best way to get around brazil

Hello everybody,
i hope my question is not been done already (or at least not too much).
I'm going to travel South America next year starting from Brazil in january. my plan is to fly to Salvador, and from there do all the coast down to Uruguay, going through Rio, Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Porto Alegre. I can count on a good budget and few friends around Brazil. The main advice I have got is to travel the country by bus; but i wouldnt like to spend (for example) 10 hours on a bus from Rio to Sao Paulo without seeing anything in between. My question is: does it exist a ticket that allows you to jump on and off the bus, like an open ticket, so that i can enjoy the country at its best? or otherwise, do you think would be better to rent a car, at least for parts of the trip, and doing the rest by bus? (about renting, I am going to study an elementary Portuguese before the trip as it probably would be needed to understand the contract, maybe some Spanish and English could help doing the rest).
if there are other options, please let me know!

You are probably best off flying between major cities and exploring the outlying areas by bus. Flights can often be about as cheap as buses if tickets are purchased well in advance. In some cases, you might find areas between major cities that interest you, in which case you can go by bus, stopping along the way. For example, between São Paulo and Rio you could stop in Paraty and Ilha Grande. Or between Rio and Salvador, stops could include Vila Velha, Abrolhos, Porto Seguro/ArraialD,Ajuda, Ilheus/Itacare, BarraGrwnde, Boipeba, and/or Morto do São Paulo.
There are no hop on-hop off long distance buses. It is not recommended to those who don't know Brazil well to attempt driving. If elementary Portuguese allows you to understand a car rental contract, that school/teacher/book/software should be diefied.

Hi Davide,

You're going a long way through Brazilian coast, we're talking here of more than 3.000km with pretty bumpy roads from Salvador up to Sao Paulo or even to Parana depending on the road you take, not talking about the lack of good or any road services up to Espirito Santo, and also probably some everlasting roadworks on the way. There are also many radars on the roads, so be attentive to signs of max speed. And many many tolls between cities and states, depending on the state. This calculator gives you an approximate price http://www.mapeia.com.br/ from Salvador to Porto Alegre it calculated R$900,00 on gas and R$54 on tolls.
So it'll all depend on your capacity of dealing with the roads and also on how much time you have and how many places you're willing to visit (?). Buses obviously take longer than driving by car, I'd recommend buses for a max of 500km distance (around 7 hours with no traffic). Car obviously gives you the flexibility of stopping on spots you find on the way. Gas is quite expensive though, ranging from R$2,55 to R$3,25 per liter depending on where you are. A regular car would do around 10 L/km on the road.

As you're doing this on summer, it'll take you a good plan to escape from travelling on weekends - fridays or sundays depending on the direction you're going - so you won't get several kilometers of traffic jam (especially near Rio and SP). Avoid leaving a big city on fridays towards the coast and going from the coast to a big city on sundays.

Travelling by bus can be tiring and sometimes you'll have similar prices for plane tickets. So check what's in between the cities you want to visit, and if you find something is worth it, take the road, otherwise, there's usually deals on our local flight companies (check the website www.decolar.com to search all deals, or on the websites of the main companies gol, tam, azul and trip).

Depending on your preferences of sightseeing, activities etc, I can recommend you some bright spots on your way down. Let me know about it if you want.

With spanish you can communicate there (brazilians are well known for trying their best to communicate with foreigners and for speaking a nice "portonol" (portuguese with spanish accent). It works! Learning the basics of portuguese would open many more doors though ;)

Hope I have helped and enjoy your trip, It'll be amazing!

Oh, and there's no such thing as open bus tickets... you have to buy them for each trip between cities.

In addition to the fuel costs and tolls noted by poster #2, if you drop a rental car off anywhere other than where you hired it you will pay an additional R$ 1,00 per kilometre. So let's say you drive from Salvador to say, Porto Alegre. There's an additional R$ 2.000 + you'll end up paying.

Plane or bus.

i am planning to spend around 2 months in brazil, or even more, so time is not an issue. from your advices looks like car is not advisable...does all the company charge you if you don't return the car where you rent it? it is not at all possible otherwise? and as fekrassuski said its 3000 kms, that means if i have to take a bus every time i want to go somewhere worth it i will probably be takin hundreds of them

i am planning to spend around 2 months in brazil, or even more, so time is not an issue. from your advices looks like car is not advisable...does all the company charge you if you don't return the car where you rent it? it is not at all possible otherwise? and as fekrassuski said its 3000 kms, that means if i have to take a bus every time i want to go somewhere worth it i will probably be takin hundreds of them

Yes, welcome to reality. To the best of my knowledge all rental companies, at least all the majors have the surcharge for not returning to point of origin. Bus travel in Brazil is , for the most part very comfortable, at least for inter-city buses. Depending on when and where you travel you will find that over longer distances, air travel is often competitive with buses. Look at promotions on the various airline's websites. If you want to explore the regions by car, by all means choose yourself a location and then use the car for day trips or overnighters, returning to your home base before travelling on. Do be aware that very few people speak English or Italian for that matter and that driving in Brazil is rarely a pleasant experience, especially if you are unfamiliar with it. Safer and cheaper to take a bus or fly.

2 Months to go from Salvador down to Uruguay is a long distance. But manageable. Bahia is a great spot to start and buses go everywhere. Don't be put off by some of the chatter.

For some of the longer journeys a flight might be more beneficial than 18-20 hours on a bus.

Brasil by Bushas a comprehensive list of bus timetables. Just search and ye shall find direct buses.

I would go Salvador to Porto Seguro by bus (stop off at the good spots on the way). Then fly to Rio. Bus from there down the Costa Verde to Sao Paulo. Then fly from SP down to Floripa (although buses weren't too bad for me on this leg).

Buses aren't really cheap (especially the longer the distance). But they are fairly comfy and stop regularly for food.

Trent 84, you would miss all the part from Porto Seguro to Rio? I'm curious about that

Davide, yes I would. Thats not to say there isn't parts to visit there. BUT you only have 2 months, that means you need to prioritize and see the best parts. In my mind the coastline from Salvador to Bahia is one of Brasils best. Maybe not others.

Again, its 2 months....so its not like you can hit every place. You could, but you won't really experience it.

I'm not an expert on Northeastern Brazil as I haven't been to many places there, but I'd agree with maracatu on the places to visit around Salvador (Abrolhos and Morro de Sao Paulo seem to be amazing, especially if you dive or snrokel). Porto Seguro is almost half the way, so you could try a bus from Salvador to there, and then fly to Vitoria or Rio (at least 5-7 days here). I don't know the coast of Espirito Santo. I heard it's nice, not sure if it's worth the stop though...

Then from Rio to Sao Paulo. I personally don't like Sao Paulo city very much, but it's culturally rich and full of city things to do. The coast has a couple of interesting beaches, I would say Ilha Bela or Ubatuba. Check this link for seeing the main ones. http://www.loucosporpraia.com.br/praias-lindas/praias-lindas-sp/

Depending on how much time you'll have to visit the south, there's an island in the coast of Parana called Ilha do Mel, you can get there from Pontal do Parana or Paranagua (you get there by bus from Curitiba). I'm a suspect as I spent my childhood frequenting the island, but it's paradise to me and definetly worth the visit for 3-4 days at least. It's a different atmosphere from the rest. The nearest big city is my hometown Curitiba - which is also a beautiful city for a 1-2 days stop if u want to see some nice architecture, many parks, green city.

From there, you can either flight to Foz do Iguassu to see the Iguazu falls, which are amazing but totally out of your route - and then from there to Florianopolis - or a bus from Curitiba straight to Florianopolis (or flight from SP if you decide to skip Parana) and another 5+ days there. There are many beautiful beaches in the State of Santa Catarina, you can try at least 2-3 days in another beach southern from Florianopolis - I'd recommend Guarda do Embau, Praia do Rosa, Farol de Santa Marta.... It's a completely different atmosphere from northeast and Rio - definetly worth it.

Also, from the timeline, you're probably spending Carnival somewhere around the south (17th february). Be aware that most of hotels/pousadas offer packages of at least 4 days (saturday to tuesday) and prices go significantly higher as Carnival approaches. Try to avoid the road on the 13th, 14th, 17th, 18th and 22nd of february. As you'll be on vacation, you can spare yourself from having a 10-15 hours drive when it usually would take you 5h or less...

Try to plan your Carnival the sooner you can if you want to do something nice on these days ;) most of the coast will be crowded and best packages sell out soon.

I'd definetly skip Rio Grande do Sul. Apart from a cozy german city called Gramado up in the mountain, there's not much to see... Porto Alegre is boring in my point of view, although is the best airport to flight to Montevideo..

I wouldn't rent a car as most said, so combining flights for longer distances and bus for distances up to 500km (or 700km - no more) is the best option.

Most of cities referred here are beaches. So if you have any other interests than that, let us know!

Good luck on your planning!