)
Transport
By plane
Air service connects all major areas of Brazil. Note that not all air routes are as direct as they would seem on a map, and are often required to go through hubs such as Brasilia or Sao Paulo. Besides the traditional airlines Varig or TAM , there are also cheaper "no frills" airlines such as BRA , Gol and Webjet booking over the internet. For international travelers, air passes for in-country flights may be available while buying your flight to Brazil.
Beware of flight listings at the airport which only show the final city in route (which you're probably not aware of). Always know and check your flight NUMBER, not just the city you're flying to (it might not be listed). Expect that a more distant city might be the only one listed for your flight, but the plane will still stop at the airport for which you have a ticket. Strangely, international flights are just the opposite, with only the first destination in Brazil shown -- even though the same flight may go directly to other cities.
Many domestic flights in Brazil are considered "international," giving flyers a chance to purchase items at a "duty free" store in the airport. (There may be passengers on board from other South American countries who have not yet cleared customs.) Also, you must go through immigrations and customs again upon arrival, even though you never left Brazil. Foreign travelers on flights within Brazil do NOT fill out a new immigration form, but show the carbon copy of the one completed on arriving in Brazil the first time of same visit (with their passport and visa stamp).
By car
The atlas called "Guia de Estradas" can be bought in several newstands. It provides not only maps and distances but also information about current conditions of the roads (which can be indeed very bad). There are the usual car rental companies at the airports. 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.
Driving anywhere in Brazil requires a maximum amount of attention. In a recent year, Brazilians won first, second, and third place at the Indy 500 auto race -- which should give you an idea on how they drive -- Velozes e Furiosos! If you're bold enough to drive at all in Brazil, at least consider avoiding night-time driving. The problem behind Brazil's roads is the presence of potholes (mainly because of lack of investments from the government) and animals (which are left free near roads by the locals). When driving you should be carefull and aware of this, as it is the primary source of road accidents.
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If you drive, be careful: 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. This arrangement seems to be the opposite of the rest of the world, but the idea behind this is really simple. 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 through the car upfront, meaning you're going to speed up.
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Flashing headlights from the incoming cars means caution on the road ahead. Most of the time, it indicates that there are animals, cops or speed radar ahead.
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Keep the doors locked when driving, especially in the larger cities, as robberies at stop signs and red lights is not unheard of in certain areas. You'll make it much easier for the robber if he can simply open up the door and sit down.
 By bicycle
In rural areas in Brazil the bicycle is a common means of transport. This does not mean that cyclists are respected by car, truck, 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 bus. Cycling is not very stimulated in big cities. Three exception are Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Fortaleza where there are cycle tracks along the beaches.
By train Brazil's railway system was mostly wrecked during the military regimes. Today there are few passenger lines left:
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From Curitiba to Paranaguá - This scenic 150km-long railroad links the capital of Paraná to the coastal cities of Morretes and Paranaguá , through the beautiful Serra do Mar mountains covered with mata atlântica forest. The trip takes about 3 hours and has bilingual guides. Trains leave daily at 08:00 and prices start from about R$ 40 (round-trip)
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From São João del Rei to Tiradentes - This 35-minute trip on a steam train is almost like time travel. The train operates Fri-Sun, with departures from São João at 10:00 and 15:00 and 13:00 and 17:00 from Tiradentes. The round trip costs R$ 16.
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From Belo Horizonte to Vitória - Daily trains operated by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce leave Belo Horizonte at 07:30 and Vitória at 07:00. Travel time is about twelve and a half hours. Tickets are sold at the train stations and a single 2nd class fare costs about R$ 25. Seats are limited and it is not possible to reserve, so it is advisable to buy in advance.
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From São Luis to Carajás - interesting because part of it passes through the Amazon rainforest.
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From Macapá to Serra do Navio
By bus
Long-distance buses are a convenient, economical, and sometimes (usually if you buy the most expensive ticket), rather comfortable way to travel between regions. Bus terminals in cities play a role akin to train stations in many countries.
Brazil has a very good bus transport system, Basically, long distance routes depart from capital cities or economical centers, so if the city is big it will have connections to neighbouring capitals at the very least. One can expect just about any town to have a bus route to the capital or a regional economic center. Generally speaking bus tickets are bought at bus terminals at the end points or at the scheduled stops along the route. The facility of flagging a bus and hopping on (if there are available seats) is widespread 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 .
ANTT, the national authority for land transportation, has a search engine for all available domestic bus lines.
By boat In the Amazon region as well as on the coast west of Sao Luis, boat travel is often the only way to get around
 Health
Food & Water
Most major Brazilian cities have water treatment plants, but you should nevertheless avoid drinking tap water without filtrating it first. Drinking only filtered or mineral water is strongly recommended. Brazilian cuisine differs from region to region. Some people may be more sensitive than others to the strong, spicy seasonings used in many typical dishes. While some people are unaffected by the foods they choose to eat, others may experience digestive problems from foods they are not accustomed to eating.
When traveling abroad, anywhere in the world, one of the most effective ways to reduce one's risk of intestinal disease is to eat mainly at the major restaurants and hotels, where sanitary standarts are usually quite reliable. When eating on the beach, at street kioskes, or in a very small restaurant, it is generally best for travelers to eat well cooked foods, thus avoiding uncooked prepared foods (such as salads) that may have been rinsed in unfiltred tap water.
Sun
The sun in Brazil is extremely strong in certain areas. Serious sunburn is harmful to your health and can put a damper on your vacation. Here are some useful tips you should follow:
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Always use a skin lotion with a sun block protection factor of at least 15 whenever you are outdoors, even when there are clouds
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Limit exposure to the sun between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm
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Drink plenty of water
 Safety
There is no need to be overly apprehensive about safety issues in Brazil. Reports of violent crime against tourists and foreigners are rare. An unfortunate reality of life, however, is that petty crimes occur everywhere. You should keep your wits about you, as you would in any major city, to avoid being robbed.
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ask your hotel for safety information about the areas you plan to visit
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leave valuable items, including jewelry, travel documents and most of your money in a safe at your hotel
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travel with others whenever possible, especially at night
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ask police for help if necessary
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take only what is necessary to the beach
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behave like an experienced traveler as opposed to a tourist
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remember that you represent other Americans
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put your wallet and other valuable items in an inaccessible corner of your bag and watch it at all times
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have the time of your life
Do Not:
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keep valuable items in your back pockets or in the outside pockets of your purse or bag
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wear flashy jewelry or expensive items, such as designer glasses and valuable watches in the streets
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travel unfamiliar or dangerous areas alone
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display your money
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leave things unattended
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think it can't happen to you
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get involved in illegal activities
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forget to keep your wits about you
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carry your camera and other such items in a camera bag or around your neck
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