Brazil by bus

Thanks Palohevo, great tip.

What ?
Bus tickets are sold at the bus station ?
Its outrageous that nobody told me that before.

Thats outrageous. I cannot believe that bus tickets can be brought at the station.

On a serious note, you are using a third party to book tickets therefore you will always pay more for your tickets.

Lol. Okay. To set the record straight, the Brazilian government charges 6% on foreign transactions, not 25%.

Either way, resellers will mark up the price, always. The same with the carnaval tickets. Sometimes it's reasonable (a 5-10% markup, or a 25 R$ administrative fee), and sometimes it isn't (these bus tickets, the carnaval tickets).

Thanks Palohevo, great tip.

Yes, quite a revelation that one can purchase bus tickets at a bus station. Leningrad Cowboys Go Novo Rio.

Take the Corisco challenge. Try searching the archives and see if you come up with less than 100 posts on bus travel in Brazil where the advice is to buy in person at the bus station in say 20 minutes.

Oh and Andrew is right, the government does not charge 25% on such purchases.

Really funny, wise guys (or girls). Of course a middleman will take his share, but 40-45% is outragious without a information about it on the page. Buying (not bringing, trent84) a bus ticket on a bus station and specially using CREDIT CARD is outrageous in many countries, you'll learn when you travel more.

This is the most amusing post in quite some time.
Definition of "naive". or The Gringo Tax redux.
(At least the OP didn't think his "big news" should be preserved in the FAQ.)

In Salvador, you don't even have to go to the bus station. Just call the bus company and for R$3, someone delivers the ticket and collects the money (the same rate as at the bus station) from your hotel/hostel front desk person, while you play tourist or go to the beach.

@corisco--#1 is one a yours. :-)

Strange as it might sound I'm not actually Finnish.