Hey everyone,
How are you? Recently spent 6 months in Brasil on a work assignment - wanted to share my travel experiences. Some background: I'm in my late 30s, male, gay, with a healthy disposable income. I spent most of my time in São Paulo and used the weekends to travel - Brasil is massive, larger than the lower 48 United States and just slightly smaller than the size of Europe.
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Cities visited: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Florianópolis.
São Paulo is massive - reminded me of Tokyo. It is where I spent the most time. I loved the public transportation, mid century & brutalist architecture, variety of neighborhoods, and restaurants. It is a busy fast paced city. Lots of museums - though not a lot of 'touristy' sights. Has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. A lot of people said visit Liberade (Japantown), but I found it really crowded and not that enjoyable. I did not find São Paulo to have the charm of CDMX and Buenos Aires. A plus of São Paulo which I hadn't realized is the coast of São Paulo state (Litoral Norte), it is really beautiful and where the rainforest meets the sea.
Rio de Janeiro - just an incredible place regarding the mix of scenery and city. Beautiful mountains leading to the ocean, with a vibrant city right there. Active lifestyle, so many people out running, biking, walking. Lots of 'touristy' attractions - my favorite was Sugarloaf Mountain with a view of the city and also the botanical gardens are amazing. It is not a 'relaxing' beach destination. I found it quite interesting because the beach is actually quite chilly with big waves, so not a lot of people in the water, but there is a lot of 'beach life' on the sand.
Florianópolis - read so much about Floripa and found it a bit overrated. It is pretty, but not sooooo beautiful that I would plan a vacation there. It is also quite spread out - the traffic is really bad in the high summer season. It is much more chill in the winter, but can get cold and rainy.
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Prices & Travel Logistics:
I found Brasil to be the place where last minute/high season travel had a huge impact on prices. For example, there was a nice "pousada" I liked in a beach town about 2.5 hours from São Paulo. The price during the week was $120 USD a night, on a weekend night, it was $300 USD.
Pousadas are basically family owned bed & breakfasts and they are found in many parts of Brasil. I had a great experience in them - mostly comfortable with a nice breakfast spread. Quality of pousadas can vary significantly.
Prices in Rio and São Paulo for hotels varied - you could find a basic almost business style hotel for about $150 USD a night, nicer hotel rooms started around $300 USD.
I found round trip flights from São Paulo to Rio for about $175 USD, but if I took a more popular flight (lets say leave Friday night, come back Sunday), it would go up to $400 USD roundtrip for a 50 minute flight.
Brasil again is enormous and it can be logistically hard to explore. Places like Lençois Maranhenses require a flight then 4-5 hour bus transfer on bumpy roads. There are also many places like Chapada Diamantina (hiking, mountains) and Bonito (freshwater snorkeling and diving) that require tours/guides to visit. I went to Lençois and I might be the only person who will say this, but for me, while beautiful, the destination wasn't worth it when factoring in the immense travel time and logistics.
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Food: I enjoyed Brasilian food. Lots of rice, beans, meat, and great quality fruit which I felt was well rounded. There is a big lunch culture - buffets and pay by the pound. Prices can feel affordable for lunch (around $10 USD) but randomly expensive for nicer dinners (appetizer, entree & drink) could be around $50 USD. Moqueca was my favorite Brasilian dish - it is a seafood coconut stew famous from Bahia. While I did enjoy the food, I wouldn't say it is a 'food' destination for me like Japan, Mexico, or Peru are.
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General Interactions: I speak English, Spanish, and Portuguese. English is not widely spoken at all even in more touristy locations. Like anywhere, I interacted with super kind people and less kind people. I would say that in general, I found people more open and warm in Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. As I was on a work assignment, I would often go to a bar by myself and grab a drink. My interactions with 'strangers' and bartenders were much shorter/non existent compared to other countries I had traveled in Latin America.
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Still want to go to:
Iguaçu Falls, the Pantanal, Salvador
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Overall:
I'm always grateful to travel and explore so I did enjoy my time in Brasil. I don't think I would go back except to Rio. If I want a 'city' destination, would choose CDMX, Buenos Aires, or some places in Europe. For a beach vacation coming from North America, the Caribbean and México are so much closer. Additionally, Southeast Asia offers a unique cultural experience with beaches at a lower cost.