Hi there!
We will be in BH June 15-17 for the Belgium-Algeria match. Two questions:
1) We will stay at Hotel Metropole (Rua da Bahia, 1023). Is this neighborhood safe? We will arrive there by airport bus and the bus station is located conveniently close to the hotel (Av. Alvares Cabral, 387). As we will arrive there around midnight I was wondering if it is safe enough to walk some 500 metres to the hotel.
2) The final whistle will be at around 2:50pm. Our plane departs at 8:00pm. Do you think that five hours are enough to leave the stadium, take a taxi (or other means of transportation) back to the hotel to get our bags and then take the airport bus to CNF? I understand that it’s difficult to say as no one knows how much traffic there will be on a match day, but maybe someone can give a general opinion. I don’t have a problem with leaving the stadium 5-10 minutes early should this ease the situation.
Many thanks in advance!
I've never been to the rodoviária in BH but I would make the general observation that the surroundings of most bus stations in most Brazilian cities are not places I would want to go schlepping around with at midnight, especially not burdened down with luggage. A taxi ride will cost next to nothing, why walk there?
Thanks, corisco. The airport bus does not arrive at the rodoviária but at a stop located some kilometres away from it. I already heard that the area around the rodoviária is not the best.
Are taxi drivers in Brazil usually fine with short rides? In Germany they tend to get mad if you want to ride less than say 2 kilometres especially if they had been queing at a taxi stand.
That's a great area, close to ideal. A block or so from the Parque Muncipal and a few blocks from Praça Liberdade. Safe area, even at night (in my experience).
The place where the airport bus leaves you at Av. Alvares Cabral 387 is not the rodaviaria or any major bus stop, it's a quiet spot about 2 blocks away. Walking would probably be fine, though so would a cab. They won't mind the short trip; they get the minimum plus a bit (at nighttime rates) for a few seconds in the cab.
I bet you'll have time to make it happen but remember that the international airport is farrrr away, up to an hour with heavy traffic (though I've made it there in less than 25 minutes under good conditions). You're right though, no one can say, it could be utter gridlock. You're not far from the subway, so another option is to grab a cab over to the nearest subway up there – pretty close by, 5 mins or so – then hop on that, though I'm guessing it'll be pretty mobbed too.
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