Domestic travel within Brazil

Discussion in 'Brazil NSR' started by Century's Best, Nov 18, 2015.

  1. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    As someone who immigrated to the United States while still very young, I regret that I haven’t traveled extensively within Brazil. Granted, even for those who have lived in Brazil their entire lives and who can afford to travel often, one would need a very long time to say they’ve truly seen much of Brazil.

    For me, a native of the city of São Paulo, I have only gone to a limited number of locations. Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Santos, Guarujá, Itu, small towns in the state of Paraná, and that’s just about it.

    I’ve never even gone to Campinas, a large city in the state of São Paulo. Within relatively easy reach would have been Santa Catarina and Espírito Santo, and yet I’ve never been. Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, Ceará, Minas Gerais… these states are quite different from my own home state, and I’ve never set foot.

    As a permanent resident in the United States now, and as someone who goes to Brazil only on occasion and for a couple of days at a time, traveling within Brazil would be fun. Brazil is an extremely big country – it’d be interesting to see different facets of Brazil’s very diverse culture.

    If you live outside Brazil, how often do you visit Brazil, and when you do, do you generally stay in your home city (to stay with parents or relatives & to see friends), or do you visit new places?

    If you live in Brazil, what is one place within Brazil that you have visited and was unforgettable to the extent you’d definitely go again?
     
  2. Mengão86

    Mengão86 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Flamengo
    Brazil
    Nov 16, 2005
    Maryland, RJ/ES/PE
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    I visit Brazil, on average, once every two years. I typically stay at my relatives in ES or my wife's family in PE. From there, I may travel to another destination, but normally it is to a friend's house that's within reach -- a few in RJ, one in MA that I haven't been to yet. SP is a huge city, but I've yet to have a real chance to really explore it.
     
  3. Emperor Adriano

    Emperor Adriano Member+

    Jun 17, 2009
    Utica NY (the refugee city)
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Most Brazilians I meet have no desire to travel within Brazil. They'd rather go to Florida.
     
  4. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    After you moved to Maryland, did you ever look back and wish you'd traveled within Brazil more than you had?
     
  5. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    Possibly because Florida is in the US and the US, even in the 21st Century and with globalization, has a mystique to many Brazilians. Many Brazilians do travel domestically... I know folks who often travel to expensive nordeste resorts relatively often.
     
  6. Mengão86

    Mengão86 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Flamengo
    Brazil
    Nov 16, 2005
    Maryland, RJ/ES/PE
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    If I had the opportunity, sure. I know most people who are still live in Brazil do not travel within Brazil very much due to the expensive prices (air fare mainly) and the overall safety of buses. I'd have the same dilemma as them. It's cheaper to travel to other destinations outside of Brazil. I know many Brazilians who still live in Brazil go to Argentina, Chile and Peru, yet they haven't even visited the Cristo Redentor.
     
  7. Mengão86

    Mengão86 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Flamengo
    Brazil
    Nov 16, 2005
    Maryland, RJ/ES/PE
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    That's true, but most of those people have money. This summer I went to a Nordeste resort (Porto de Galinhas) and met people from all over Brazil.
     
  8. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    I think that what happens with these Brazilians who go to other countries before they get to know their own country is that the "allure" of a foreign destination intensifies curiosity. After all, while a resident of Curitiba may know that Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, and Bahia are all unique cities with their own identities and peculiarities, these are all still Brazilian, so at least theoretically, it wouldn't be that much of a "new" experience (even though by definition, it would). Going to Peru or to the USA is different as these are foreign countries where foreign language are spoken.

    I myself have been guilty of this. As a child my dream was to visit the United States, and several years ago, during a trip to Brazil, I spent a weekend in Buenos Aires. I could've gone to RJ or BH or Florianópolis, but I opted for the foreign city because I wanted to see more of the continent (and the exchange rates helped).

    I think the same happens here in America. A lot of Americans love Europe (look at how many Americans have mourned Paris), but many haven't gotten to know other large cities of the US. I myself went a very long time before I first visited Los Angeles.

    I intend to visit parts of Brazil I haven't seen in future visits to Brazil. It is, after all, my native country.


    Yes - and this shows that there are of course many Brazilians with the means to afford costly domestic travel.
     
  9. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Yes, unfortunately Brazilians think of going international first. For example, I almost never hear anybody say they want to visit the Amazon. I think we are all guilty of this. Myself I haven't been to too many places. Typically I will stay in Sao Paulo when I go. I have been to the beaches in the SP state, many cities "do interior", RJ, BH, Ouro Preto, Fortaleza, and Salvador I have never been to the south. Would like to go to Foz do Iguacu and some of the smaller beaches up north including Jericoacoara. I did check out Canoa Quebrada and Morro Branco.
     
  10. NotreDameFlamengo

    Jul 25, 2011
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Me and the wife had this dilemma recently. I was pushing some small quiet beaches in the northeast, but she eventually nixed that idea. We decided to go to Uruguay before heading to SP for the holidays. I can understand her though. She wants to see places in the US that I absolutely refuse to ever go back.
     
  11. MerlinRM

    MerlinRM Member+

    May 5, 2014
    NorthEast USA
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    I'm somewhat guilty of this. I usually alternate between going once or twice a year but I almost always end up staying in SP with my mom, RS with my dad&his family, or Goiânia where my ex's family is from. Most traveling I've done in Brasil is driving to the interior of RS to see my grandparents.

    I've been trying to make a conscious effort to travel more though in my next trip.
     
  12. samuel_clemens

    Dec 20, 2005
    Los Angeles CA
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Not a ton of geographical variety in Brazil. Go to Florianopolis to experience the tropical beaches; Rio, same; Espirito Santo, same; Northeast, idem. Compare that to Western USA alone where there are mountains where you can snowboard and beaches only a couple of hours drive from one another, as well as Lakes, Redwood Forests, and the national parks like Grand Canyon, Yosemite and so forth.

    Florida has similar weather but brazilians mostly go there to shop at the outlet stores and visit the amusement parks.

    The cities in Brazil are also sort of boring except for Salvador and some of the villages in MG like Ouro Preto where a lot of Colonial period architecture is well preserved.
     

Share This Page