boxcox

Hi My husband and I (in our 50's)are traveling next August to Bela Horizonte ,to the University for work. Our thought is to fly into either Rio or Sao Paulo ,stay three days, go to BH, stay four days, go to with Rio or Sao Paulo. How does this sounds.. Too few days, too many? Havent quite figured out the airlines yet. Hoping this will work. Could also so Rio, Sao Paulo and then BH.. back to Rio for departure if we have to. Or are we missing something? thanks..

boxcox

hmm I see someone else's thread.. another option is skip Sao Paulo and go to Paraty or somewhere for a few days. I think Sao Paulo might be too many flights for us.

IsabelaS

I am a bit confused about any of your proposed itineraries.

You have how much time for the university work you mention in BelO Horizonte?

Can you add time for travel beforehand or do you prefer to travel afterwards. or both? How much time?

Where are you flying from? (There are some direct flights into Belo Horizonte from the U.S. that might be convenient.)

Domestic airlines are GOL, TAM, Azul and Avianca Brazil.

I would suggest some time in Rio, but I am not a big fan of Sao Paulo. For culture unique to Brazil, spend time in and around Salvador, a short flight, and/or in some of the Colonial mountain towns in Minas Gerais (Ouro Preto, Mariana, Sabara, Tiradentes, Sao Joao del Rei, Congonhas, Diamantina)by bus.

boxcox

Hi yes I did spell that wrong I realize.. sorry! We are staying three days in BH working.. prefer to travel beforehand to be rested and adjusted when we get there..be there for the four days.. and then travel again afterwards. Flying from SF. I believe our hosts did mention the mountain towns. Maybe we arrive in BH. Ill check the schedules. and do the towns.. then the academic portion.. then off to Rio.

IsabelaS

Sounds like a good plan.

Take a good look at a map and do some research into the Colonial towns. Ouro Preto is 2 hours by bus from B.H. Tiradentes is a bit further south of there. Those, and the dramatically set sculptures in Congonhas, are the best IMO.

While actually in B.H., you can go to Sabara (a suburb these days, by local bus), see Pamplona (the lake, the Sao Franciso Church by Neimeyer, the soccer stadiums and have a beer/snack at the waterside bar), sample at some of the cachaca distilleries, check out the Shopping Del Rey mall, and enjoy an evening in Savaasi. If you in B.H. there on a Sunday, the huge feira downtown, with everything from food to clothes to household decor, is a lot of fun.
Where are you being hosted (neighborhood)?

For Rio, the informational site www.ipanema.com is a good start.

boxcox

HI I believe it is Pampulha, the university UFMG. thank you for that info. That does sound better. I will look into all. Ok Just a thought. What if we just stayed around BH and did some of the towns. spending the night here and there. I really havent looked into RIo. Should we make the trek there? It would seem odd to go all that way and not go.. but you never know..

IsabelaS

Well, most tourists think Rio is a must. Myself, I passed through it several times before I spent some time seeing the sights, and don't feel I missed out (but I am probably an exception). Rio is the only city in Brazil, though, with the spectacular mountains rising almost out of the sea.

The cities I personally like best are Salvador (for the music and unique African-based culture) and Rio (much of whose culture/musical heritage came with immigrants from Salvador and Bahia in general), with Recife/Olinda a close runner up. And the atmospheric and historic Colonial mountain towns in Minas already mentioned.

I guess I just think you should build in enough extra time to do all of that.
And then come back again to do more, including some other lovely natural areas Brazil offers (falls at Iguacu, Parque Lencois in Maranhao, Chapada Diamantina in Bahia, etc.

And btw, Pampulha is a nice neighborhood of B.H.(pronounced bay ah-GAR)
I'm curious about the work that's bringing you to UFMG. What field are you in?

boxcox

Hi thank you , I believe you helped me on our trip to Buenos Aires as well. We did go to the falls then and they were the most amazing I have ever seen. We did get stuck there with the volcanic cloud and totally missed the conference! The fun of travel. Gary is in Political Science at Stanford.

I think I am thinking that we will fly into BH, stay for maybe two days(?) to get over the jet lag etc.. then travel to the colonial towns for three or four days. The conference is I think Monday afternoon through Thurs am..then fly to Rio for 2 nights Trying to keep it around 13 days away. what do you think?

IsabelaS

That plan sounds OK. I don't think you will have much jet lag in the eastern direction, but it is a longish flight and total journey by the time you get to B.H. (usually ends up about 19 hours from the northeast cities by the time all is said and done). If possible, you might want to take a couple extra days to add to the plan at the end for Rio (I know that gets you into the next work week, but...); once you get there, you will want to stay more than 2 nights (but you can always come back once again and see more of Rio, and also Salvador and Recife/Olinda and more .

Susan7

Belo Horizonte itself is not especially interesting, except for Pampulha as Isabela already mentioned. The Niemeyer-designed complex with lake, church, museum (originally a casino), soccer stadium and ballroom is a must see. We saw a football match at the stadium and that was amazing and I'm not that interested in football! We did a day trip to Ouro Preto from BH, just taking a local bus. As Isabela has already suggested the Colonial towns are really worth visiting. There are tours that take you to all of the towns--or you can hire a driver.

I like both Rio and São Paulo a lot, but it depends a lot on your interests. There are amazing art galleries and museums in São Paulo: Tomie Ohtake, MAM, MASP and the galleries around Vila Madalena. I particularly like the bars around Vila Madalena.

In Rio, I'd recommend visiting the Botanical Gardens, Museum of Contemporary Art at Niterói--that's another Niemeyer building. Santa Teresa is also an interesting district.