Hi, I'm new to travel punk and starting to plan a 2.5 week trip to Brazil over xmas and new year's. I'm trying to narrow down where I will be able to go in such a short time. Right now I definitely plan to go to Rio and up near Recife -prob to olinda at least. I was wondering where else I should definitely go that I could fit in? And where would the best place to spend new year's be? - Rio or one of the smaller towns?

Thanks!!!!

Totally depends on what kind of action you want!

Rio will be a bigger party scene where the smaller towns might even shut down for christmas. I definitly recommend getting up to Salvador de bahia and scoping the beach out up there and Ponta Negra was my favorite town in brasil but if you are just looking for a good time you might want to hang near Rio.

What about Sao Paulo? Read lots of great stuff about there, though it's like the 3rd largest city in the world. :blink2: Beautiful coast!

Thanks for the responses.....

I don't plan on partying the whole time at all... in fact I would like to get out and see some of the country side as well and maybe fit some smaller day hikes so suggestions for places to do that would be great! I am actually not a big drinker - i know i know!!!

:lame:

And for those that have been or live there.... do you find that hostels are the way to go for your whole trip or have you found that you meet people and are able to stay with them?

Well I stayed with a friend in sao paulo and another friend that I met in buenos aires but for the most part I hosteled it. I did get my own apartment for awhile and that was pretty sick as well...

I haven't been to Brazil but just wanted to say welcome and you will love S. America! :cheers:

Thanks for the welcome! I know I am going to love it.... problem is now that I have decided I am going I can't wait for December to come and it is still so far off!! Never would have been guessing I would want my summer to be over and school to start back up!

At least it gives me 5-6 months to learn some portuguese!

OI! Como vai?

tudo bem?

Ola!
Muito bem, e voce?

LOL unfortundately I don't really know how to write anything....... :)

tudo bom! tudo bom!

voce fala portugese muito bom! xo stress bomba, voce aprender muito rápido!

tchau!

Hey has anyone been following the buyout of Varig airlines? I was just wondering on how dangerous you think it would be to buy a ticket from them for December when the buyout may or may not be going through and they are constantly cutting down flights? I just don't want to lose my money and my ticket if they go down before I leave...

Any thoughts?

Stay far away from Varig. Most flights are cancelled.

I am in Rio as i type this and this is THE place to party. The weather here is great year-round. If you plan to be here for new years be prepared to pay a lot more for a hostel. You can PM me and specific questions and I will do what I can to help

Foo

:cheers: