Sao Paulo is a BIG city so be prepared. Felt a lot safer than Rio to me but you still have to watch out.

I would def. hit the roof bar at Hotel Unique...that was pretty cool. There are a ton of things to do in SP so just ask hotel concierges or read up online - I think I went to Buddah Bar and it was pretty good too..unreal ladies.

RE Porto Allegre I prefer Floripa simply bc of the beaches - to me Floripa reminded me a bit of SF not PA.

Need a hotel rec in Florpa, and nightlife and restaurant recs in Florpa, and Sao Paulo

This sounds incredible, Wiki description looks good also. Anyone know or have some estimates on the cost of living in Florianopolis or other beach towns?

Is the Internet service good?

Floripa is really cheap for food, hotels and nightlife...only electronics,cars...and maybe internet are expansive...
I think internet service could be good if u pays enough -,- but in general its slower than in europe or US...but thats correct.

friendship bridge is an unguarded border i hear

Law enforcement is not Brazil's strongest point. You can probably stay for as long as you want and no one will do anything.

also

i am a poker player from the united states who lived in brazil for 2 months this summer.

and guess where i lived? rio de janeiro of all places. HEAVENS TO BETSY IT'S SO DANGEROUS THOUGH HOWEVER DID I MANAGE TO NOT GET KILLED

all of you are really irrational when it comes to crime. rio has bad areas, mostly in the west and north, but you can live in Zona Sul forever without any issue. i was never once threatened, harmed, mugged, killed, or even stolen from. people do try to rip you off with price if you're white, but use some common sense

every person i met in Rio, even down to the guy in the favela selling me bricks of weed was nothing but nice


I'm no expert on crime in Brazil, but most, if not all of them are related to drugs. Mass crime occurs a few times a year, like just recently when drug gangs shot down a police helicopter. Our realtor told us that violent crime in Brazil is mostly just a result of the police playing a stats game. 4-5 times a year the police raid the favelas to make it look like they're doing something, and when they do the gangs fight back. The other 360 days of the year are perfectly fine. And everyday is fine if you don't involve yourselves with drugs or a shady life.

I don't think there's a single instance of any tourist being shot dead while eating feijoado on Ipanema Beach, nor will there ever be. For christ sake, Rio is hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. If it was as dangerous as all of you naive people in this thread seem to imply, there's no way world committees would grant Rio these privileges.

That being said, everyone I've met or talked to agrees that the south is safer. However most people I talked to didn't like Florianopolis very much. They said it was probably the nicest place in Brazil beauty wise, but very boring outside of that. Everyone I talked to spoke highly of Bahia, Sao Paolo, and Curitibia.

I am making another Brazil trip soon and will include the southern cities, but I can't imagine enjoying them more than I enjoyed Rio.


Have fun and stay safe!

you know that money is the important factor, for the IOC and the FIFA to give these countries like Russia, China, South Africa and Brazil Olympic games or the football world championship?

i mean why else would you give the games to these countries (except Brazil for football world championship), who give a damn **** on human rights and other important stuff...

dont be naive, its all about the money today...

the same reason london got it right?

lol lipo you are absolutely right...people saying so much **** about ''violence'' in Brazil etc...never got problems in Rio...
Brazil gives a damn **** on humans right!?... and US? oO

That's if you're comfortable living in a country as an illegal immigrant for an extended period of time. If you are caught, they can deport you with little notice which would cause a problem if you have stuff and a life in Brazil. Then it could be hard to reenter.

Why hasn't anyone ever talked about Uruguay and Punta Del Este? When I was vacationing in Florionapolis during a cruise tour stop our guide told us that Punta was the Monte Carlo of South America. All the rich South Americans go and vacation there. There's seems to be a casino as well.

I also heard that Montevideo was a really nice, safe, and clean city.

because the casino totally sucks for poker, and the rent is insanely overpriced during highseason, and the beaches arent amazing or anything. i think its so overrated because its like the closest decent beach for argentines . a lot of argentines kept telling me that i have to go there, no brazilian ever mentioned it, also every beach from salvador down to floripa ive seen in brazil was nicer.
about montevideo i dont know, id like to know too, what its like. should be safe like all the country

montevideo sucks, exactly the opposite of nice, clean, and safe. even the nicer parts of the city (pocitos) look sketchy. i went there for 3 days and didnt like it at all.

thinking of doing this for a month with the gf within a few weeks, does anyone know any good sites to find one month rentals, preferrably in moinhos de vento, porto allegro or whatever?

I'm planning on flying in to Porto Alegre and renting a car to drive to Rio. Does anyone know how long it takes to drive from Porto Alegre to Rio? What is the quality of the roads? It looks to be around 800 miles. Also is it easy to rent a car in Porto Alegre and drop it off in Rio or does it have to be a round trip rental?

I was just in Montevideo and everything along the coast for many miles looked very modern and nice, and even the older areas that I was in didn't seem unsafe. And I was walking around there after dark. But with that said, it was a boring place to visit.

I have decided to go to Floripa for 17th of November to 17th of Dec. I sure hope Wi-Fi is stable enough to 2-table HU (but probably not).

if there is a poker house in brazil after January then you have me as a 'maybe'. I'm very interested. marijuana tolerant players though please.

lol tboss driving from porto alegre to rio is a really bad idea. It takes a lot of time, dont know exactly... but between floripa and sao paulo its like 13hours...so u are gonna take 24 hours easy...and the roads got really really bad quality...

im def interested in visiting at some point sao paulo seems awesome

I was planning on doing it over 2 weeks and stopping at beach towns along the way. I have driven in some rough areas in the world. Are you from Brazil?

I'm from belgium but lived 4 years in Brazil and going back every year...I just think driving between porto alegre and rio is not the best choice because u are gonna take a long time driving and there's not a lot of beautiful beaches between pa to rio...only in santa catarina (florianopolis is beautiful and some others places) but in rio grande do sul, parana and sao paulo the beaches really suxxxxxx.... driving from rio to salvador is a best choice if you like to drive...a lot of good places to visit and stay on the road :-)

What are the best areas in Rio for a group of grinders to live in? Can anyone recommend a good house rental agency? Thanks.

For how long?
I'd say São Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema, Barra da Tijuca, Lagoa, and a few other places. I've found this site http://www.apartmentrentalsinrio.com/ take a look, there's a lot of pictures of thoses areas

If you want send my a pm for any help.