Trains in Brazil - Curitiba Train

Approximately the same size as continental United States, flights to Brazil are well served from North America, Europe and Asia. Here, ordinarily flights to Brazil that originate in North America, Europe or Asia frequently fly to Rio de Janeiro (the city famous for its carnival), Sao Paulo (the country"s most populace city) and Brasilia (the capital). Cheap flights to Brazil, through all of these gateways, are also freely available.

Aside from these, both full-fare and cheap flights to Brazil arrive at two of Brazil"s favorite other holiday destinations, Recife (a popular package tourist destination) and Manaus (located right in the heart of the Amazon basin).

Once in Brazil, travel in Brazil is fairly accessible, but is not cheap - when considered against the cheap flights available into Brazil. Having said this, provided that you are willing to shop around a number of travel agents, you should be able to locate some cheap flights in Brazil; and if you want to see anything of the country, you"ll need to take at least one domestic flight in Brazil - as the country is so large! For those looking to do extensive travel in Brazil, a Brazil Airpass, from Varig or Tam, can be purchased with international flights to Brazil. However, do keep in mind that both Varig and Tam Airpasses can be purchased once you have arrived in Brazil, and once you have decided how much travel in Brazil you want to do. Normally though you can save yourself a substantial amount of money if you purchase your Varig or Tam Airpass as part of your overall ticket price for your international flight to Brazil.

Brazil"s national airline is Varig, which flies both domestically and internationally. Many of the cheap flights to Brazil, and flights within Brazil, can be purchased with Varig. Varig is an especially good option to fly to Brazil with if you intend to do any domestic travel in Brazil.

One note of caution should be kept in mind when purchasing cheap flights to Brazil, both international flights that travel out of Brazil, and domestic flights that travel in Brazil, are subject to departure tax. Normally these taxes are included in the ticket price. However, the international and domestic departure taxes are not cheap, so some travel agents adopt a policy of not including these sums in their flight prices in an attempt to make their cheap flights to Brazil look more attractive.

A final word of caution is that Brazil immigration rules require all passengers arriving on flights to Brazil to have passports with expiry dates exceeding 6-months. Consequently, if you arrive on a flight to Brazil with a passport that has less than 6-months till it expires, you may well find yourself facing a real problem. Also, nearly all non-Brazilian nationals and citizens are required to obtain a visa in order to travel to Brazil. Generally these travel Brazil visas are for 90-days, extendable for a further 90-days.

Those not looking to fly domestically in Brazil can travel Brazil via road. Buses throughout Brazil are the primary means of long-distance travel in Brazil. As a result, bus travel in Brazil usually comes with excellent and reliable service - and is an inexpensive means of traveling Brazil. On the other hand, rail travel is sparse and it is often difficult to find trains running on time - if at all! That said, if you are a train enthusiast, you should try to do some travel in Brazil via train as the trains that do run travel through some of the most picturesque landscape in the world (in particular the Curitiba-Paranagua line).

Alternative means of the transport to travel Brazil are by boat, through the inland waterways of Brazil, and by car-hire. However, neither of these two modes of inland travel in Brazil is particularly recommended unless you know what you"re doing!