According to an international hotel price index just published, Río de Janeiro has the most expensive 4* hotels in the world. São Paulo comes second on the list. When all hotel categories are taken into account, Rio de Janeiro features in 9th place while São Paulo takes the 21st place.

The top placings of Rio and São Paulo are due to a large extent to the power of the local currency, the real. While hotels in both cities are expensive, an overvalued real makes them even more so, in particular on the eyes of the foreign traveler. If you’re looking for accommodation on any of those two cities and are bewildered by the range of prices you’re finding out, rest assured the problem is not yours. It is the reality of accommodation in the two largest Brazilian cities.

This blog has one main entry devoted to Rio de Janeiro and another one devoted to São Paulo: destination: Rio de Janeiro and destination: São Paulo.

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RELATED POSTS:
since 2003, the value of Brazilian real has increased 122 percent against the once mighty dollar
low season in Rio de Janeiro – a thing of the past
sky-high prices, a new Brazilian reality

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An article from Tribuna do Norte (we saw it mentioned at the blog Guia Natal) reflects on increasing living costs in Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte. Prices have gone up to the point where Natal is today the most expensive capital in Northeast Brazil, surpassing Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza. The reason for the high cost of living would be a rapidly increasing population putting pressure on a limited housing and services market.

Destination: Natal is our main blog post on the popular destination of northeast Brazil.

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RELATED POSTS:
since 2003, the value of Brazilian real has increased 122 percent against the once mighty dollar
sky-high prices, a new Brazilian reality

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“Brazilian hotels, the most expensive in the world”.
“Rio de Janeiro, the most expensive city of the Americas”.
“Accommodation in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro is more expensive than in Berlin”.

The media headlines tell the story of how expensive Brazil has become in recent years. An overvalued local currency means foreign tourists will discover today Brazil is a very expensive country. Price of accommodation in particular will be a sore issue in all traveling budgets.

O Globo magazine published recently a cover where the comparisons are established between prices in Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere in the world.

Haircut more expensive than in London.
Croissant more expensive than in Paris.
Bellini more expensive than in Venice.
Cupcake more expensive than in New York.
Movies more expensive than in Madrid.
Bicycle hire more expensive than in Amsterdam.
Yoga lessons more expensive than in Hollywood.
Gym more expensive than in Madonna’s gym in Mexico City.
Trip up to the Corcovado Mountain more expensive than the boat to the Statue of Liberty.
Trip up the Sugar Loaf Mountain more expensive than reaching the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Let’s reach for another source. The ranking of the most expensive cities in the world by XPatulator. It takes into account cost of living and on its April 2011 edition it includes the following cities on its top 15:

1. Tokyo (Japan)
2. Caracas (Venezuela)
3. Hong Kong (China)
4. Geneve (Switzerland)
5. Zurich (Switzerland)
6. Osaka (Japan)
7. São Paulo (Brazil)
8. Nagoya (Japan)
9. Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
10. Oslo (Norway)
11. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
12. Sydney (Australia)
13. Yokohama (Japan)
14. Brasilia (Brazil)
15. Canberra (Australia)

Three Brazilian cities appear in the list.

Brazil has become such an expensive country for tourism than even Brazilian themselves are choosing to travel abroad rather than spending their own holidays home – expenditure by Brazilian tourists abroad is breaking all records (Turistas brasileiros gastam US$ 4,7 bi no exterior em 2011).

Let’s hope for better times for foreign tourism in Brazil. The current price situation is anything but encouraging.

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RELATED POSTS:
since 2003, the value of Brazilian real has increased 122 percent against the once mighty dollar

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The article When the chips are down published recently by The Economist featured a table with recent Big Mac Index data that shows how Brazil has become a very expensive destination.

The index is a a semi-humorous attempt to compare living costs throughout the world, by comparing the cost of a single product, the Big Mac burguer. According to the table, the Brazilian Big Mac would be among the most expensive in the world. Which is even more surprising if you consider salaries and wages are much lower in the Brazil than in the other countries at the top of the table.

The rise of Brazil to the top of the most expensive tourist destinations it is not due so much to price increases in Brazil (inflation is under control) but to the increasing value of the Brazilian real against other currencies.

So be warned that looking up prices of transportation and accommodation in Brazil can produce a few surprises. The only possible way of enjoying your holiday in Brazil is to forget the calculator exists; if you keep making conversions you will spoil your holiday!

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There are at least three websites informing the approximate cost of taxi rides in Brazil. While each one of them presents approximate prices, they are handy tools to help you have an idea how how much a taxi ride will set you back. The three pages make use of Google Maps and as well as the fares they provide itinerary information.

At our blog post taxis we gave an overall view of how taxis work in Brazil and explained the difference between Bandeira 1 and Bandeira 2.

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TAXI.com.br

With data for the cities of: Aracaju, Belém, Belo Horizonte, Boa Vista, Brasilia, Campinas, Campo Grande, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiânia, João Pessoa, Macapá, Maceió, Manaus, Natal, Niterói, Palmas, Petrópolis, Porto Alegre, Porto Velho, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Branco, Salvador, Santo André, Santos, São Luís, São Paulo, Teresina and Vitória.

To use the search engine first select your city. Then type your origin at Informe seu Ponto de Partida and your destination at e agora seu Destino.

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CALCULADOR DE TARIFA DE TAXI

With data for the cities of: Aracaju, Bauru, Belém, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Campinas, Canoinhas, Caxias do Sul, Chapecó, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Ilhéus, João Pessoa, Joinville, Londrina, Manaus, Maringá, Natal, Pelotas, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Santos, São José dos Campos, São Paulo and Vitória.

To use the search engine first select your city. Then type your origin at Origem and your destination at Destino.

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TAXÍMETRO ONLINE

With data for the cities of: Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Salvador, São Paulo and Vitória.

To use the search engine first select your city. Then type your origin at Origem>Endereço and your destination at Destino>Endereço.

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Comparison

We ran a fare comparison throughout the 3 engines.

1. Rio de Janeiro. We simulated a ride from Avenida Atlântica, 1000 (Copacabana) to Estrada do Corcovado, 1 (on the way up to the Corcovado mountain).

Fare class / Taxi.com.br / Calculador de Tarifa de Taxi / Taxímetro online
Bandeira 1 / R$ 22,35 / R$ 24,03 / R$20,50
Bandeira 2 / R$ 25,95 / R$ 27,98 / R$23,74

2. São Paulo. We simulated a ride from Avenida Paulista, 100 to Avenida Vital Brasil, 1500 (Instituto Butantan).

Fare class / Taxi.com.br / Calculador de Tarifa de Taxi / Taxímetro online
Bandeira 1 / R$ 21,61 / R$21,19 / R$21,19
Bandeira 2 / R$ 28,09 / R$26,50 / R$26,49

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It is important to understand that the three search engines only show estimates. These estimates don’t include variables such as the time spent on the ride, which can considerably increase the cost. For that reason, a higher value than the one shown on any of the engines doesn’t necessarily imply the taxi driver is trying to cheat on you. Take those values as a rough minimum estimate.

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RELATED POSTS:
Taxis

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A vitamin-enriched real – the Brazilian currency, reached on Friday an all-time high against the dollar. Not since 1999 had a real bought so many dollars. On Friday, 1 US dollar would buy you 1,5895 reais. 1 euro would buy 2,5194 reais (I’m mentioning here the “comercial” quotation of the dollar, for more info read also at this blog differences between “comercial”, “turismo” and “paralelo” dollars).

This is basically bad news for anyone planning a trip to Brazil. Irrespective of the evolution of prizes within Brazil, Brazil is a much more expensive country for anyone coming from Europe or the United States. To make matters worse, the current inflationary tide sweeping the world is being felt in earnest in Brazil. In a few months, food prices have gone up to 30% in some of the largest cities of Brazil. As a result, restaurants have increased their prices considerably in the last couple of months. I won’t even bother mentioning the rocketing airfare prices, another factor that will be heavily felt by visitors to the country.

More than ever, comparing prices is the name of the game.

At the money category of the blog you can read all the blog entries published on the subject.

As Florianópolis is a larguish island with scores of towns and villages, there are considerable price differences between one place and another, even when there are quite near each other.

The supermarket chain Imperatriz has a website where you can check out its weekly promotions. For as long as the page stays online, it is the most up-to-date resource to get an idea of what the prices for basic items in Florianópolis are like.

I’m leaving here a handful of prices from our trip to the island in February 2008:

Prices at the Ilha do Campeche: bottle of mineral water, R$2; Coke, R$3; beer, R$5; caipirinha, R$5; single-course meal with fish, rice, fries and a salad, R$15; fried squid, R$25.

Prices at the playa de Campeche: basic meal, R$15; Coke, R$2,50; canga (sarong) from R$10.

Prices at a bar at the playa Brava : fries, R$10; fried squid, R$20; breaded fish for two (with rice, fries and vegetables), R$33; burger, R$7; bottle of mineral water, R$2,20; Coke, R$2,90; caipirinha, R$7.

Car rental for a day (basic model): R$65 per day

Prices in Canasvieiras: meal at a popular restaurant from R$12 (not including drinks; Coke from R$2,50); large pizza, from R$15; a sandwich and a fruit juice, R$10.

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The Brazilian government’s agency responsible for fuel, the Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis better known as ANP, has a useful tool on its website where you can look up the average prices for fuel all throughout the Brazilian territory: Levantamento de preços.

[As usual on the websites of a government that calls itself champion of free software, the page does not work in Firefox]

It is quite simple to use. You need to indicate the period of time (Selecione o mês, usually the current month), the geographical area (Brasil, Regiões, Estados, Municipios) and the type of fuel (gasolina [petrol/gas], álcool [ethanol], diésel, LNG or LGP). Click on Processar to get your results.

The results page is simpler than it looks. The column that interests you is the one with the title Preço médio (average price).

Ariel, a reader of De Viaje a Brasil, suggested the idea of an entry with the draft of three different budgets for the traveller preparing a trip to Brazil. In spite of the difficulties inherent to a entry of this kind, I have accepted the challenge. I won’t bore you with lengthy explanations on why it is very difficult to make general statements on a country the size of Brazil or why those generalizations are made even more difficult by the simple fact that different travellers have different needs and tastes. What you will find here is just an approximate idea of costs. Yes, there are cheaper places than the ones quoted here. And yes, there are (much) more expensive places as well. And yes, within Brazil there are places where everything is quite cheap and places where everything is quite expensive.

Prices on this entry are in Brazilian reais. On the right sidebar of the blog, under the Categories section, you will find the current exchange rate of the dollar and the euro.

Before we start, a necessary clarification. Hyperinflation is a thing of the past. For the last few years inflation rates in Brazil have been kept on hold, well below 10%. However, Brazil is a much more expensive country for tourists of many countries due to the increased value of the real against other currencies. Someone who visited Brazil in 2002 might thing that prices have spiralled in Brazil – the truth is that they remain under control, it is the Brazilian real that is much more expensive now.

CHEAP BUDGET

- Food. In most cases breakfast is included in the room rate. Both for lunch and dinner you can survive on R$10 meals per person, including a drink.

- Accommodation. Between R$40 and R$60 will get you a private room with bathroom. For less than that, a room in a hostel dormitory. In places like Rio de Janeiro or Fernando de Noronha you will have a hard time finding accommodation for as little as that.

MID-RANGE BUDGET

- Food. An amount between R$10 and R$30 per person will land you on the territory of a reasonable meal – it might include a large pizza for two, baked fish at the beach or ethnic food in the large cities. For each caipirinha you drink during the meal, add a further R$8 to R$15.

- Accommodation. Pay between R$70 and R$175 for a room for two and you are thinking of a pousada with some comfort, air-conditioning and television for sure, as well as a certain taste in the décor of the place. A swimming pool as well. In Rio de Janeiro, that money will only get you into a basic hotel.

EXPENSIVE BUDGET

- Food. From R$40 onwards we are talking business: a decent meal at a churrascaria, a Japanese restaurant or a seafood restaurant. There are restaurants where a meal will set you back R$100 and R$200 (even more if you order wine), but in our opinion you don’t need to pay more than R$70 for an excellent and abundant meal.

- Accommodation. For an amount betwen R$180 and R$300 per room you might stay at some wonderful places. From R$400 onwards, you must demand luxury. We have never paid more R$300 in the most wonderful pousadas where we have stayed. They didn’t have plasma TVs, though. Many of the Rio hotels fall within this range of prices.

Up to here, the prices to cover the two main basic needs: food and lodging. The remaining expenses do not discriminate between cheap and expensive budgets. A água de coco (coconut water) costs the same for everyone). Then you have to add other expenses, a boat trip, a bottle of mineral water, a caipirinha here and there, souvernirs for friends and family…

To help you find out more about prices in Brazil, this blog offers several tools:

• prices contains the prices of a few basic items.
• through the links explained in Link: buses in Brazil and Link: Socicam (bus routes) you can check the fares for bus rides in Brazil.

This blog presents today a new page: Prices. There you will find a shortish list of prices of basic items of interest to the tourist. Most of the prices refer to the city of São Paulo, where I live. In a country as large as Brazil it is absolutely impossible to make general statements.

With the help of the readers of this blog and of its counterpart blog in Spanish, I hope to expand the list to the point where I can turn it into a PDF file available for download at the blog. If you’d like to make any contributions, leave a comment either here or at the Prices page.

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