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Travel and transport

Getting there by air

Brazil is well-served by over 700 airports (and over 3,500 unpaved airfields) of which at least eight can handle jumbo-sized aircraft.

Rio de Janeiro airport

Rio de Janeiro caters for flights from all other South American countries as well as direct routes from many European and North American cities. Airlines operating services to Rio de Janeiro-Galeao Airport include British Airways, Air France, American Airlines, Iberia, TAP-Air Portugal, United and Delta as well as countless smaller carriers. In total the airport caters for over 9 million passengers annually.

More international airports

Other airports offering international services by a similar list of operators include Belem, Fortaleza, Maceio, Manaus, Natal and Recife. A number of charter operators such as Thomson and Club Med also run services, mostly to Rio and airports in the booming tourism and property hot spots in the country’s north-east.

Long-haul destination for most

Flying times from Europe to Brazil vary depending on the destination – after all, the country stretches over 2,000 miles from north to south – but this is never going to be a short-haul target. London is around nine hours from Rio de Janeiro, while some airports in the north are accessible from the UK in just over seven hours.

Road and rail travel

You can access Brazil by road or rail from other South American countries – popular with the backpacking set. Bus travel from Argentina, Uruguay or Venezuela is common, if arduous, while train services aboard the enticingly named “trem da morte” (“train of death”) over the mountains from Bolivia is an exhilarating experience.

Internal air travel

Travel within Brazil itself is, due to the huge scale of the country and the impenetrability of much of its interior, most simply undertaken by air. Internal flights are regular and safe and it is possible to buy a Brazil Airpass which can cut costs for those planning to make more than a couple of flights.

Daunting road network

Brazil’s road network has expanded dramatically in the last few decades but is still a daunting prospect: of well over 1.5 million kilometres of delineated road, less than 100,000 kilometres are paved and traffic accidents are exceptionally common due to the generally poor condition of the roads themselves. While bus travel – the mode of transport for the majority of Brazilians – is very cheap, it can be exhausting and uncomfortable, while driving oneself can be perilous in impoverished areas.

Related items

Documents and Reports

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Documents and Reports

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