trip shortened due to hurricane...help with prioritizing!
 

Hi all,
So, hurricane irene screwed up our trip plans. We were supposed to have 2 full weeks in brazil, but due to the hurricane our flight was canceled and the airline wouldn't rebook us for another 5 days! Our original plan was as follows:
arrive in rio and stay for 2 nights
2 nights in ilha grande
2 nights in paraty
return to rio and fly to salvador
about 1 week in salvador area wtth possible trips to morro de sao paulo, itacare etc

Now, we have about 8 nights total to our trip and are trying to figure out what to do with our time...we will still spend the first 2 nights in rio, but are unclear what to do from there...woudl it make more sense to stay in rio state rather than fly to bahia? or should we skip ilha grande and paraty and go straight to bahia? Also, someone recommended flying to porto seguro instead of salvador....
any thoughts??
Really appreciate any suggestions for ways to make the most of what we will have left in brazil as we are VERY bummed about missing part of the trip!!

Travel from Rio to Salvador (by plane) will take about the same amount of time as to Paraty/Ilha Grande (by bus).
To get an idea of the diversity Brazil offers, I would suggest dividing your trip between Rio and the Salvador area with an overnight to Morro. You'll get some Rio culture/music, a taste of the heritage/history/architecture/music of Salvador, and some beach time, both in Rio if you choose, at the lively city beaches in Salvador, and at the more tranquil ones in Morro.

depends on what is a major goal of your trip: if it's culture, you should definitely go for a Rio/Salvador combo. If it's relaxing on the beach, I would go for Porto Seguro heading from there to Trancoso or Santo André as I don't think Salvador & Morro de SP beaches and atmosphere in general are that nice compared to Trancoso's. Enjoy!

brazilnuts.com

brazilbeaches.org Natal area is great

Paraty is great more bakcpackery but nice.

Personally might hop a quickie flight

with Gol or Azul to Foz/Iguazu truly spectacultar

Falls view room at the Sheraton spg.com was AWESOME

for me when there last.

Happy Planning!

thanks for the advice! Still figuring things out...