Rio de Janeiro/ Lima for solo traveller

so many qs

Hi everyone,

I'm doing a tour across SA in a few months. The tour leaves from Rio (heading south to Ilha Grande) and ends in Lima. I'm looking into flights now and don't know how long I should give myself in Rio before the tour and in Lima afterwards and how safe it is for a solo female. I don't have Portuguese or Spanish but obviously will work on the key phrases:) I've travelled on my own in Oz and a bit in Asia but I'm more nervous about SA. Have you any advice for me about areas to stay in or avoid? This is a once off trip and I can arrive up to ten days before the trip and could hang around maybe 5 days after.

One other thing, my tour doesn't include the Amazon and had thought I could take a trip from Lima but any I've seen cost a fortune so probably not going to happen but it you have any ideas feel free!

Thanks for reading!

Meathlass

No safety issues with single females apart from the usual common sense. In Rio stay in Ipanema over Cococabana which has gotten a little seedy in the last 10 years.

I spent about 2 days in Lima and covered the things you will probably be covering on your tour so I'm not sure what else you could do there unless you went straight to the airport and flew to Iquitos for a rainforest trip for the 5 days.

Again without knowing what your tour covers it's hard to recommend other areas in Brazil you could see in the 10 days you have before your trip.

Definitely learn as much of the language as you can. You can learn a lot of Spanish in a few months and it will make a huge difference to your enjoyment out there.

so many qs

Thanks for the info Meathlass. I'll check out Ipanema now. Relieved to hear that there's no 'out of the usual' safety issues. This is my tour http://www.gadventures.com/trips/southern-cross-westbound-rio-to-lima/SZRM/2013/itinerary/ Someone suggested flying to Buenos Aires before Rio so might look into that. Thanks!

phatkev

I'd go for Ipanema over Cococabana too, area just felt a bit safer to me especially when it came to night time. there is also some really cool hostels in Ipanema. The first time i was in Rio i got a lot of the sites and stuff in about 4 or five days.

I loved Lime and ended up staying there nearly a month but you could definitely see all the main places in a couple of days, your have a pretty hectic travel schedule too, so you might be glad to have a few days to just chill out.

If you have money and time I'd recommend travelling down to BA, but the place is massive with loads to do so ya might want a while there.

Have a great trip, I'd love to be heading back in that direction.

Meathlass

I had a look at the tour and you should definitiely fly into Buenos Aires and spend a few days there and then get a bus up to Rio and spend at least 2 full days there as your tour doesn't cover Rio at all. I think 3 days in Buenos Aires, 3 in Rio and one to travel between them.

At the end of your trip I would spend 1 day in Lima and use the other 3/4 days to check out Nasca Lines and Arequipa (2 days) and depending on your interest in archaeology head north to Sipan or some of the other sites. You might be better just chilling in Lima though as heading north will take time/energy.

so many qs

Thanks phatkev and Meathlass (again). I took your advice, will stay in Ipanema and going to BA first before tour. Looked at bus from BA to Rio but it takes 45 hrs! So I think I'll have to fly.

At the end of the trip I'm trying to figure out how long to spend in Lima. I'll be on the go for quite a while at that stage so not sure about undertaking any big trips. I've ruled out the Amazon as my tour covers the Pantanal and I'd have to fly to somewhere like Puerto Maldonado. Ideally I'd like to chill but the Nasca Lines do seem pretty cool. Can you take a day trip from Lima?

Meathlass

so many qs wrote: »

Ideally I'd like to chill but the Nasca Lines do seem pretty cool. Can you take a day trip from Lima?

I think it's about 6-8 hours one way to Nasca from Peru but not sure. I would definitely go see them. Nasca is a bit of a kip so you could get an overnight bus from Lima, arrive into Nasca early morning and get a taxi straight to the airport. Do the Nasca Lines (there shouldn't be a problem with availability though you may have to wait) Don't eat before you go as it's a small plane!

After your flight is over check out the local cemetary (can't remember names), lots of defleshed skeletons and mummies visible and pottery, one of my favourite places in Peru but a bit gross for some.

All of that should bring up up to about midday. So now you could hop on a bus back to Lima or hang around Nasca and see the astronomy lecture at the local hotel which is also excellent.

Sorry I'm a bit vague on details but your guidebook will have them all. Nasca itself has very little to do there.

so many qs

Thanks again Meathlass.
So I've booked my flight from BA to Rio and my accomodation in Rio, Ipanema as advised. I wonder could anyone tell me which area to stay in BA, looking for a nice hostel. I've heard of the Millhouse but review say it's a party place and that's not what I'm after.
Also looking for the same advice regarding Lima and Huacachina (that's where we've decided to go). Thanks to anyone who replies.

solerina

so many qs wrote: »

Thanks again Meathlass.
So I've booked my flight from BA to Rio and my accomodation in Rio, Ipanema as advised. I wonder could anyone tell me which area to stay in BA, looking for a nice hostel. I've heard of the Millhouse but review say it's a party place and that's not what I'm after.
Also looking for the same advice regarding Lima and Huacachina (that's where we've decided to go). Thanks to anyone who replies.

I would recommend that you stay in Miraflores in Lima..its a lovely area..we had 4 days in Lima and it was more than enough !!

gucci

so many qs wrote: »

Thanks again Meathlass.
So I've booked my flight from BA to Rio and my accomodation in Rio, Ipanema as advised. I wonder could anyone tell me which area to stay in BA, looking for a nice hostel. I've heard of the Millhouse but review say it's a party place and that's not what I'm after.
Also looking for the same advice regarding Lima and Huacachina (that's where we've decided to go). Thanks to anyone who replies.

check out arthostel in san telmo area of Buenos Aires,its probably only about 15mins walk from millhouse. its in really cool area of town& the staff&breakfast was good!
they have roof top bar also&show movies projected onto external walls on selected nights

so many qs

Thanks Solerina and Gucci, I have my BA accomodation booked in San Telmo now. I'll look into Mirafloras now. Thanks!

livers

hey, I did a 4 week tour of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, BA and Rio back in nov. We stayed in an apartment on Copa and had no issues at all... but would reccommend staying in a hostel as we didnt have a clue of where to go out to at night. there were a few around copa and all seemed ok as we went there to book tours...
Not sure what you are doing in Rio - but we did the sugar loaf and christ the redeemer ourselves - there were 5 of us so made it cheaper - but a taxi picked us up - brought us up to christ de redeemer - gave us an hour and half up there then brought us back to sugarloaf, left us there for hour and half and then dropped us home - that way we didnt have to visit other things that werent of interest to us.
Also did a favela tour through bealocal agency - booked in a hostel - really good tour guide...
we also spent a few days in BA, lovely city but didnt have much to do - we went down to La Boca for a day and also the other end of 'the main st' churches, cafes, dancing, bands playing really great atmosphere... Stayed in the Milhouse - (perfer the wildrovers for atmosphere) but it was nice - there is a party there every second night as they take it in turns with the other milhouse... but the building is so tall you dont hear the noise in your room - well we didnt anyway.
We got a bus from BA to iguazu 18 hours about 100 euro and it was the easiest bit of travelling we did in the 4 weeks! we then got a flight from brazilian side of the falls up to Rio - think that was about 70 euro...

so many qs

Thanks livers. Home now.stayed in Ipanema in Rio. In BA I stayed in America del Sur hostel San Telmo, which was perfect. Had a great time. Thanks for your help!