Brazil Travel Blog

What with rocketing airfares, more and more people are turning to buses as a means of transportation in Brazil. Finding your way through hundreds of bus companies, bus stations, infinite destinations and information hard to come by is definitely no easy job. Hope this entry can in some way help alleviate your pain – for finding up-to-date and reliable bus information in Brazil can certainly become a very painful process.

There are a handful of online sources you must know if you are to embark on a bus journey in Brazil.

1. ANTT (for all destinations)

The one and only country-wide official source is the website of the Agencia Nacional de Transportes Terrestres (ANTT), the Brazilian’s government official body for road transportation. Unfortunately, it’s an incredibly unfriendly site, even more if you are a foreign user with no grasp of Portuguese. Never mind the fact that can be infuriatingly stubborn. If the spelling of your destination is different from the one held at the ANTT database, you will be going nowhere. At Link: buses in Brazil I gave a step-by-step guide on how to search at the ANTT site.
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2. Socicam (for Aracaju, Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo)

Much friendlier than the ANTT site is Socicam’s own website. It would be my number one choice if it wasn’t for a small detail: its restricted coverage. Socicam is a private company running the bus stations of the following cities:

Angra dos Reis (Río de Janeiro), Aracajú (Sergipe), Fortaleza (Ceará), Guarujá (São Paulo), Mogi das Cruzes (São Paulo), Niteroi (Río de Janeiro), Poços de Caldas (Minas Gerais), Ribeirão Preto (São Paulo), Rio de Janeiro, São Carlos (São Paulo), São João da Boa Vista (São Paulo), São José dos Campos (São Paulo) and the three bus stations in São Paulo (Barra Funda, Jabaquara and Terminal Tietê).

So Socicam is only good if your origin or destination is one of the cities I’ve just mentioned. For as long as your starting point is one of those bus stations, your search will be succesful – your destination doesn’t need to feature on the list. For instance, you will find information on the São Paulo – Florianópolis route although the Florianópolis bus station is not run by Socicam.

To search for a route, choose Consulta de partidas de ônibus on the left sidebar. Choose your starting point from the Cidade de origem pop-down menu, and your destination from the Cidade – UF de destino menu. Quite straightforward, specially if you compare it with the ordeal that a consultation on the ANTT site is. If you are lucky, your search results will show the webpage and contact details of the company operating the route you were searching for. Unlike the ANTT site, Socicam only informs the details of the companies, no information on timetables or prices to be found here.

Linhas Rodoviárias , a site with bus travel information

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3. Linhas Rodoviárias (for São Paulo)

Excellent resource for departures from São Paulo to any state in Brazil and international destinations too. We have full details at Linhas Rodoviárias , a site with bus travel information.

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4. Terminal Novo Rio (for Rio de Janeiro)

If you are travelling to or from Rio de Janeiro, you might as well check the incredibly simple to use Terminal Novo Rio website. It’s by no means a pretty website, but hey, nothing beats simplicity. Type the name of your destination (or point of origin) at the PARTIDAS NOVO RIO box and off you go. The search results show the company (or companies) operating the route, including a link to their website. If you want more info, we’ve already devoted a blog post to the Rio bus station: Terminal Novo Rio.
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5. Rodoviária de Porto Alegre (for Porto Alegre)

The Rodoviária de Porto Alegre (Porto Alegre’s bus station) website in another useful source of information for trips on the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Click on Horários de Ônibus and then select your destination from the Porto Alegre para menu, the day of the week at the Dia da Semana menu (choose any day / qualquer dia if you prefer) and the departure time (Horário do Dia).
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6. Rodoviária de Curitiba (for Curitiba)

The Rodoviária de Curitiba (Curitiba’s bus station) is another site that combines ugliness with friendliness (if that could ever be possible). Simply select your destination from the De Curitiba para drop-down menu and off you go. The results page has a valuable link to the bus company running the service.
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7. DETER (for the state of Santa Catarina)
A very useful tool for trips that begin and end within the State of Santa Catarina. Go to DETER’s website and choose Consulta de Horários de Partida de Viagens. Write your departure and arrival points, and off you go.
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Below there is a series of blog posts we’ve written with information on how to get to a few destinations in Brazil:

NATIONAL

from Angra dos Reis to Paraty
from Angra dos Reis to Rio
from Brasilia to São Paulo
from Buzios to Rio
from Campinas and Viracopos airport to São Paulo
from Curitiba to São Paulo
from Curitiba to Foz do Iguaçu
from Curitiba to São Paulo
from Fortaleza to Natal
from Foz do Iguaçu to Curitiba
from Foz do Iguaçu to Rio
from Foz do Iguaçu to São Paulo
from Natal to Fortaleza
from Paraty to Angra dos Reis
from Paraty to Rio
from Porto Alegre to São Paulo
from Rio to Angra dos Reis
from Rio to Buzios
from Rio to Foz do Iguaçu
from Rio to Paraty
from Rio to Salvador
from Rio to São Paulo
from Salvador to Rio
from São Paulo to Brasilia
from São Paulo to Campinas and Viracopos airport
from São Paulo to Curitiba
from São Paulo to Foz do Iguaçu
from São Paulo to Porto Alegre
from São Paulo to Rio

INTERNATIONAL

from Buenos Aires to São Paulo / Rio
from São Paulo to Santiago de Chile
from São Paulo to Paraguay
from Montevideo to Porto Alegre and São Paulo

I’d been meaning to write a post like this for a long time. But it was only this week, when fellow blogger Gene suggested the topic that I decided to have a go at it. From Goiáis, where he lives, Gene writes a blog full of useful information for anyone planning a spell in Brazil: Expat American Living in Brazil.

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