Brazil - a country as diverse as a continent

Short video on my trip to Brazil in 2017

Brazil is one of the most diverse countries on earth - not only culturally but also from the landscapes. You can find jungles, beaches, and big cities.

Brazil is divided into 5 major zones:

• North: the Amazonas is located in this region. If you want a jungle adventure you should visit the North of Brazil. I never visited the area, that's why I can't give you any recommendations. But I wanted to mention it. 
• Northeast: the Northeast is famous for its beaches. As I lived here and traveled a lot, I will give you some information on places to visit.
• Center: the Center is a very dry region (apart from the Pantanal). The vegetation is totally different than for example the green Northeast. Still, it's really beautiful.
• Southeast: The Southeast is the Business Center of Brazil because Rio and São Paulo are located in this region.
• South: the South is famous because of the beach cities (Florianópolis, Porto Alegre) and also because of little towns where you can find a lot of European immigration (e.g. Blumenau or Gramado, which seem to be typical German villages). I have never been to the big cities in the south of Brazil. I only went to the Iguacu waterfalls.

If you visit Brazil, you should definitely do a “Northeast Tour”. You can basically start this tour in the national park “Lençois Maranhenses (Maranhão)” and travel down south on the coast until reaching Salvador (Bahía). I didn’t visit all the places, but I will give you some recommendations from places I visited and others that I didn’t visit but still want to visit in the future.

Fortaleza is the capital of Ceará. Like almost all of the capitals in Brazil's northeastern states, it's located on the coast. When I visited Fortaleza, we went to the beach "Praia da Iracema" with the famous Guardian statue. It was very nice, especially at the time of sunset. Unfortunately, you can't watch the sunset over the ocean in Brazil, because the coast is oriented towards the east. But the time of sunset is always nice to take a walk or just sit on the beach.

Canoa Quebrada is a beach located in Ceará between Fortaleza and Natal. It’s very special because of its red rocks. One day we watched the sunrise on the beach – this was amazing! Actually, you can watch fantastic sunrises on Brazil's beaches because they are oriented towards the east. We went to Canoa Quebrada by car from Mossoró (where I was living at that time) but you can easily get there from Fortaleza or Natal.

Natal is the capital of the Rio Grande do Norte. It's also located on the coast. The most beautiful beach in my opinion is Ponta Negra. 

João Pessoa is the capital of Paraiba and is considered the “most east” city of the whole American continent. I lived in João Pessoa for 6 months, but I recommend staying 2 days (maybe 3 if you go to a beach outside of the city). From Natal, the bus takes 3 hours to get to João Pessoa.

Places to visit:

• historical center: there you can see the colorful colonial architecture. The city center is always full of people so be careful with your stuff.
• Ponta do Seixas/Lighthouse at Cabo Branco: this is considered to be the “eastest” point of the Americas. If you go to João Pessoa you shouldn’t miss out on this spot!
• beaches: There are nice beaches in all four beach quarters: Bessa, Cabo Branco, Tambaú, and Manaira. But you can also get on a bus and go to beaches outside the city which are even more beautiful (e.g. Areia Vermelha) – my personal recommendation: walk on the beach at night. It's so beautiful, people are selling things and walking around. It is a great atmosphere.
• Feirinha de Tambaú (at night): you can buy souvenirs at the Feirinha de Tambaú or eat tapioca at one of the restaurants (they make very good tapiocas). If you go at night, you can combine it with a night walk on the beach
• Mag Shopping: Mag Shopping is a shopping center located in front of the beach. I recommend this place to have lunch or dinner because you can sit on the terrace and have a look over the beach.
• Jacaré (Alligator River Beach): this is a place 20-30 minutes outside of João Pessoa. You should go there to watch the sunset. There is a man who plays the same music on his saxophone for years every day at sunset. It's fantastic!

Recife is the capital of Pernambuco. From João Pessoa, it’s 2-3 hours by bus. In the city, you can see the colonial architecture or go to the beach. Recife is considered a very violent city (at least from what I heard), but I can’t confirm this. I think that you should always be careful and if something happens it could have happened also elsewhere.

Near Recife, there is a little town called Olinda, which is famous for traditional Carnival and Pre-Carnival (the period before Carnival when they practice the Carnival dances). If you have time to go in Pre-Carnival season don’t miss Olinda on the way.

Salvador is the capital of Bahia, a very huge state in Brazil. If you go to Salvador you should definitely try Aracajé – a typical food from Bahia. Salvador is also famous for the 2nd biggest Carnival in Brazil (after Rio). So maybe you can combine the beach, nice weather, and Carnival in Salvador.

Places to visit:

• Beach of Itapua: this beach is amazing!
• Centro histórico (historical center): you can visit some sights, like the Elevador Lacerda or the Basílica do Senhor do Bonfim. If you go to the Basílica do Senhor do Bonfim, you should get a blue band (which they sell everywhere). You have to put it on your arm while making 3 wishes. And then you leave it there until it falls apart (it can take some years). I am already on my second one :D The first one took really 3 years to fall apart. They say that if you leave it and it falls apart after some time then your 3 wishes will already have come true.
• Barra Beach: this beach is also very beautiful and is located near the city center. There is also a nice lighthouse.

If you go to Brazil you shouldn’t miss Rio – it's an amazing city. If you can make it to Rio in Carnival season it’s even better (I’ve unfortunately never made it to Carnival in Rio but it’s on my bucket list).

Places to visit:

• Corcovado and Cristo: Corcovado is the mountain where the famous “Cristo” is located. To get up you need to take a little train which takes about 30 minutes. The path leads through bushes, almost like a jungle. Sometimes you get a small view of the whole city. Once you arrive at the top you can see the “Cristo”. Unfortunately, there were a few clouds when we went there. In my opinion, the most beautiful thing is not actually the “Cristo” itself, but the view from the Corcovado over the whole city.
• Maracana Stadium: The Maracana Stadium is another important symbol of Rio. I was very happy to get there only some months after Germany had won the FIFA World Cup at this stadium in 2014. We didn’t get in but still, it was great to be there.
• Basilica de Archidiocesan Nossa Senhora da Penha: This basilica is located on a rock. The way up was a bit tiring, but the view was totally worth it.
• Pão de Açucar: This is another famous symbol of Rio. The Pão de Açucar has 2 individual mountains. With the cabin lift you get to the first one first. You can walk around and have a wonderful view of the city. Then you get to the second mountain, which is even higher. You can see everything from up there.
• chill at Copacabana Beach: the beach is super nice, but everything is really expensive there. What surprised me was that the beach was full of “normal people” and not rich and sporty people as you always see on TV. So you can just go there and relax.
• Ipanema Beach: another beautiful beach you shouldn’t miss if you are in Rio
• Escadaria Selaron: this is a set of steps where the Chilean artist Selarón collected and painted mosaics from all over the world. I loved this place so much!

Iguaçu is considered one of the 7 natural world wonders. It's really one of the most beautiful natural places I’ve ever been to. The waterfalls are located on the border between Argentina and Brazil and can be visited from both sides – the Brazilian and the Argentinian.

What to do:

• visit the “Parque das Aves” (bird park): the park is full of extraordinary birds and plants
• visit the Brazilian side of the waterfalls: the waterfalls are actually located on the Argentinian side, but the beautiful view is on the Brazilian side. So when you are on the Brazilian side you will see them from far away. But there is also a bridge, where you can get near some of the waterfalls. If you do so, you will get completely wet :D so be prepared with adequate clothing (I wasn’t).
• visit the Argentinian side: as already mentioned the waterfalls are on the Argentinian side. So when you visit this place, you can basically “walk on them”. This is so impressive and there is even a place where you can get so near that you basically think you are under the waterfall.
• shop at Ciudad del Este, Paraguay: If you are near the border you can easily cross it. There were no border controls, but we still had our passports with us. This is very important!! Ciudad del Este is famous for its huge duty-free markets and shops.
• visit Itaipú: this is the Brazilian-Paraguayan hydropower plant. Both countries get their energy from here. Paraguay only needs 2 of its 12 turbines and sells the other 10 to Brazil. So Brazil uses 22 of the 24 turbines (2014). It was awesome to visit this place!
• visit the tri-border region between Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil

Brasília is the capital of Brazil (not Rio de Janeiro). The city is very administrative, so there is not so much to do. A lot of people skip Brasília if they travel down the coast and that’s understandable. If you still have the time to see Brasília, I would recommend it. In my opinion, it’s a very underestimated city (I lived there for 3 months). As you may know, it was built from nothing, completely somewhere in nowhere in the middle of the country (because they wanted a new capital far away from Rio). So it's a “planned city”. It looks like an airplane with a “middle part” and then two “wings”. Also, everything else is organized in "quarters". It's super interesting to see a city like that at least once in life.

The National Park “Chapada dos Veadeiros” is located in Goiás, 3-4 hours away from Brasília. It's a national park with a lot of waterfalls. Once you get in there are 4 “tracks” that you can do. We were a group of 25 or more so we were slow. But it was nice anyway. Bring a lot of water and food too – because there is nothing inside the park where you can buy water or food (just after getting out). It's also important to leave everything clean – don’t smoke, don’t bring alcohol, etc. 

Pirenópolis is 2 hours away from Brasília. It's known for a lot of waterfalls and beautiful nature. We stayed at an Airbnb and got there by car. I would recommend you have a look at which waterfalls you would like to go to and then make a plan. A lot of people try to get to as many waterfalls as possible. I recommend you choose one or two and enjoy the waterfall.

For information about Brazilian traditions, like celebrations and food click here.