Brazil travel tips

Brazil travel health

Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Brazil, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Foz do Iguaçu, Salvador, Florianópolis, Manaus, Fortaleza.

Required to enter

  • Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present

Recommended

  • Yellow fever — recommended for most of Brazil including the area around Rio
  • Hepatitis A
  • Typhoid
  • Tetanus up to date

Emergency number

192 for an ambulance, 190 for police

Care for visitors

Good but costly

Public emergency care (SUS) is free to everyone including foreigners, but is crowded and slow. Private hospitals in Rio and São Paulo are excellent and expect insurance or payment up front.

Dengue, zika and chikungunya are all present and mosquito-borne — repellent matters. Yellow fever vaccination should be given at least 10 days before arrival.

The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.

The guides in Brazil

aerial photography of cityscape near seaRio de JaneiroBrazilBeaches, samba, and Christ the RedeemerA rainbow over the falls at Iguaçu, seen from the Brazilian sideFoz do IguaçuBrazilThe panorama side of the falls, and the biggest dam ever builtaerial view of city buildings near body of water during daytimeSalvadorBrazilBrazil’s first capital, and the most African city outside AfricaPraia Brava on the north of the island of Florianópolis, seen from the headlandFlorianópolisBrazilAn island with forty-two beaches, and a different one for every moodbird’s eye-view photography of cityscape during golden hourManausBrazilAn opera house in the rainforest, and two rivers that refuse to mixThe letters spelling Fortaleza on the Beira Mar promenade, between the palmsFortalezaBrazilTwenty-five kilometres of city beach, and the windiest coast in Brazil