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Overview

Brazil has everything except snow. While it is the most expensive country in South America, you are rewarded with better food, culture, girls, and scenery. Every man owes it to himself to spend a couple weeks in Rio hitting on Brazilian girls in clubs and on the beach.

City Guides

• Foz do Iguacu
• Rio de Janeiro

The Girls

It doesn’t get better than this. The girls are not as beautiful as the ones in Argentina but they are warmer, sexier, and most importantly, speak English in far greater numbers. They are also hornier, so one night stands are not uncommon between gringo and local. Sex it not guaranteed here but bring your favorite condoms anyway. The key is to make the effort and approach often; many girls will invite you to conversation with eye contact but will not do all the work for you. I’ve wrote extensively about Brazilian girls. Check out these four posts: Introduction To Brazilian Girls, Brazilian Girls, Brazilian, Argentine, & American Girls, and Brazilian Gym Culture.

Prices

Basic lunch: $5.00
Bottle of big beer: $2.00
Can of Red Bull: $4.00
Internet per hour: $2.00
Hostel dorm bed per night: $16.00
Nice steak dinner: $15.00
Short taxi ride: $4.00
Postcard stamp: $1.00

Safety

With such wide disparity of wealth and close living proximity of rich and poor, petty crime is a serious problem, and stories of pick pockets and muggings are not rare among other gringo travelers. But simple travel precautions reduce your risk of getting robbed to almost zero. Always take taxis at night, do not display any wealth in the form of jewelry, and do not get so intoxicated that you make yourself an easy target. Keep in mind most people visit Brazil without serious incident.

More

• Brazil Blog Posts

Map

Related Resources:

Brazil Guidebook
If you're only going to visit only Brazil then I recommend you get this guide, which is far more detailed than the continental guide below, with options that cater to a range of budgets instead of only the shoestring backpacking crowd. Also it gives more respectable treatment to small cities and towns that the larger guide breezes over with a paragraph or two.

South America On A Shoestring Guidebook
This is the guidebook that I used in my six month trip in South America. The maps are excellent, the information is complete and thorough, and the reviews are accurate, which is why it's often called "the bible" by many travelers. The only problem is that everyone else has this book so if you are the type of person that wants to hit the isolated small towns you will be disappointed. My advice is to use this book for its maps and information on getting from city to city, but talk to the locals and other travelers for those isolated gems that Lonely Planet for some reason didn't find worthy to include.

Brazilian Portuguese Phrasebook
Brazilians don't speak Spanish! The language of Brazil is Portugese since it was the empire of Portugal that colonized them in the 16th century. Luckily Spanish and Portuguese are similar enough that most Brazilians will understand you if you speak slowly in Spanish, but if you want to better communicate with them then you'll need to do some studying. It's tough to find a good Portuguese textbook so this phrasebook and dictionary is good enough to get you started. Most useful is the pronunciation guide with common phrases to get around, order at restaurants, and secure lodging.