rio - salvador - rio

buses vary from 24 to 30 hours - but there's surprisingly few buses that do a direct route. occasionally there are cheap options to get two tickets, changing buses in southern bahia (cant remember the town name!). as for hitchhiking ... hmm, very questionable considering it's an overnights journey, and i doubt you'll find many people who'll take you much of the way. good luck.

I'm sure others will tell you what I'm about to say myself... If you want to make some stops in between Rio and Salvador, then of course hopping on/off buses is the way to go. But, if you just want to go directly from one city to another, flying is by far a better option. Itapemirim is one of the bus companies that connect the two cities. Their one way tickets (for the simplest of buses, the 'convencional') cost 170 reais, and the trip takes 25 hours (info found on their website). Any Gol flight leaving Rio for Salvador costs exactly the same, and actually there are a couple of flights per day that cost about 20 reais less. The flight lasts two hours...

I am also thinking of taking the bus from Salvador to Rio then spend some time in Rio then take a bus from Rio to Curitiba then some time in Curitiba then bus to Sao Paulo then fly out of Sao Paulo to Peru.

Any tips on that trip? Times and costs VS flying? I have plenty of time.

BUS ITINERARY

Salvador -> Rio
Rio-> Curitiba
Curitiba -> Sao Paulo

Not a great deal to travel by bus between Rio and Salvador since air tickets are cheaper the bus tickets... and it is a long bus ride thru not so good roads.

For Rio-Curitiba there are also good promos on flights.

Curitiba - São PAulo is about 6 hours bus ride ... you may get good fares on flights too, but not cheaper than buses.

See fares with GOL.