VidaNaPraia

Just a few notes on that posted schedule.
Reconsider the favela tour while in Rio. Conditions are currently still too turbulent to make this a safe choice.
The Pestana location in Rio Vermelho, Salvador is going to leave you very isolated on a point of land pretty far from anything you want to see or any local transportation. You should rely on taxis for even the journey to the plaza there, where all the lively nightlife is centered. There are plenty of more convenient hotels. Rio Vermelho may get a write-up as "bohemian", but I'd be much more concerned about the growing crime rate.

ajeleonard

Favela tours gained popularity a few years ago when the booming economy dramatically improved the security situation. With the economic downturn and upswing in crime, particularly acute in Rio, this is not something I would be doing now.

B747-437B

We will be at the Pestana Convento do Carmo near Pelourinho, not the Rio Vermelho location so that is walking distance from most of the touristy sites.

VidaNaPraia

If you say "Pestana " to any taxi, Uber, or bus driver at SSA airport, or anywhere else in town, you will end up in Rio Vermelho. Ask for "O Convento" or use the name "Convento do Carmo". It's walking distance from sights in the Pelourinho, yes, but there's more to the city than that, even for tourists.

yceman

I'm gonna answer the few questions that I know/have an idea:
1) As people mentioned, it's not advisable to do a favela tour. Even if your tour guide knows all the ins and outs, a messy situation outside of his control could still happen. It's a high risk for what I consider to be a low reward (visiting a favela).
2) Credit card is widely accepted, sometimes even street sellers take them. And yes, they are all chip + pin, but I guess you can use a chipless card with no problem at all. If you'll use credit card on any purchase that can be paid with one (restaurants, uber, shopping), I suppose R$1.500,00 is enough for 11 days. If you don't pay hefty ATM withdraw fees, you can even have less money with you and withdraw more if needed.
3) I think your itinerary is a bit busy (you're going to many different cities in a small amount of time). Maybe that's your travel style, but I would personally drop one or two cities and focus on the other ones. I love Foz do Iguaçu (been there twice) and there are a few other very interesting things you can see there. For example, if you're into big engineering marvels you can visit Itaipú dam, which is the biggest hydroelectric power plant in the world. All of your chosen cities have very interesting things to see, so you can basically spend more time in any of them if you wish.
4) Regarding getting a local sim card, even though you can get one with your passport, it might be a bit (quite) hard because the clerks sometimes (most of the times) don't know about that and they usually don't (never) speak English. So, if you're more of a hassle free kind of guy, take that into consideration. On a side note, TIM has a very slow internet connection outside of São Paulo city. So, if you're concerned about internet speed, you might want to go with Vivo or Claro.
5) As noted before, stay away from Barra. A very boring place that doesn't show Rio's true colors, IMHO.
6) Regarding going to Maracanã, I suppose you can take the subway there if you wish, although it might be too crowded with rough people (the Brazilian equivalent of hooligans). But, on the way back, you definitely should use uber or taxi. Either way, avoid taking valuables with you.
7) Inside the stadium, avoid super crowded situations, like when people shove their way in or out of the narrow corridors, because you might get pickpocketed. I'd also avoid the "torcida organizada" (football firms). The last part should be easy, just don't get close to them (seats are not assigned, you can sit wherever you want).
8) Sunset in northeastern cities (Recife, Salvador, Fortaleza, Morro de São Paulo) will be around 6PM all year round. Recife Velho during the weekend should be full of people at night, so just stay in well lit areas with other people hanging around.

If you enjoy a certain type of cuisine, we can also try to suggest a few different restaurants. There's a lot to see in those cities

MSPeconomist

I've enjoyed the modern art museums in Rio and Sao Paulo specializing in local or at least Latin American artiest.

At the falls, in addition to the dam, I was charmed by bird park (near the park entrance on the Brazil side). It's a zoo for birds, but I loved the aviary with free flying big tropical birds (mostly macaws) as well as the toucans that come up to people.

Be careful using cash machines in Brazil. In the period before the Olympics, it was widely believed that the machines at GIG had skimmers, so it was safer to convert reasonable amounts of cash there with a bank teller.. I also saw gangs hanging out around bank entrances. On the street in Rio, take only minimal stuff with you, ideally not a watch, not a phone, not your passport, not more than one credit card or the cash you'll need, etc. Crime is a serious problem, including things that children do to targets.

I would agree with the advice to avoid favela tours.

B747-437B

Thanks all for the further advice, much appreciated as I fine tune the itinerary.

Points well noted about the security situation with the favela tour, so we are going to hold off on that one for now. Similarly with the Maracana game, it is a 2145 hrs start (so a midnight finish) and we have the Corcovado tram booked early the next morning so we've decided to skip that too. Neither of us are huge football fans so this really wasn't a "bucket list" item.

In Iguacu, we've actually decided to really push the limit and try to do everything in a single day by renting a car there. We'll start off with the Helisul ride, then do the main park, then the Macuco safari, then to Tres Fronteras for sunset (probably with a detour via hotel as we will need to dry off after the falls!), and finally the light show/night tour of the Itaipu dam. Early start and late finish, but it seems workable with the rental.

The phone issue is my main concern right now, but I'll talk to the Hilton concierge over the weekend and see what they can recommend. Worst case, I'll manage with my roaming data pack until I figure out the local card.

Just 2 weeks away now so beginning to get quite excited about this. Brazil has been somewhere I have wanted to visit for ages, which is why we're trying to do as much as we can in the limited time that we have (and this is actually a laid-back and conservative itinerary compared to what I usually put my poor wife through!).

RafKa

Bear in mind - in case you're unaware - if you don't get a local SIM but decide to rent a car and want to avoid roaming charges by using waze, you can pre-download maps on Google Maps and use these for navigation. Just select the area you want, and then type "OK Maps". It's obviously not as precise as having the online version, but will get you around Iguaçu. Also, factor in the time to rent and return a car (Brazil is not the US and the attendants can be slow, so you could find yourself spending 45min on a car pickup which would take 5-10 mins in the US).

B747-437B

Oh absolutely, I would never dream of leaving for a new location without the downloaded Google Maps. We did a roadtrip through Zambia and Mozambique earlier this year where the downloaded Google Maps saved us on multiple occasions!

snic

I suspect your 1GB of international data will be PLENTY, unless you watch videos or download large files using cellular data. Also, you really, really do not need a Brazil phone number for anything - I've been here in Brazil for more than a week, and my US-based phone number works just fine. I'm not sure what Uber has to do with your phone number - my Uber app is the exact same one I use at home, and there's never a need to call the driver (and I don't think that's even possible, as the app handles everything).

Brazilians tend to use WhatsApp for text messaging and sometimes even phone calls, rather than texting via the cell phone system. Install WhatsApp using your US number, use your 1 GB of cellular data and wifi connections whenever you can, and you will be absolutely fine (assuming your international data plan uses a carrier that is widely available in Brazil). The drawback to getting a local SIM is that it's a HUGE pain in the butt if you don't speak Portuguese. It took me two or three days, and literally hours of effort, to get a local SIM card the last time I visited Rio a few years ago. Now I have Google Fi, which works beautifully here, and have literally zero problems communicating people using WhatsApp.

Finally, as others have said, credit cards are widely accepted, and used by Brazilians a lot. Even street vendors will usually accept cards (e.g., at the local handicrafts fair in the somewhat obscure city where I'm currently stationed, every single vendor takes cards, usually even for small purchases like R$15). In my experience so far making quite a few purchases at restaurants, supermarkets, etc, chip and PIN has never been required, although there may be cases, such as unattended parking lots, where a PIN card is required. These can be found at malls and possibly some tourist attractions, but I imagine there will usually be an attendant or some facility for paying by cash.

B747-437B

Yes, it's the same over here in Africa. In fact, the Brazilian Embassy actually WhatsApped me when we did our visa applications to let me know it was ready for collection! I use it for pretty much everything already and I've found that most Brazilians I am dealing with so far do the same.

My home carrier uses "Telefonica Vivo" as their preferred roaming partner in Brazil. Presumably this will have nationwide coverage in the areas we are visiting. 1GB should be more than enough under most circumstances, but my concern is that roaming coverage can sometimes be slow/spotty (often only 2G/3G rather than LTE), or take a while to initialise. I use a dual sim phone, so I usually have a home sim + local sim active in my phone whenever I travel. If getting a local sim is too much of a pain, then I'll definitely survive with just the roaming data.

RafKa

Vivo has the fastest/most reliable data coverage in Brazil, so you should be all good.

Data roaming should work in 4G. The only limitation is whether or not your own phone works on the 4G frequency bands offered in that country. Check the list here for your home network and then compare them to what Vivo is on: List of LTE Networks

Also, Uber works doesn't work well if you change the SIM card on your phone (it authenticates outbound calls via your registered number to prevent fraud).

B747-437B

I'm using a OnePlus3T (A3010 variant) which works pretty much everywhere. Verified that 1800MHz Band 3 and 2600MHz Band 7 are both compatible for 4G/LTE. Thanks for the link! In any case, 3G/HSPA speed is fine for pretty much everything I will need data for (Uber, maps, WhatsApp, Tripadvisor app, OLCI, etc..).

B747-437B

So we made it back from Brazil. Thanks to all for the wonderful suggestions and advice. A short summary of the trip is below.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

We really enjoyed the trip and although it was a hectic schedule at times, we both came away from the trip tired but refreshed - which is the hallmark of a good vacation in my book. We're definitely keen to go back, so thank goodness the Brazilian embassy issued us both multiple entry visas.

LANGUAGE

The biggest issue we faced was the language barrier. We found that English was fairly widely spoken in Sao Paulo, with Rio slightly less so but also manageable. Iguacu was effectively trilingual (English/Spanish/Portuguese) at all the tourist spots, but not a word of English elsewhere. Salvador and Recife also had virtually zero English outside of the hotels. However, everyone was beyond friendly and helpful - Google Translate seems to be a gamechanger in that respect. We had dozens of conversations with people using the app and it served us very well.

CASH

I withdrew R$1200 from an ATM at Guarulhos on arrival and still have around R$500 leftover. As noted earlier, pretty much everywhere accepted "credito" - although a few smaller shops could/would only accept debit. Our cash spend was predominantly on street food, vending machines, public transport and souvenirs. I was going to change the R$500 back to USD on departure, but the thieves at the only airside exchange bureau that I could find at GRU T3 wanted R$581 for $100 and I was not going to pay a 50% premium over the market rate.

PHONE

Oh dear. This was a saga. I had spoken to the concierge at the Hilton before our trip and he told us that the VIVO store in Eco Berrini next to the hotel was where he usually sent guests and they were used to dealing with foreign clients. Unfortunately, that store is closed on weekends so he directed us to the Shopping Morumbi store instead. We bought 2 SIMs from VIVO on the first day (one each for myself and my wife) and while her SIM was active within the hour, mine would not pick up a signal. We went back to the store the next day and they swapped the SIM card so that it picked up a signal, but after the promised 2 hours for activation it continued to give me a recorded message that I needed to input my CPF. We decided to try TIM instead and they seemed very knowledgeable and got me registered and set up, but although it worked initially at the store, I got a text message about an hour later that my CPF number was invalid and my line was being suspended until I provided a new CPF. We eventually went to the VIVO store in Eco Berrini that the concierge had recommended first thing on Monday morning as they opened, and the very helpful English speaking salesperson sorted the issue out in 3 minutes flat. So we eventually wound up using VIVO - with R$14.99 for the first week (2 GB + unlimited calls) and R$7.99 for a 400MB data package for the second week (which rolled over the unused data from week 1). I did try to use my roaming data pack on the first day in Sao Paulo while my SIM card wouldn't activate but the battery life was a killer - it barely lasted 3 hours on a full charge while roaming. Once I had the VIVO sim active, we could last the full day on a charge with a spare external battery pack just in case.

TRANSPORT

Uber, Uber, Uber.

With very few exceptions, Uber was the best option to get anywhere. Wait times in Sao Paulo and Rio were negligible - we even found on multiple occasions that our driver was already at our location (in one case, he was finishing up a meal at the next table!). We did however use the Metro in Sao Paulo and Rio to get around in downtown where the route was convenient (or when surface traffic was busy). In both SP and Rio, about half the Uber drivers we encountered had English proficiency ranging from passable to fluent - but in Salvador and Recife that dropped to zero.

We rented a car in Foz do Iguacu and after a few kilometers of getting used to the way Brazilians drive, I had no issues getting around. It seemed that most of the vehicles we encountered were not local anyway (either out-of-state, Argentina or Paraguay) so I didn't feel too out of place navigating my way slowly with Google Maps.

SAFETY

We did not feel unsafe at any time during the trip. The first few days we took extra precautions and were a bit on edge, but once we got used to the general atmosphere it was absolutely fine. Fortunately neither of us stood out as particularly touristy, to the point that by the end of the trip we had actually been stopped multiple times by other tourists to ask for directions (alas we had to "no fala portugues" them!).

AIRLINES

We flew 2 sectors on GOL and 4 sectors on Avianca domestically. These were a mixed set of experiences. I paid for the Comfort+ seats on the Gol sectors, and as Star Alliance Gold was entitled to the front row extra legroom seats for free on Avianca.

As regular travelers probably know, there are categories of persons legally entitled to Priority Boarding in Brazil, including senior citizens, pregnant ladies, handicapped, etc.. However, this system seems to be abused as the airline staff do not (not permitted to?) verify eligibility. On our flight from SP Congonhas to Rio, I counted 72 people lined up for "Prioridade" ahead of the paid priority boarding passengers - meaning that we were around number 85 to board out of 140 despite having paid for priority boarding. A number of these appeared quite plainly to be able bodied business travelers who simply wanted to jump the line. On Avianca where they board by Zone and we always had Zone A boarding passes as *G ("Prioridade" and Zone A are combined and board together ahead of the other zones), I was actually lectured by an older lady in Salvador for daring to line-up in what she perceived as the line for senior citizens. Fortunately I could "no fala portugues" her and the Avianca staff came up and explained to her that "VIP Diamond and Gold" passengers also shared the same line. I found that the proportion of seemingly ineligible persons lining up for "Prioridade" was significantly higher in SP and Rio than in the smaller cities.

Our flight from Congonhas to Santos Dumont was quite dramatic, first with a 40-minute ground hold in Sao Paulo due to a VIP flight (an Air Force Business Jet landed, discharged passengers and took off again while all the commercial flights waited) and then a go-around from 600 feet in near-zero visibility at Rio, followed by a diversion to Galeao. Gol handled the diversion abysmally - no staff on hand to meet the arrival at Galeao and the baggage eventually showed up on an unmarked baggage belt around 30 minutes later. As for buses or other transportation to the original airport - forget about it.



Flight Path (Diversion from SDU to GIG)


Our only other poor experience was on the Recife to Sao Paulo flight where the Avianca check-in agent at the Star Gold counter decided to start pulling a dozen passengers for an earlier flight to Petrolina ahead of the waiting premium passengers and then claimed not to speak English when I challenged her on it. Fortunately, the man behind us was quite eloquent in Portuguese and we were shifted to the next available counter a few minutes later. The flight was then delayed by an hour as there was a disruptive/drunk passenger after boarding who had to be removed by the Federal Police. Other than that though, Avianca had excellent recognition of Star Gold status. The crews on board all the flights with both airlines were universally friendly, helpful and spoke good English.

SAO PAULO

We arrived at 4pm on a Saturday so we were the only international flight at Terminal 2 and immigration took all of 30 seconds. As it was our first time in Brazil, I had booked a transfer with the Hilton and they had a representative at arrivals waiting for us. The drive took just under an hour with a little bit of traffic and the driver spoke excellent English and gave us lots of tips for our trip.

The Hilton is located in Morumbi/Brooklin area in the World Trade Center complex. This is very much a business district which is quite empty on weekends, but is within a few minutes drive of a few large shopping malls. We were booked on an award stay (20000pts/night) and were upgraded to an Executive​​​​​​​ Room on the 26th floor right near the Executive Lounge. The Executive Lounge staff were very helpful with advice and tips on how to maximize our time in the city, as well as translating the recordings/error messages from VIVO and TIM while trying to get the sim cards activated.



Hilton Sao Paulo Morumbi Executive Room


We spent all day Sunday exploring Sao Paulo. We started out with Ibirapuera Park at 9am and then a visit to the Afro-Brazilian Museum in the park. Then on to Pinacoteca and the nearby park and Luz station. Then to Praca da Se and the cathedral. Then to Liberdade for the weekend market where we snacked on a number of Japanese options. From there we headed up to the Mercado Municipal for a lunch of monster mortadella sandwiches, followed by a walk to Sao Bento Monastery to burn off the calories. Then to Republica and the Municipal Theatre. And finally to Paulista Avenue for the "Domingo Na Paulista" street fair.



Street food in Liberdade




Street food in Liberdade




Mercado Municipal




Mortadella sandwich at Mercado Municipal




Domingo na Paulista street fair


RIO DE JANIERO

We stayed at the Best Western Premier in Arpoador using Best Western Rewards points (24000pts/night). As a BW Rewards Platinum, we were upgraded to a "Super Deluxe" category room which was basically the same as a deluxe room but with a soaking tub in the bathroom. The location of the hotel is excellent - just 5 minutes away from both Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, and 2 minutes from General Osorio Metro station.



Super Deluxe Room at Best Western Arpoador


We had received a lot of conflicting advice about doing a favela tour before our trip, but after speaking to people on the ground we were put in touch with Zezinho who runs Favela Adventures (FAVELATOUR.ORG - Home). He is of mixed US-Brazilian ancestry and moved back to Rio after years of living in San Francisco and Toronto. He lives in the favela of Rocinha and runs community-led tours there, as well a handful of organisations providing assistance/training to the local community. He is extremely well known, respected and connected within the Rocinha community and usually has advance notice of any major operations or security issues there. There was a "minor operation" on the day we planned to be there, but it was on the outskirts and far away from where he planned for us to visit so we went ahead with the tour anyway. We did hear gunshots in the distance at one point, but most people around us didn't even flinch. The tour was conducted by Pedro, a 17-year old local student who speaks perfect English (picked up from watching re-runs of "Friends" and years of talking with Zezinho), and it was one of the highlights of our visit. Pedro has lived his entire life in Rocinha and was able to take us through the alleys and to places like the middle school and the church where most tours don't even think of visiting, as well as lunch at a local "por kilo" restaurant in the favela. We spent the better part of an entire day on the tour and at Zezinho's apartment and it really was an eye-opener. I actually felt that the people in Rocinha were the friendliest we encountered in Rio - pretty much every stranger we passed on the street would either nod/smile or exchange a "bom dia" greeting.



School in Rocinha




Mural at church in Rocinha




Street art in Rocinha


Another tour we did was the "Eat Rio" food tour (Eat Rio Food Tours) run by Tom. Tom is British married to a Carioca and runs a very interesting tour through Rio that, as the name suggests, is focused on food. We visited the market in Botafogo, multiple restaurants and street food stalls throughout Flamengo, Lapa, Gloria and Laranjeiras - including short visits to the Selaron Steps, the Carioca Aqueduct and other attractions in that area. We paid R$350 per person inclusive of all food, drinks (inc. alcohol) and transportation between venues - and felt it was excellent value. The price varies seasonally, so check with Tom in advance when you book. Tours are limited to 8 people (we had 7 people on our tour) so you are sure to have personalised attention from the guide (Tom ran it himself on the day we were there, but he has a team that runs it on other days when he isn't available).

Although the weather was awful the day we arrived (resulting in the diverted flight), we were lucky that there were enough breaks in the weather that we could enjoy both Sugarloaf Mountain and Corcovado with good visibility. We were especially lucky with Sugarloaf as the entire day had been cloudy with low ceilings, but I was monitoring the aviation METAR/TAFs for Santos Dumont Airport and saw that the cloud base was forecast to clear for a few hours between 5pm and 7pm. Sure enough, we were able to make it to the top (zero queues for tickets as most tour groups had cancelled due to weather) with perfect visibility right at sunset. Similarly with Corcovado, I monitored the weather forecasts and booked a 9am train to the top based on the clouds clearing around 8am that morning and we were again rewarded with excellent views over the city.



View from Sugarloaf




View from Corcovado


FOZ DO IGUACU

We were in Foz for just one whole day, so I rented a car from Avis (R$90 for 2-days) to ensure we could get around easily. We stayed at the Wish Golf Resort which is just a few minutes from the airport and national park that I got on Amoma.com for a ridiculously low price of EUR40/night. The hotel was superb and probably the best value property we stayed at on the trip.



Wish Resort - Foz do Iguassu


We started the day off with a helicopter ride over the falls with Helisul (Home 2 - Helisul Foz do Iguaçu) which is a bit pricey at R$400/person for a 10 minute flight, but well worth it for the spectacular views in my opinion. We were there as they opened at 9am, so were on the 3rd flight of the morning with relatively no waiting time. However there were waits of up to an hour by the time we were finished, so my advice would be to get there early. We then went into the park itself and hiked the main trail down to Devil's Throat for more spectacular views. Onward to the Macuco Safari (https://www.macucosafari.com.br/en/macuco-safari) which for R$215/person takes you on a motorboat UNDER the falls. You are advised to leave valuables in the lockers at the dock, and keep a change of clothes or a raincoat handy! They also offer an option of a "dry boat" which gets near to the falls but doesn't actually go under them.



Iguassu Falls


After a quick stop at the hotel to shower and change following the boat ride, we headed off to Marco Tres Fronteiras which is the tri-point border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay at the intersection of Iguassu and Parana rivers. Nothing of earth-shattering interest here other than the geography and a spectacular view of the sunset over the rivers. We then headed up to the Itaipu Dam which runs a special "winter illumination" tour on selected weekend nights. We were fortunate enough to be there to coincide with one of these. It featured a cultural show (probably more interesting to those who appreciate accordion music more than I did) and of course the illumination of the dam. The highlight though was a bus ride (under police escort) across the lit dam into Paraguay to view the illuminations from the other side as well.



Itaipu dam illumination from Brazil side


As an aside, we stopped in the city on our way back to the hotel at a Lebanese restaurant called "Bin Laden Shawarma". The decor featured a cartoonish statuette of the infamous man holding a stick of dynamite, as well as other "terroristy" cartoons. Amusing although maybe not in the best of taste, and they were very friendly despite the language barriers. The shawarmas weren't bad either.

SALVADOR

In retrospect, this was probably the highlight of our trip. Most people told us that we would either love or hate Salvador, but we definitely came down in the former camp. The spirit of the city illustrated itself in the Uber from airport to hotel when the driver, despite not speaking a word of English, offered via Google Translate to take us on the beach road if we preferred. So we got a tour of Itapua, Pituba and Rio Vermelho before we even got to the hotel.

We stayed at the Pestana Convento do Carmo which is a converted 16th century monastery. The hotel is located just steps from the heart of Pelourinho. We were fortunate to be upgraded to a Loft Suite (from the booked Junior Suite) which was a huge duplex room with sitting area downstairs and bedroom upstairs. Per the advice and assistance of the concierge, we were able to get tickets to the Bale Folclorico da Bahia which was an entertaining show. We also took his recommendation for an authentic mocqueca featuring fish, prawns, squid and mussels at Restaurant Maria Mata Moura nearby and were not disappointed.



Mocqueca Peixie


We spent a lot of time exploring Pelourinho, Largo Terreiro de Jesus and the numerous nearby churches by day. We also took an Uber up to Basilica do Senhor do Bonfim. Sunset was spent at Morro do Cristo and Farol da Barra. We also did some shopping for souvenirs at the Mercado Modelo, including some oil paintings by a local artist that my wife managed to bargain down from R$280 each to R$200 for all three. Lots of cheap bargains to be had at the Mercado if you're willing to bargain. Fortunately my wife's very limited Portuguese includes numbers from 1 to 100, so I don't think we overpaid for much!



Farol da Barra - Salvador


RECIFE

This was just a short detour due to flight re-schedulings that allowed us to spend a night here. We stayed at the Radisson Recife which is located right on Boa Viagem Beach using the Cash and Points reward of 5000 points + R$165. As we had less than 24 hours here, we headed out immediately to Recife Velho after checking in and spent a while wandering the old town before the sun went down. Then to Praca Marco Zero for the sunset (and a view of the strange sculpture park over the water) and a night-time stroll on Boa Viagem. Another beach visit in the morning before we had our flight back to Sao Paulo with connections onward to home.



Marco Zero - Recife




Boa Viagem - Recife

VidaNaPraia

Wonderful, evocative report!!


"SALVADOR In retrospect, this was probably the highlight of our trip."

So glad you enjoyed your time in my favorite city !!!!!!!!!!


I think the "sculpture park" in Recife includes works by Brennand, the ceramic artist whose studio/sculpture garden I recommended visiting. You'll have to see more of Recife and surrounds on your next trip to Brazil. LOL