Two Week Itinerary Through Brazil for $1600 a Person
I was fortunate to find reward tickets to Brazil for 60,000 American Airlines miles paying just $65 a person for taxes.
The daily itinerary is below. The chart with the costs of hotels and flights is in the graphic at the end.
Days 1 and 2
We left on a Friday and arrived in Miami very early in the morning with a long layover. We spent a night in Miami, in the morning, I rented a car and we explored South Beach.
Day 3
We arrived in Rio de Janeiro where we spent one night at the Windsor Excelsior Hotel. We visited Copacabana Beach, Cristo Redentor and Sugarloaf.
Day 4
Visited Ipanema beach, downtown Rio, and Escadaria Selaron. We flew to Manaus at 10:30 pm and spent the night at the Manaus Windham Garden.
Days 5, 6, 7
Did the Lo Peix river cruise. The cruise was quite costly; $784 a person which included meals, activities, sight seeing, and accommodation. I have a separate post on it.
On our final day of the cruise, we had a few hours to explore Manaus so we took a boat out to see “Meeting the Waters.” We were able to get a lot of pictures of Manaus from the river.
We flew on to Foz do Iguacu and spent the night at the Wyndham Foz do Iguacu.
Day 8
We explored Iguacu Falls and walked across the Friendship Bridge into Paraguay. We had planned to see the Itaipu Dam, but we got there just as the last tour left.
That evening we took an overnight bus to Curitiba where we met up with a friend of mine whom I hadn’t seen in over 30 years.
Day 9
We drove an hour east from Curitiba to a Morretes which known for its signature dish: borreado.
In the evening we explored Curitiba. It seemed like a beautiful city. I wish we had had time to explore it in the daylight.
Day 10
We caught an early morning flight to Sao Paulo. There are two major airports on Sao Paulo. Make sure you double check which one you are leaving out of so you don’t miss your flight.
We liked Sao Paulo a lot. We explored the downtown, drank sugar cane water, explored the Japanese section, and strolled Batman Alley.
That evening, we took a bus to Paratay. We arrived pretty late, but had the entire next day to explore it.
Day 11
Explored Paratay and took a bus back to Sao Paulo that evening.
Day 12
We spent the day in Sao Paulo.
Days 13 and 14 were spent flying home and in airports.
If I hadn’t used reward points, the airfare would have been around $900 a person. In all the trip would cost over $2000 a person with airfare. The Amazon cruise put the cost per person up a lot. To cut costs, I would recommend staying at one of the eco camps instead. Brazil is such a large country that two weeks is not enough time to see it all. I want to go back and explore the Pantanal and the cities in the north. Definitely one of my favorite countries.
~Bella
