Brazil

Understand

Brazil is the largest country in South America. The country has a soul of history and culture and includes nightlife, scenic beauty, white sandy beaches, inland waterways and lush green forests that are among the largest in the world.

History Before Columbus arrived in the Americas, the area now known as Brazil was home to people mainly of the Tupi and Guarani ethnic groups. Colonization by the Portuguese began late in the 16th century, with the extraction of valuable wood from the pau brasil tree, from which the country draws its name. Brazil was colonized and developed by the Portuguese and not the Spanish, who claimed most of the rest of the Americas. Eastern Brazil was a waypoint on the Cape Route between Europe and Asia. Some parts of Brazil formed a Dutch colony between 1630 and 1654. The Dutch founded several cities, such as Mauritsville, and many sugar cane plantations. The Dutch fought a grim jungle war with the Portuguese, and without the support of their homeland due to a war with England, the Dutch surrendered to the Portuguese, though they did not officially recognize Portuguese rule, which led to an all-out war with Portugal off the coast of Portugal in 1656. In 1665 the Peace Treaty of The Hague was signed, Portugal lost most of its Asian colonies and had to pay 63 tons of gold to compensate the Dutch Republic for the loss of its colony. The following four centuries saw continued exploitation of the country's natural resources such as gold and rubber, alongside the rise of an economy based largely on sugar, coffee and African slave labor. Christianizing and exploitation of natives continued, and the 19th and 20th centuries saw a second wave of immigration, mainly Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, German (in southern Brazil), Japanese, American (in São Paul

Getting there

Visa requirements

Brazil has a reciprocal visa policy with many countries, meaning that when visa fees and restrictions are applied to Brazilian visiting a country, Brazil generally adopts the same measures for that country's visitors.

Citizens from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela may enter the country with a valid ID card and stay up to 90 days. No visa is required for stays of up to 90 days from holders of passports counting from all countries marked in green on the map except the following: all European Union member countries (90 days within a 180-day period except for Croatia; Finland; France; Ireland; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovakia; and Spain), Albania (90 days within a 180-day period), Dominica (90 days within a 180-day period), Georgia (90 days within a 180-day period), Indonesia (30 days), Kazakhstan (30 days), Montenegro (90 days within a 180-day period), North Macedonia (90 days within a 180-day period), Seychelles (90 days within a 180-day period), Singapore (30 days), Ukraine (90 days within a 180-day period), Venezuela (60 days) and the United Kingdom. The immigration officer has the right to restrict your visa to less than 90 days, if they deem fit. (This has been done routinely for lone male travellers arriving in Fortaleza; allegedly to combat prostitution tourism.) The officer will then state the number of days (e.g. 60 or 30) in pen writing inside the stamp just given in your passport; if not, it remains as 90 days.

Citizens from all other countries do require a visa. The fees vary depending on reciprocity: Cost of Brazil visa for citizens of Taiwan or Taiwanese passport holder pay US$20 (Reference from Embassy of Brazil in Lima; Peru) and 5 days to process. Citizens from the United States

Getting around

Travelling between major cities in Brazil can take a lot of time.

By plane

Air service covers most of Brazil. Many flights make many stops en route, particularly in hubs such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or Brasilia. Some airports with regular passenger traffic are still operated by state-owned company Infraero, although many international airports already had their operation privatized. There are now several Brazilian booking engines that are good (although not perfect) for comparing flights and prices between different companies. They will mostly include an extra fee, hence it is cheaper to book on the airline's own site. The Brazilian airline scene changes surprisingly often. The largest Brazilian carriers are the flag carrier LATAM Airlines and low-cost airlines Gol and Azul. These airlines have flights that serve all capitals and major cities in the country. Azul's subsidiary Azul Conecta and VoePass offer short-haul flights to smaller regional airports throughout the country. There are also regional carriers. Many domestic flights have so many stops that some, including yours, may be missing from the listings in the airports. Double check your flight number and confirm with ground staff. Certain domestic flights in Brazil are "international", meaning that the flight has arrived from abroad and is continuing without clearing all passengers through customs and immigration. This me