Map of Brazil

Touristic map of Brazil

View Larger Map

What to expect in Brazil?

Pelourinho, Salvador

Colonial Heritage
Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais), Paraty (Costa Verde) and Salvador (Bahia) and Olinda (Pernambuco) are Portuguese colonial gems boasting fine Baroque architecture and historical museums.

Fernando de Noronha

Best Beaches
Ipanema (Rio) for people watching, Ilha Grande (Costa Verde) and Ilha Bella (Sao Paolo) for unspoilt beaches and mountain backdrops, Bahia for white sands, calm warm waters and palm trees.

Best of Fun
Nightlife: Lapa district in Rio for some of the finest live samba and bossa nova. Buzios near Rio for bars and nightclubs. Pelourinho in Salvador for live music, cafes and bars.
Festivals: Beside Carnival in Feb/March, Rio, Salvador and Olinda boasts the world's most spectacular New Year's celebrations

Iguazu falls

Nature and Wildlife
Iguaçu Falls - monstrous waterfalls, a world natural phenomenon, bigger than Victoria falls and higher than Niagara. Surrounded by unspoilt tropical forest, which can be explored by foot, bike or boat.
Pantanal - a massive swamp larger than France with remarkably varied wildlife, including iguanas, jaguars, wild boar, crocodiles, anacondas, anteaters and exotic birds. 
Amazon - for boat trips and rainforest exploration. Iguaçu - butterflies. Praia do Forte (Bahia) - from Dec - Mar 1000s of turtles come ashore to lay eggs. Santa Catarina - whale-watching.

Surfing in Buzio

Surfing and Hiking
For surfing - Rio and surrounds (especially Saquarema), Porto do Galinhas in the north east and to the south in Santa Caterina state. Jericoacoara for windsurfing (best Jul-Dec), Ilha Grande for sea-kayaking, Buzios, Angra and Ilhabela for sailing. Fernando de Noronha, a group of islands off the northeast coast, offers Brazil's best diving.
Chapada Diamantina (Bahia) has great hiking and biking trails in lush highlands. The hills surrounding Ouro Preto and Tiradentes also offer day hikes. Parque Nacional de Tijuca - a 120sqkm forested park on the edge of Rio.

Football
Watch a football game at Rio's Maracana Stadium, the largest stadium in the world.

Samba school in Rio

"Escolas de Samba" are a gathering of people from the same community who come together to rehearse the samba in preparation for Sambodrome parade during Carnival. Over seventy years ago, Samba Schools began in Rio de Janerio eventually developing into a main event of Carnival. Everyone who is part of the Samba School, novice to professional, all participate in Carnival. The performance is based on theme and includes the talents of the entire Samba School. Elements that are included in the parade are a master of ceremonies, flag bearer, bateria (drum section), and magnificently decorated floats.
Every year, the school chooses an idea to focus on for the parade. Each Samba School brings 3,000 to 5,000 people and 6 to 8 floats to the parade as well as take over an hour for their performance. Foreigners are welcome to join in a Samba School and since rehearsals begin as early as August, even if you are not in Rio during Carnival, you can experience the Samba Parade by going to a public rehearsal.

Top Samba Schools

Salgueiro
Rua Silva Teles, 104 - Tijuca
Telephone: 2288-3065 / 2281-3134
http://www.salgueiro.com.br/S2008/

Beija - Flor
Pracinha Wallace Paes Leme, 1.025 - Nilopolis
Telephone: 2791-2866
http://beija-flor.com.br/___2011_novo/index.html

Mangueira
Rua Visconde de Niteroi, 1.072 - Mangueira
Telephone: 2567-4637
http://www.mangueira.com.br/mangueira/

Imperatriz Leopoldinense
Rua Professor Lacê, 235 - Ramos
Telephone: 2560-8067
http://www.imperatrizleopoldinense.com.br/

Imperio Serrano
Av. Ministro Edgard Romero, 114 - Madureira
Telephone: 2489-8722
http://www.imperioserrano.com/

Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel
Rua Coronel Tamarindo, 38 - Padre Miguel
Telephone: 3332-5823
http://www.gresmocidade.com.br/

Rocinha
Rua Bertha Lutz N. 80 - Sao Conrado
Telephone: 2322-5948
http://www.academicosdarocinha.com.br/

Unidos da Tijuca
Av. Francisco Bicalho, 47 - Clube dos Portuarios - Sao Cristovao
Telephone: 2516-4053
http://unidosdatijuca.com.br/

Carnival

Carnival is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. The country stops completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities. It is an annual festival held forty-six days before Easter.

Rhythm, participation, and costumes vary from one region of Brazil to another. In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, huge organized parades are led by samba schools. Those official parades are meant to be watched by the public, while minor parades ("blocos") allowing public participation can be found in other cities. The northeastern cities of Salvador, Porto Seguro and Recife have organized groups parading through streets, and public interacts directly with them. This carnival is heavily influenced by African-Brazilian culture. Crowds follow the trio elétricos floats through the city streets. Also in northeast, Olinda carnival features unique characteristics, part influenced by Venice Carnival mixed with cultural depictions of local folklore.

Other festivals

Carnaval is King of the Brazilian festival calendar but there are plenty of other festive events to enjoy during your trip to Brazil, as the list below attests...

Festa de Iemanjá (Festival of Iemanjá) Celebrated in Rio on January 1, and in Salvador on February 2.

Procissão do Senhor Bom Jesus dos Navegantes (Procession of the Lord Jesus of Boatmen) In Salvador, Bahia on New Year's Day.

Lavagem do Bonfim (Washing of Bonfim church) Second Thursday in January. A Candomblé festival culminating in the ritual cleansing of Bonfim church in Salvador, Bahia.

Carnaval Friday to Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday. Carnaval celebrations usually start well before the official holiday.

Semana Santa (Holy Week) The week before Easter. Festival in Congonhas, Ouro Prêto, Goiás Velho.

Dia do Índio (Indian Day) April 19.

Festas Juninas (June Festivals) Throughout June. Celebrated throughout in Rio state and much of the rest of the country.

Boi-Bumbá June 28–30. Celebrated in Parintins, Amazonas.

Bumba Meu Boi Late June to second week of August. Festival in São Luís.

Fortal (out-of-season Carnaval) Last week of July. Celebrated in Fortaleza.

Jubileu do Senhor Bom Jesus do Matosinhos (Jubilee of the Savior of Matosinhos) September 7–14. Celebrated in Congonhas.

Círio de Nazaré (Festival of the Virgin of Nazaré) Starts second Sunday in October. Festival in Belém.

Carnatal (Carnaval in Natal) First week of December. Natal’s answer to Brazil’s big celebration comes in December (Natalese simply can’t wait for the other Carnaval).

(Mostly) Warm and Sunny Brazil

When to go: Brazil’s high season runs from December to March. This is when the country fills with both foreign visitors and vacationing Brazilian families (school holidays run from mid-December to Carnaval, usually in February). Prices rise during this time and you’ll face more crowds, though this is also the most festive time in Brazil. Brazil’s low season runs from May to September. With the exception of July, which is also a school-holiday month, this is the cheapest and least-crowded time to visit the country – though it can be ­utterly vacant in some resort areas and cold in the south.

During the summer, which runs from December to February (school holidays coinciding), Rio and the Northeast have temperatures in the high 30s. The rest of the year temperatures are generally in the mid-20s to low 30s. The south has wider temperature variations, ranging from 15°C in the winter (June through August) to 35°C in the summer.

Climate in more details: The climate of Brazil comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a large area and varied topography, but most of the country is tropical. The different climatic conditions produce environments ranging from equatorial rainforests in the north and semiarid deserts in the northeast, to temperate coniferous forests in the south and tropical savannas in central Brazil. Many regions have starkly different microclimates.

An equatorial climate characterizes much of northern Brazil. There is no real dry season, but there are some variations in the period of the year when most rain falls. Temperatures average 25 °C (77 °F), with more significant temperature variation between night and day than between seasons.

Over central Brazil rainfall is more seasonal, characteristic of a savanna climate. This region is as extensive as the Amazon basin but has a very different climate as it lies farther south at a higher altitude. In the interior northeast, seasonal rainfall is even more extreme. The semiarid climatic region generally receives less than 800 millimetres (31.5 in) of rain, most of which generally falls in a period of three to five months of the year and occasionally less than this, creating long periods of drought. Brazil's 1877–78 Grande Seca (Great Drought), the most severe ever recorded in Brazil, caused approximately half a million deaths. The one from 1915 was devastating too.

South of Bahia, near São Paulo, the distribution of rainfall changes, with rain falling throughout the year. The south enjoys temperate conditions, with cool winters and average annual temperatures not exceeding 18 °C (64.4 °F); winter frosts are quite common, with occasional snowfall in the higher areas.

An introduction

Brazil is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 190 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country in the world.

Brazil occupies a large area along the eastern coast of South America and includes much of the continent's interior, sharing land borders with Uruguay to the south; Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest; Bolivia and Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; and Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the French overseas department of French Guiana to the north. It shares a border with every country in South America except for Ecuador and Chile. It also encompasses a number of oceanic archipelagos, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. Its size, relief, climate, and natural resources make Brazil geographically diverse.

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, China and the United States, and third largest in the Americas and spans three time zones.