Approximately
the same size as continental United States, flights to
Brazil are well served from North America, Europe and
Asia. Here, ordinarily flights to Brazil that originate
in North America, Europe or Asia frequently fly to Rio
de Janeiro (the city famous for its carnival), Sao Paulo (the country's most populace city) and Brasilia (the capital).
Cheap flights to Brazil, through all of these gateways,
are also freely available.
Aside from these, both full-fare and cheap flights to
Brazil arrive at two of Brazil's favorite other holiday
destinations, Recife (a popular package tourist destination)
and Manaus (located right in the heart of the Amazon basin).
Once in Brazil, travel in Brazil is fairly accessible,
but is not cheap - when considered against the cheap flights
available into Brazil. Having said this, provided that
you are willing to shop around a number of travel agents,
you should be able to locate some cheap flights in Brazil;
and if you want to see anything of the country, you'll
need to take at least one domestic flight in Brazil -
as the country is so large! For those looking to do extensive
travel in Brazil, a Brazil Airpass, from Varig or Tam,
can be purchased with international flights to Brazil.
However, do keep in mind that both Varig and Tam Airpasses
can be purchased once you have arrived in Brazil, and
once you have decided how much travel in Brazil you want
to do. Normally though you can save yourself a substantial
amount of money if you purchase your Varig or Tam Airpass
as part of your overall ticket price for your international
flight to Brazil.
Brazil's national airline is Varig, which flies both
domestically and internationally. Many of the cheap flights
to Brazil, and flights within Brazil, can be purchased
with Varig. Varig is an especially good option to fly
to Brazil with if you intend to do any domestic travel
in Brazil.
One note of caution should be kept in mind when purchasing
cheap flights to Brazil, both international flights that
travel out of Brazil, and domestic flights that travel
in Brazil, are subject to departure tax. Normally these
taxes are included in the ticket price. However, the international
and domestic departure taxes are not cheap, so some travel
agents adopt a policy of not including these sums in their
flight prices in an attempt to make their cheap flights
to Brazil look more attractive.
A final word of caution is that Brazil immigration rules
require all passengers arriving on flights to Brazil to
have passports with expiry dates exceeding 6-months. Consequently,
if you arrive on a flight to Brazil with a passport that
has less than 6-months till it expires, you may well find
yourself facing a real problem. Also, nearly all non-Brazilian
nationals and citizens are required to obtain a visa in
order to travel to Brazil. Generally these travel Brazil
visas are for 90-days, extendable for a further 90-days.
Those not looking to fly domestically in Brazil can travel
Brazil via road. Buses throughout Brazil are the primary
means of long-distance travel in Brazil. As a result,
bus travel in Brazil usually comes with excellent and
reliable service - and is an inexpensive means of traveling
Brazil. On the other hand, rail travel is sparse and it
is often difficult to find trains running on time - if
at all! That said, if you are a train enthusiast, you
should try to do some travel in Brazil via train as the
trains that do run travel through some of the most picturesque
landscape in the world (in particular the Curitiba-Paranagua
line).
Alternative means of the transport to travel Brazil are
by boat, through the inland waterways of Brazil, and by
car-hire. However, neither of these two modes of inland
travel in Brazil is particularly recommended unless you
know what you're doing!