The TRUTH About Brazil | Worth Visiting? Is it safe? Best things to do?

if you've been a part of this channel for a while now you know that we have been traveling fulltime for around 2 years and we just counted the other day and we visited around 20 countries during that time mhm and with that being said we just were in Brazil for 2 months and we can say confidently that it is one of our favorite countries ever it's probably top three for us definitely top three I would say but the sad part about this is that it is a trip that almost didn't happen because leading up to

the trip we were researching things about Brazil and it was so hard to come across anything that wasn't negative or warning heavily against going because of violence or safety issues it was honestly difficult to find many positive sources of information or things that would encourage us to take the trip so we decided after having such an incredible time in Brazil that we wanted to contribute something positive to the conversation because we believe Brazil is one of the the most special places on it should not be missed no in this video we will be going over

the reality of safety in Brazil our tips for traveling in Brazil the 10 things that we know will make you fall in love with Brazil and our top recommendations for things to do when you do go to Brazil so going into a trip one of the main safety concerns that we were hearing and reading online was that if we have any electronic devices out it would be stolen yeah and that was a big concern because obviously we are content creators so we knew we're always going to have a camera out we're always going to have

our iPhones out taking pictures videos and the way that the outside Media made it seem was like they will see this and you will become a target for like a violent attack or something like they're going to come up to you at gunpoint and broad daylight and take everything that you have and we were like oh my gosh we cannot risk this like we have a lot of expensive equipment and we obviously don't want to be robbed however the reality is and what we learned as we were there by talking to people and just being

there for a little while was that a lot of what happens is a careless tourist you know is hanging out right by the bike lane and they're like kind of on their phone or taking a video and then somebody on a bike will pass by and just grab the phone snatch their phone yeah or someone will be on the beach and leave their phone while they go into the water and then somebody grabs it while they're away in the water you know just careless mistakes like this you cannot get away with those things as easy

in Brazil but that actually applies to a lot of major tourist destinations I would say you kind of need to exercise increased Street smarts in Milan or New York yeah London but often times as a tourist in Brazil you're just going to be around a bunch of other tourists who are also using their phones and cameras to capture things and you're going to be completely fine as long as you just use some level of Street smarts and you're using your devices with intention you're not just waving them around carelessly or unended we really wanted to

cover this one because it was a major red flag for us and the reality of it is that the way that the media portrays it is so different than how it actually is besides this a lot of the other concerns were related to just general violence in Brazil the reality is that a lot of these statistics and things that you read about they're pulled unfairly I think because they mostly relate to like the drug trafficking and stuff that are happening along the borders or violence related between gangs in faas or between the gangs and police

but as a tourist unless you're really getting into some high-risk behaviors I just don't think you're going to be anywhere near any of that stuff I really think it's blown out of proportion and you know there's always going to be exceptions to the rule so I don't want anybody to go out there carelessly because of this but I really think if you just use basic Street smarts once again you'll be perly fine and you should not let things scare you 100% but one thing we do need to talk about in regards to safety is the

dating and clubbing scene especially in Rio we are not big clubbers or parters but when we were researching Brazil we did come across this lovely YouTube channel his name is Swedish Gringo and he's so I I love his he's so funny and cool and unfortunately he had a very traumatic experience happened to him where he was drugged and robbed he was going out in the neighborhood of lapa in Rio yes and he talks in depth about all that we're going to link his channel because if you're looking to go into the clubbing scene or be

dating out in Rio you should definitely be aware of this there is the rise of a drug called Scopolamine yeah so that's very scary it's not an area we're too knowledgeable on but if you're going to get into that stuff head over to his channel after this video and check check those videos out with all of that being said let's get into some tips that will ensure you will have a smooth trip in Brazil starting with the most important tip by far which is to learn a little bit of Portuguese before your trip apparently only

about 5% of Brazilians speak and understand English yes this language barrier was nearly impossible to overcome without at least learning some basic level of Portuguese which we did using the sponsor to today's video which is live XP live XP is an online platform available on desktop or mobile phone app where you can find language tutors for private one-on-one lessons we found that it is super rare to find Portuguese on any language learning apps or services but there are over 30 languages on live XP as well as 2,000 tutors from different countries so we were so

happy to find all of the countless native Portuguese speaking professional tutors and one of the coolest features on live XP is that you can filter tutors by interests so we did that and we chose eating out and traveling so that we could go more in depth on these particular topics and learn how to navigate basic conversations around them in Portuguese it was also amazing that we could pick native speakers specifically from Brazil as they would be more aware of the nuances of Brazilian Portuguese versus Portuguese from Portugal we suggest that you start learning 1 to

2 months before your trip and you take about 1 to two classes per week because Portuguese is a very complex language to grasp yes you can use our promo code jmr 30 for 30% off of any subscription or if you're just looking to book a trial lesson for now to check it out you can use the promo code jmr 99 to book a 30 minute trial lesson for just 99 9 we will also add some QR codes on the screen right now so you guys watching on TV can scan it on your phone these are

two amazing offers so be sure to screenshot this or take a picture so you can save these offers otherwise we'll have links for each option down in the description thanks again to live XP for sponsoring today's video and now let's get into the next tip which is do not go into the favellas we never did and although you probably would be okay with a tour guide or something like that we just feel like it is in portaste to go into the favellas yeah I mean the faelas and the people that are in them are not

really there for your amusement at least that's our opinion and on top of that it's just a little more of a volatile situation that you cannot control even if a tour guide is with you it doesn't guarantee you're just going to be safe that is a separate World from like the tourist areas areas yeah for sure and next tip is to use Uber it is super affordable and there's always Ubers around it works super well all over Brazil we used it to get to our accommodation from each airport and if you're out at night and

you have like a 10-minute walk back home even though you'd probably be completely fine and safe you might as well just call an Uber there's always one like within 5 minutes away and it will be so cheap like it's so crazy cheap it's really cheap and on that note you should download the app rapy it is a food delivery app and it will bring your food right to your airb B which or groceries yes or groceries and I think like Pharmacy is on there too which is so nice to have it's super convenient and super

cheap once again we had food delivery more than we'd like to admit while we were in Brazil and it averaged out to like $20 for both of us to have a good meal yeah delivered to you so crazy use Wy now let's talk about the 10 things that will make you fall fall in love with Brazil starting out with our absolute favorite thing about Brazil which is the people mhm the people are some of the most friendly charming and just allar around cool people in the entire world they were constantly Stopping Us in the street

when they saw us filming and stuff being like where are you guys from oh you should check out this thing right here or please visit this part of Brazil like they're so just proud of their place which is actually the next thing that we know will make you fall in love with Brazil which is how proud the people are of their country yes there are very few places in the world that we have ever visited where the people that live there are so overwhelmingly proud and just want to share it with you and so welcoming

it's really Charming every time we posted a video from Brazil the comments were flooded with people being like do this next no I believe this part of Brazil is the best everybody has their opinion on it and it's always just positive and happy and I don't know I love that it just makes you feel like you're in a very special place at all times and it's super endearing and the next thing that we know will make you fall in love with Brazil is the diversity throughout the country and we mean this in multiple ways the

different cities the different Vibes and energy in each of the Cities the climate that changes from tropical to Amazon jungle to beach Mega City just so much diversity in that way and then on top of that the people one of you actually said once in our comments that the Brazilian passport is the most commonly faked passport in the world and that's because anyone can look like a Brazilian because there are so many different types of Brazilians you can be dark skinned light skinned blue eyes green eyes red hair blonde it's such a beautiful diversity and

mixture of different combinations and that's actually due to its incredible history which is another thing that you will love about Brazil is its history Brazil has such a rich and intense history from the Native South Americans to the Portuguese colonial times to also the slave trade and much much more yeah it was very mindblowing for us as you're traveling through Brazil it's impossible not to just learn something because of the amazing architecture that's over the you're just to natur be curious the food even was something that I was really Blown Away by there's a lot

of influence from different parts of the world which is actually the next thing that we know will make you fall in love with Brazil the food it's no secret that Brazil has some of the best food in the world from Muka to Brazilian barbecue to AAR which was one of my favorites but another thing that surprised us was the international cuisine yeah being that Brazil is so massive it has the largest population of like Japanese people outside of Japan also African people outside of Africa and because of that there is so much amazing International Cuisine

available to you while you're there speaking of the food the next thing that we know will make you fall in love with Brazil is the kinas oh my gosh we had one like every single day yeah we are not big drinkers we're not big drinkers at all like never really get drinks with dinner or anything but literally probably during our time in Brazil we had at least one to two kinas per day yes they're just so light refreshing and delicious and they're kind of impossible to avoid honestly like they serve them everywhere even on the

beach we were literally having konas on the beach from vendors walking around with these trays full of different flavors of kinas which leads me to the next thing that will make you fall in love with Brazil which is the beaches from the world of famous iima Beach to prayad duara in Salvador to pradu compe in Florianopolis yeah it was a tongue twist yeah it was these were some of the most incredible beaches that we've ever stepped foot on oh yeah the water is like Crystal Clear there's people playing football all along the beach and I

loved how you could always hear somewhere in the area some beautiful Samba or bosan NOA playing which actually leads me to the next part of Brazil that we know you will fall in love with the music Brazilian music is arguably the most beautiful music in the entire world and they know that that's why you will always hear it somewhere around you not only on the beach just walking through any of the many cities in Brazil it was beautiful we that's one of my favorite Parts about Brazil and I'm going to miss it so dearly and

the next thing that you will love about Brazil is the art art is my favorite thing in each country that we visit so it is so important to me and I feel like Brazil has some of the best art that we've seen it makes sense because they have such an expressive and diverse culture that it just makes sense that their art would be so powerful but my favorite part honestly is the art that's Spilled Out onto the streets like there's so much graffiti all over the buildings which some complain about but I saw a lot

of beautiful art just right there I don't know I just thought the whole country was just like one big Museum or Gallery honestly so much expression all over it and last but not least the thing that will make you fall in love with Brazil is it's affordability due to the fact that we were in each City that we visited for shorter spans of time we did not really grocery shop and cook many meals at home we were mostly eating out at restaurants or ordering food in and even with that throughout the course of 2 months

we would say we spent a fraction of what we would spend in half the time in Europe or something like that now that we have finished actually convincing you to take the trip to Brazil we want to give you our top recommendations to do when you are there but with that being said Brazil is massive and even with our 2 months there we barely scratch the surface so this is by no means us saying these are like the only things to do there's endless things that you could do in Brazil and there's so much more

that we want to go back and do so anyways we are going to focus on the three big cities that we think are mandatory to visit in Brazil starting with Rio de Janeiro the first thing that we did in Rio which we highly recommend was going to EPA beachh the first time we went to EPA Beach it literally brought us to tears beautiful it was it was ridiculous it was so beautiful there was mountains all around you the people playing soccer on the beach and The Umbrellas how colorful everything was it was just so beautiful

yeah next up is the Sugarloaf Mountain cable car which was I mean it's one of one it's such a unique thing to Rio it's something that everybody has to do when they step foot in Rio but one thing we heavily recommend is that you buy the tickets online and you have to do the express pass or fast pass what they called we're going to L it in the description for you because that line is no joke we showed up at 300 p.m. to try and get there at 6 for Sunset and we barely made it

and the cable car ride itself is 6 minutes so we were in line for like 2 hours 2 hours yeah and if we would have gotten the Fastpass which was just like a little bit more expensive we would have walked right through we saw people just walking right on it was so frustrating but once you get up there it is just magical yeah the sunset is just just so beautiful and there's also like a helicopter pad from right there so you can see helicopters like taking off yeah and there's a DJ up there there's snacks

and drinks and the view is incredible I think it's one of the best views I've ever seen the next one we are going to recommend is a very iconic one which is Christ the Redeemer if you're going to Rio you're obviously going to go to Christ the Redeemer and it is just so breathtaking yeah it's an obvious one but it has to be on the list it was worth the hype I mean before you even get up there the Cog train which we recommend you book a ticket on the Cog train cuz there's multiple ways

to go up there but the Cog train was so like it was just so nice it was so cool and so charming and easy but once you're up there what I will say is it is kind of an Instagram versus reality moment where you're not going to get that perfect just photo op for yourself and Christ Redeemer no there's a lot of people up there it's very busy and crowded it's one of the Seven Wonders of the World you cannot leave Rio without seeing it and it's worth every penny and all the crowd and everything

cuz it's breathtaking yes the next thing that we recommend is Cafe Columbo it was actually ranked one of the most beautiful cafes in the entire world in the top 10 most beautiful cafes in the world and it makes sense MH it was breathtaking it felt like we were in a work of art yes it was like a Museum and make sure you get the brigo oh my gosh the brigad was the most amazing thing I've ever had it was so good and while we're on food the last thing we want to recommend in Rio is

this restaurant called AEL hopefully I pronounced that correctly it's got this beautiful view of the hills and the city down below and the food that was our best meal in real oh it was my favorite meal possibly in Brazil as a whole that's a strong statement but it was so good the palm was amazing yeah it's a palm heart salad make sure you get that you guys oh my gosh it was so good amazing and the kinas oh yeah okay so the next city we want to talk about is sou Paulo which I have a

lot to say about because I believe this is one of the most underrated and disrespected cities in the world when we originally arrived we only plan to be there for like one week or even less actually because most of the people and articles were saying that it's not really a great stop in Brazil and it's kind of just another city or some people even called it like an ugly City man it was so far from the truth in my opinion in both of our opinion we loved it so much we actually ended up extending our

stay there by for like a month yeah it truly is one of our favorite major cities in the entire world and we did so much there that we kind of feel like we could do a whole guide just on sou Paulo but here are a few of the main highlights starting with avenita Pista you got to do this on a Sunday because it's a major road like a six lane road but on Sundays it closes down and no cars can go through and it's like a full outdoor Market yeah and it's so amazing there's just

people dancing everywhere in the streets and the music is playing Samba music is playing yeah Ryland again literally had tears in her eyes when we were there because she was just loving how alive it was and it's one of our favorite outdoor markets for sure that we've ever been to and right along avenita poista is the next thing which is MP which is one of the most famous museums in sa Pao and it was so beautiful the room upstairs which is like the main room was one of the most beautifully set up art rooms that

we've ever been in like when we were walking along it we kept just being like this is the best single room of a museum we' ever seen they really nailed it there the next thing that we recommend in Sao is par I which is kind of like sa Paulo's Central Park yeah it's huge massive and it's full of just Greenery and people on their jogs and kids playing and you can rent these tandem bikes that's what we like side by side riding on this bike like thing it so cute and very affordable so it's just

a really fun to do especially if it's a sunny beautiful day out there the next thing we want to recommend is for those thrifters out there which is V Judith breio hope you said that right it's probably one of our favorite thrift shops that we've ever been to it was so beautiful inside I am confident in saying it's the best thrift shop we've ever been to I've never seen us act like that in a thrift shop we were just like we were like kids in a candy shop it was we running around it's so well

laid out so many amazing pieces Ryland got this incredible like 7s jumpsuit so so cool and the owners were so friendly and nice if you're a thrifter you need to go here that's why we had to put it on this list the next thing we want to recommend is a restaurant called botan Cafe it's so good and they have all different types of food ranging from brunch to dinner yeah we went there for every meal I'm pretty sure one day we literally went there for breakfast lunch and dinner yeah we probably did and all the

whole menu is amazing but we specifically love the breakfast SL brunch we almost went every morning yeah they knew us like every they knew what we wanted every morning they knew our order yeah they started throwing in a free cookie at one point like you guys have paid our rent for this month and while we're talking about food the next thing I want to recommend from South Paulo is a restaurant called toric silus which was actually recommended To Us by you guys my God gosh it was so good this meal was one of my favorites

of all time yeah it really was you said your favorite meal was the one in Rio I know and now I'm like I don't know this one is better maybe you can stick with that answer Telus my favorite meal in all of Brazil for sure so good the next thing we want to recommend is bar Samba so incredible it was our first time experiencing Samba in Brazil it was so fun it was amazing yeah everybody was up out of their seats dancing the musicians were so good and once they finished playing they came off stage

and actually like introduced themselves to everybody in the crowd and the last thing we want to recommend in sou Paulo is another bar it's called bar DUS Aros which is actually in the basement of the municipal theater in South B this was such a cool spot word of warning though you will have to wait yeah we waited 2 hours it's a little ridiculous but it's kind of something where once you get in you completely forget about the weight because it was so cool it was so cool and the drinks were amazing so good and I

love the process you go on their tablet and they give you a little quiz to figure out what kind of drink you like and then they will handpick certain drinks for you and then you choose from that it was so fun and the next city we want to talk about is Salvador DEA this is known as the soul of Brazil where like Rio is called the heart of Brazil I totally agree with that statement it felt like the soul of Brazil it really was one of my favorite stops in Brazil you have to make it

here yes the first thing we want to recommend in Salvador is pelino which is the Historical Center of Salvador and it is so amazing the colonial style buildings are just so beautiful and there's so much art and street performers it was so fun to walk around in we actually stayed right there which we heavily recommend because you walk out out and you're in like history it's so beautiful so we would suggest that you just walk all around pelino you can just wander around and see endless things and eventually you need to walk over to elevator

Lera M this is the first ever Urban elevator and it was established in 1873 which is so mindblowing to me yeah and it basically connects the upper part of town to the lower town it's history you have to take instead I think you can Uber down to the lower part of town but you should really take the elevator it's so cool it's super easy and it's very affordable and it gets you down to like the lower half which has a lot of things that you're going to want to do and when you go to the

lower part of town make sure you go get some food at re Restaurante Dona Susana this place was so good this is where we had the best Mukka of the trip yes it was amazing and the view from there incredible incredible absolutely incredible and the actual place was featured on Netflix on street foods or something like that of Latin America street foods of Latin America Next you have to go to pra duara which is a beautiful beach in Salvador is probably the most famous beach in Salvador and is so nice it's just one of my

favorite beaches we went to in all of Brazil I know it was incredible there was like a Market going on along the walkway when we were there the beach was full of people the water was beautiful The View was incredible The View was amazing yes and the whole time you're looking ahead at the next thing that we want to recommend which is the lighthouse over there mhm this is the best Sunset we ever saw it really okay this is actually the best Sunset we ever saw we might have said before Sugarloaf is the best Sunset

but I think this is the best Sunset we've ever seen it was incredible the sun was huge and just so orange and I mean I've just never seen a better view than that and you're right there on this like Hillside with this beautiful lighthouse and so many people come to watch a sunset every day and the cutest thing ever is that once the sun actually goes down they all applaud yes and started cheering it was so sweet apparently according to one of you in the comments this is a tradition because you are thanking the Sun

for setting or something like that which is just so precious so cute so after all of that I think it's very obvious that our answer to the question of is Brazil worth visiting or not is yes yes 100% it's got to be at the top of everyone's bucket list it's a crime that anybody has anything negative to say about it that's how I feel it was one of the most special trips we've ever taken that's why we are making this whole video because it meant that much to us yeah and we think it's so important

to put out some positive information about Brazil because it's something that nobody should miss and I'm so glad that we did not miss it and with that being said we hope that this video was useful to you guys in any sort of way possible if it was please be sure to leave us a like and comment and if you'd like to see our adventures throughout Brazil we fully documented our trip in these videos and to all of our new Brazilian supporters we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all suggestion and kind throughout

our trip you guys are the best we love you yes and with all that being said we will see you guys next week