Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 5/20/2007

Question
hi,
Im planing a holiday in Brazil for two months, from November 2007 till January 2008. Is it possible to have a decent two month holiday with a budget of 1300 usd. Im a young, avanturistic person who likes to have fun, I would like to visit attractive beaches, experience nightlife activities, live in cheap but safe accomodations, see things that must be seen when you go to Brazil - nothing fancy or pricy. Is it financialy more reasonable to go to Salvador in Bahia (or some other place by the sea) and only visit Rio and Sao Paolo for a few days?

Answer
Short answer re: $1,300 lasting you two months: Hell no. Especially in Rio or Sao Paulo.  Now, unless you stay with a friend for free, the cheapest hotel Ive seen around here is about $20 a day, or $140 a week. Then you have to eat, and get around. Youre not going to want to stay two months hanging out alone at Ipanema Beach. Besides, $1,300 would last you about three weeks there, if you live a regular middle class tourist life. If you rough it, and you will have to know your way around, then you can stretch taht money. Do you plan on living at campgrounds and stuff like that? If so, then you can probably stretch the cash, so long as you stay in one place.  I have to be honest, I dont know alot about camping grounds in Braizl. They are rare, and mostly in the interior. Maybe there is a youth hostel internatioanl in Rio or Salvador; dunno. Do a google for Youth Hostel INternational and find out for yourself.  

A bus from Sao Paulo to Rio is going to cost you at least $50 round trip. Thats about a 6 hour ride, so figure youll blow another $10 eating. I wouldnt visit Sao Paulo as a tourist. Nothing there for you. Just a massive, very costly city. And if yo udont know what it is you want to see there, then youll get lost. Onlly Tokyo and Mex City are biggger.

Salvador is no man's land.  You can only get there from Rio or Sao Paulo. There are no direct flights from the US, unless youare staying at the 5 star resorts, which would cost you about $1,300 for five days, let alone two months.  A flight from Sao Paulo to Salv will cost you easily, round trip, $400. That's a third of your $1,300.

Bahia is cheaper than Rio and definitely cheaper than Sao Paulo, but Id suggest $1,300 for MAX one month, unless you feel like pitching a tent or have friends.

You need to come up with a schedule, what do you want to do? Who are you going with? Do you speak Portuguese? Also, Nov to Jan is high season in Bahia and Rio, so prices will be exhorbitant. It's Christmas season and all the mid class and rich in Brazil travel to Rio and Bahia.  Your $1,300 wont go very far.  Also, to make matters worse, the currency exchange is not as favorable as it once was. $1=R$1.96 today and most bankers expect it to be $1-R$1.80 to R$1.60 by early 2008. That means youre 1.3k is goin to be worth a lot less in Brazilian reals once you finally get here.

Think about what you wanna see, and stay there.  You can talk a two day bus to Salvador from Rio.  Should cost you about $70.

I might even recommend you go to Rio, stay cheap for a week, then hook up with a bus tour somewhere for a week where there are people your own age, whatever that might be.  You will enjoy it more if you speak some of the language, or at least Spanish. You MIGHT find someone who speaks English. But that is no guarantee, except in the hotels. Your bus driver and the guy sellign the ticket will unlikely speak English. A travel agent, if big enough (like CVC) will have at least 1 person there who speaks English and can help you book a bus tour of Rio or Rio to Salvador for 10 days. That would be adventurous.

Rio is very dangerous, so skimping on cash is like skimping on security.

Feel free to post a follow up if you have more q's or details about what youre thinking of doing.

Check out www.brazilmax.com for travel ideas.

Ken