Hike Brazil

I usually get 2 types of reactions when I tell people that I’m Brazilian:
– South Americans say they love visiting my country and would love to live there
– Europeans say they’re afraid of it and wouldn’t travel nor live there

These different perceptions come from the fact that South Americans often have friends or family who spent vacations in Brazil and had a great time, while Europeans only know Brazil from the sensationalist news that arrive to their continent.

When foreigners think about Brazil, they usually think about the city of Rio, which is always on the headlines for both its beauty and its violence issues, but that city represents only 3% of the country, and even there, violence is almost exclusive to neglected areas that a tourist has absolutely no reason to visit.

If you’re ok traveling to Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia and Ecuador, there’s no reason not to go to Brazil

Homicide rates in Brazil are much lower than Jamaica, Ecuador and Colombia, and it’s just slightly bigger than Mexico. Source: Statista

Brazil’s hiking destinations are safe and chill

If you’re looking for hiking destinations, you’ll be traveling on super small and chill towns in the countryside, such as Ouro Preto (pictured above), Ilha Grande, Bonito, Passa Quatro, Ubatuba, Capitólio, Lençóis, Gramado.

These places are not just chill, they’re friendly, they have decent infrastructure, amazing weather and they’re the kind of place where you’ll probably want to stay longer or visit again.

Where does Rio’s bad reputation comes from?

Rio’s bad reputation comes from the clashes between gangs and the police that happen in neglected areas of the city. That is a huge problem, but again… why would a tourist visit neglected areas? Do you visit these areas when you go to Paris, New York or Buenos Aires?

The most likely threat to a tourist in Rio is pickpocketing, which can happen in almost any big city in the world, so just be careful with your belongings.

I also don’t recommend renting a car in Rio because map apps often lead you through dangerous neighborhoods while searching for the quickest routes. Anyway, all the tourist areas are serviced by public transportation, taxis, Uber or 99, so there’s no really good reason to rent a car there.

I’ve taken hundreds of tourists to hike in the city of Rio and I’ve never had any trouble, nor heard of anyone who had problems hiking there. Below is a picture of my partner hiking one of Rio’s many beautiful mountains:

Do most people live in favelas?

This is a common misconception, only 8% of the Brazilian population lives in favelas (slums) and most towns don’t have anything similar to a favela.

What do Brazilian cities actually look like?

This is my hometown, Indaiatuba, in the state of São Paulo:

This is Cuiabá (on a picture from the blog viagensecaminhos):

This is the lovely town of Passa Quatro, in the hilly state of Minas Gerais:

Do they look terrifying? Do you see slums? Of course not.
If Brazil was bad as people think, there would be a humanitarian crisis since it has a population of 200 million people and everyone would be leaving the country. and we wouldn’t be famous for the happiness and warmth of our people.

My opinion

Brazil does have problems, it’s true that some places lack proper infrastructure and some cities have high criminality, but it’s easy to avoid these places.
Stick to the good parts of Brazil and just enjoy it!