Essentials to Pack for Brazil: The Minimalist’s Checklist for Smoother Travel

We’ve been taking long trips around Brazil for years, and boy, the dumb things we’ve seen our fellow gringos carrying. I suppose it’s hard to know what to pack for Brazil, but heavy clothes, wheeled oversize plastic suitcases, fancy watches — these are all asking for trouble in various ways.

The ideal packing checklist for Brazil is all about travelling light with a few quality, multipurpose items. The best experiences with Brazilians come out of being able to improvise and this is much easier to do if you’re not weighed down and always worrying about your stuff.

There are certain things that you definitely want to pack before heading out — things that will be more expensive or harder to find once you are in Brazil. Brazilian taxes and tariffs for many consumer products are high, so electronics and certain types of quality clothing and gear can be much more expensive if you need to buy them once you’re in the country.

We’ve narrowed our Brazil packing down over the years to just this essential checklist. We hope it will serve you well, whether you’re hitting a beach in Rio de Janeiro, enjoying the magnificence of Iguaçu Falls or the Amazon, or partying in big cities or small towns across this enormous, lovely country.

The Best Backpack for Brazil Is a Rolling Backpack

A comfortable, well-made backpack can be a bit expensive but is well worth it, especially if you are planning on moving around Brazil or the rest of South America a lot.

We also think it’s incredibly important to have both comfortable backpack straps and wheels. Given a choice, you will almost always roll your bag — we roll ours at least 50% of the time in Brazil. But Brazilian streets and sidewalks can be crummy, and so a traditional rolling suitcase is out of the question for much of our moving about in the country. (I made that mistake on my first visit to Brazil and quickly busted the wheels on a sidewalk in Vila Madalena, São Paulo.)

If you can pack like a true minimalist, the best rolling backpack (the one that we personally use when roaming Brazil and elsewhere) is the Osprey Farpoint Wheeled Travel Pack (marketed to men) and Osprey Fairview Wheeled Travel Pack (marketed to women). They come in carry-on (36L) and checked luggage sizes (65L). See also our full coverage of this and competing rolling carry-on backpacks.

Osprey packs are generally of impeccable quality in terms of durability of their construction. And Farpoint/Fairview Wheels are outfitted with every feature we find essential for Brazil. In particular:

• There is a compatible add-on, the clip-on Osprey Farpoint Fairview Travel Daypack, which works as an under-seat bag/personal item and holds essentials and a laptop, so that you can keep a few things (and valuables) with you when checking the main part of your bag on long-haul buses at the rodoviaria (bus station). This daypack is also great for short nature walks or heading to the beach. It has thoughtful organizational pockets and a padded laptop sleeve (also works as a hydration sleeve), as well as two exterior water-bottle-sized pockets that are also good for small wet items from the beach, an umbrella, or a sandwich or piece of lovely tropical fruit (try the pitaya!). The daypack has an adjustable sternum strap, making it comfortable to carry for long periods, such as on hikes to see waterfalls. (If you’re looking for only a daypack instead of an attachable daypack plus carry-on, compare the various independent Osprey daypacks here.)

• The sturdy wheel housing and frame allows you to roll the pack over some rather rough terrain, making it possible to roll even on potholed Brazilian roads or gravel paths. This means I end up using the backpack straps less, and saving my energy for samba and forró dancing at night.

• When I do find myself needing to carry my gear for a stretch (across the sand or sidewalks with lots of steps), I unzip the back flap and slide out the padded backpack straps.

If you don’t want wheels or if you’re heading off for treks in the wonderful wilds of Brazil, I know nothing about that… but my colleague does, and has put together a great guide to the best trekking pack options.

The Best Hanging Toiletry Bags for Brazil

In our experiences, Brazilian bathrooms don’t have much countertop space, if any at all, and so there’s not likely to be much space to set down your soaps, deodorants, shampoos, makeup, whatever. The same is doubly true for Brazilian hostels.

This is why we strongly recommend a toiletry kit/dopp bag with a hook for trips to Brazil.

We’ve run an in-depth analysis of the best toiletry bags, and the top recommendations apply for Brazil as well:

• Large toiletry bag: Go for the Eagle Creek Pack-It Wallaby Toiletry Organizer. It stands up to abuse, doesn’t leak, and has served me quite well on my most recent trip to Brazil, in which some bottles leaked but the mess was contained in this bag’s sturdy transparent compartment.

• Small toiletry bag: Our top smaller option is the Osprey UltraLight Zip Organizer. This has also held up great but is only for those with very limited cosmetics needs. In Brazil, you’re likely carrying sunscreen and mosquito repellant in addition to everything else, so you may want the larger option. Another way to do it is to combine this UltraLight Zip Organizer with the Osprey Ultralight Padded Organizer for larger bottles.

Heroclip: Hang Your Stuff Anywhere as You Roam

When traveling in Brazil it’s useful to be able to hang any other luggage or daypack anywhere (just as with the toiletry bags described above).

A wonderful multipurpose travel tool for this is the Heroclip, which is a bit like a climber’s carabiner but with a hook that can rotate outwards and, with its rubber tip, stay put on any surface.

This allows you to more easily keep a daypack, sling, or purse hung in your line of sight when you’re in a crowded boteco (neighborhood tavern), restaurant, or at the beach. Hang your towel when you’re washing the sand off of your feet. And hang your pack when you’re in a crowded hostel to keep it off of the floor or out of the way of others.

I mainly use the Gear Aid Heroclip Small as it is the most versatile—it’s rated to hold up to 50 lbs. / 22 kg., so it’s fine for your main pack. You may also want a Gear Aid Heroclip Mini for a smaller bag (up to 40 lbs. / 18 kg.). You can check out our full review of the Gear Aid Heroclip for more.

Taking a Laptop to Brazil? Consider a Cheap Chromebook — and Definitely Online Backups

While everything you’ve heard about crime in Brazil is a bit exaggerated, there is still some small risk that your laptop could get stolen, or just break down. That’s bad enough — do you want to lose all your data too?

Chromebooks are great since they’re relatively cheap and automatically keep all of your data in the cloud (though you can also work offline on Google Docs and much more). If I lose my Chromebook (or am just away from it) I can login from any other computer and continue right where I left off. Chromebooks can now run Skype, Microsoft Office (both free and paid cloud versions) and pretty much everything else a basic user wants. They also run many Android tablet apps.

If you’re sticking with a Windows or Apple laptop for your Brazil trip, definitely make sure you have a quality, secure backup program for your data. Ensure daily complete backups so that you’ll be well-protected in case of an assalto (robbery) or caipirinha dropped on the keyboard. Another option is to consistently save all files in a Google Drive or DropBox folder, which is also useful for the suggestion below.

An Online Copy of Your Important Documents: Dropbox or Google Docs

Should your most important documents get lost or stolen, it’s great to have a backup copy in the cloud. You might also consider sharing this in an online folder with a loved one back home. Any cloud service such as DropBox, Google Drive, Amazon Drive allows this. They even have phone apps, so you can grab the documents and show them on your phone’s screen if needed.

Here’s what to include:

• A photocopy of your passport (and Brazilian visa if required)
• Health insurance
• Travel insurance info
• Emergency contacts
• Itinerary (as much as you know, anyway)

These services are all also much better ways to store photos of your trip rather than keeping them on a storage card that could get lost or stolen.

Get a Brazilian SIM Card for Your Unlocked Phone — Or Google Fi Before You Go

Phones are now indispensible for Brazilian travel, whether because you want to call up search results for a decent restaurant on the spot, call an Uber so as not to deal with taxi scams in Rio de Janeiro, or just communicate with your new Bahian friends on WhatsApp.

But you will pay hefty roaming fees on most home data plans if you take your phone and use it in Brazil. That’s why most travellers buy an unlocked international phone (or unlock an existing phone) and then buy a local Brazilian SIM card on arrival.

What the traditional review sites for SIM cards don’t tell you is that it’s rather tricky for foreigners to get a SIM card in Brazil. The main issue is that Brazilian shops don’t know how or refuse to activate pre-paid SIM cards if you don’t have a CPF (Cadastro de Pessoa Física, or Brazilian federal taxpayer number).

There are workarounds, especially if you have patience and speak Portuguese really well. Officially, and occasionally also in practice, some official TIM, Claro, Oi, or Vivo stores sell SIM cards to foreigners without a CPF by just registering the passport — but on my last attempt to help a friend do this all of these failed. We agree with this advice that Claro is often the best bet. I recommend going to the nearest large shopping mall on arrival armed with your passport and a lot of time and try different stores until one will sell a SIM card to you without a CPF number.

With a lot more patience, you can also wait in some lines and attempt to get a CPF number as a foreigner. And the very best solution is to use a Brazilian friend’s CPF number. Assure the friend that you are just registering for the pre-paid plan so they will never have debt collectors after them because of their gringo buddy’s phone plan.

All of this annoying business can be avoided by using Google Fi. This is what I do; my referral link there also ought to offer you $20 credit if you use it. Fi is unfortunately only available for those with a USA credit card and billing address — but for us it’s by far the best phone plan for travelling internationally anywhere. The same affordable service and quality internet connection is available basically anywhere in the world, and works as soon as you land with no hassle buying local chips. I’ve been using it for my phone service and tethered internet connection when working with no issues for a number of recent several-month stays in Brazil.

Brazilian Portuguese Checkup

Some Brazilians who have watched a lot of television and/or lived in the States or Ireland speak English very well, but the vast majority speak little or no English.

So it’s wise to get at least some basics of Portuguese before you go, and improve your skills even if you’re already very advanced.

The best book for learning the spoken (not written!) version of Brazilian Portuguese is Grammar of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese by Earl Thomas — but it’s more of an academic text and better for intermediate to advanced learners.

The best learning book for beginners is Complete Brazilian Portuguese (make sure you get the version with audio accompanying), which successfully puts you in situations that you will likely face in your first weeks in the country, and sets you up with the vocabulary and grammar to deal with them.

And at a minimum, no matter what you do and how much or how little you want to learn, take at least a few individual classes with a Brazilian (not Portuguese) teacher from Italki. I do this myself to brush up on my Portuguese before each trip and can’t recommend it enough. It’s best to sign up for classes with a teacher who is from the region that you will be visiting, so that you can be prepared for the local accent.

A Good Guidebook to Brazil

We’re long past the point where a guidebook is essential; we have Google Maps Apps to get around, TripAdvisor for tips and reviews, Booking.com for hotels and hostels, Wikipedia for Brazilian history, etc.

But there’s still something to be said for the comfort, organization, and professionalism of guidebooks like Lonely Planet’s Brazil. You can get the paper or Kindle version — or get it free through Kindle Unlimited.

For Reading (Including in Portuguese!): A Kindle

There’s nothing like backpacking around Brazil to make you glad you gave up on heavy paper books.  With one small tablet or e-reader you can read just about anything from back home, as well as your guidebook and books in Portuguese, should you have reading in the language as a goal. E-readers vastly improve the experience of reading Portuguese as a second language as you can look up words on the fly and even get Google translation of tricky passages. I have done a complete guide to using Kindles to read in foreign languages, look up words, and create flashcards that you can even export to a flashcard app.

For Brazil, you’ll likely want a waterproof Kindle like the one below for use on the beach, in bright sunlight, and with adjustable lighting for dark hostels, buses, etc.

All modern Kindles also now have a built-in audible feature for listening to your books via a Bluetooth connection to headphones.

A Kindle Unlimited subscription gives access to a million books, plus audiobooks and magazines. Note that you can also forgo a Kindle and use the free Kindle Cloud Reader to read Kindle books on your laptop, which is less comfy but works.

Deal with Any Kind of Brazilian Plug with a Power Adapter

The photos above were all taken in not just the same part of Brazil, but in the very same apartment! Brazil has lots of varying electrical sockets. With the crazy array of different outlets and plugs — sometimes within the same city and even in the same building, it’s hard to know what to pack in terms of plug adapters.

But you can be ready for any of them with a good universal adapter; in my opinion the best out there right now is the Epicka Universal Travel Adapter. It can handle all of the above outlets in Brazil and more all over the world. See more about why I preferred this over the many others I’ve tried in our review of USB-C plug adapters.

This is not a voltage converter, but nearly all laptops, phones, and even modern hair dryers and such accept any voltage that you will find in Brazil. Usually Brazilian voltages are either 120 or 220V, and most modern devices are labeled for taking 100-240V (you can check this on your plug). If you have an exceptional device that requires a certain voltage, you’ll have to always ask before plugging in as voltages do vary within the country from city to city and even building to building.

For most people, however, this one plug adapter is all they need to power and charge their devices in Brazil.

Foldable Hair Dryer

While you can also buy or will be provided with a hair dryer in most places in Brazil, some like the reassurance of carrying a small, foldable travel hair dryer like this one that can run from 125 to 250 volts.

Extra-Large Microfiber Quick-Drying Travel Towel

Some Brazilian hostels provide towels, some don’t. And even any hotel or hostel that does provide towels isn’t going to let you to take them to the beach. That’s where an extra-large, quick-drying travel towel comes in handy. Our favorite is Eagle Creek’s XL Microfiber Travel Towel.

Cosmetics

Your favorite brands are likely available, especially in big-city Brazilian shopping malls, though they’ll cost more than back home. If you’re choosey about brands, stock up before you go.

Passport Holder and/or Money Belt

Your passport is the most valuable thing you will carry, so a good passport holder is worth investing in to help keep your passport as well as spare currency, credit cards, etc. organized and protected from the elements. We don’t recommend bothering with “RFID-blocking”; such stealing of information almost never happens in the real world, and is particularly unlikely in Brazil. Simply get something that will fit your passport and whatever you need to carry with it.

It’s easy to buy money belts and fanny packs on the street in Brazilian cities but they tend to be of poor quality. If you want one that will last consider buying a nicer money belt before you go and that you can wear under clothing.

On a related note, velcro is a great way to deter pickpockets, and so I usually have velcro sewn into my back pants pockets whenever I’m in Brazil, as I go out samba and forró dancing a lot and this is an easy way to protect valuables. A clothing repair shop will often charge about 10 reais (~USD $3) for the service and do a great job.

Travel Socks

You’ll probably wear a lot of sandals and flip-flops in Brazil, but it’s nice to have a few pairs of socks in your bag for those other occasions, or for chillier nights in the south of Brazil.

Good merino wool travel socks dry quickly if you have to resort to washing them by hand in the sink (laundromats can be very expensive in Brazil). And even if you do happen to wear them through a few sweaty samba evenings without washing, they still don’t stink because the material inhibits bacteria. We wear and quite like the Darn Tough socks for women and men. See even more options at the Darn Tough site.

Update: After several years of serious round-the-world travel use, my Darn Tough socks have held up great (better than any others I own). They’re possibly my favorite article of clothing; I go Brazilian dancing a lot and need to keep my feet happy.

Flip Flops/Sandals

Havaianas are famous and wonderful, and you don’t have to wait until you get to Brazil to snag a pair online from Havaianas directly — in fact the website selection is better than what you’ll find in most Havaianas stores in Brazil. And Amazon or Zappos have them too of course.

But if you really enjoy flip-flop shopping then you can wait and find your nearest shop to snag some in Brazil. There are also other famous Brazilian-made shoes though I’ve had issues with the quality in general; for really good shoes I wouldn’t buy Brazilian.

Portable Extra USB Battery

Brazilian long-haul buses, metro stations, airports, restaurants, and more often offer ways to charge your devices through long days on the road — but definitely not always. We cannot stress enough how much it pays to carry an extra battery that matches your device.

For modern USB-C devices, we found in our travel battery review that the best large-capacity option right now is the Anker 25K 165W USB-C Power Bank. It can top up a smartphone many times over; I have also used it to recharge my Chromebook on an overnight bus trip from São Paulo to Rio.

Update after several years: My Anker battery has lasted me through several years of constant travel and who-knows-how-many charge cycles; it’s still running great.

Condoms Are Important in Brazil, as Everywhere

Brazil has a hefty chunk of the world’s AIDS-affected population, plenty of other STIs, plus more unique problems like the zika virus (which can be sexually transmitted, and is on the decline but still hanging on).

So use and insist on condoms. There are some dangerously lax attitudes in Brazil about condom use, including in particular from Brazilian men.

A variety of brands are available in Brazil from any pharmacy, though based on personal experience (and I haven’t found reliable statistics on Brazilian condom quality) we tend to trust and prefer condom brands from back home. Take plenty of your favorites, but then stop worrying and go have fun.

Lube

Consider carrying lube along with your condoms. We have a full review of travel lubes written with a female expert on this subject; she considers the lubes available in typical Brazilian pharmacies to be not up to par and recommends the options below for vaginal health. These were also selected for their extremely travel-friendly containers.

If you want a lube that’s so small it can be carried in a wallet or pocket, our top packet choice is the Sliquid 5mL sampler packs of water-based lubes. Other brands have sample packs of lube as well.

Needle and Thread or Sewing Kit

As mentioned earlier, Brazilian seamstresses are located all over and can fix clothing for cheap rates. But I still carry a tiny sewing kit in Brazil to be ready for emergencies. The scissors are tiny enough to be acceptable in a carry-on — we’ve never had a problem with them being confiscated from a carry-on in years of travel.

Travel Water Bottle

Don’t drink tap water while traveling in Brazil; it is one biggest thing you can do to stay healthy. Or, at least, do your best to avoid it. Most gringos eventually end up with intestinal struggles at some point. (If they last for a day or two, pharmacies sell antibiotics. For more serious cases, see a doctor.)

It is also important to not use tap water in the form of ice, for washing fruit, for brushing your teeth, or in any other way get it into your mouth.

Brazilians’ digestive tracts are (somewhat) used to their water and they will tell you that the filtered water that they have at home is fine for you to drink. It’s not true; as a foreigner visiting, you’re likely to suffer much more than they do.

The same goes for water served to you in cafés, hotels, and rented apartments. It will likely be filtered, but that is not enough.

This is why when visiting Brazilians’ homes or out and about, it’s always wise to carry water. You can buy bottles in any store (the fact of being bottled kills the germs) or you can boil filtered water for 3-5 minutes, which kills everything, then let it cool and put it in a water bottle.

A convenient travel solution for this is to have a collapsible silicone water bottle.

If you have a water bottle, you also need a good water bottle cleaning brush for scrubbing the insides every so often, as dangerous bacteria can build up.

Sunscreen

Yes, you can buy sunscreen anywhere in Brazil, but be prepared if you want to hit the beach directly. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends a sunscreen be:

• At least 30 SPF
• Water resistant for at least 40 minutes
• Broad spectrum (blocking both UVA and UVB)

Neutrogena Ultimate Sport Face basically doubles these minimums and comes in easy-to-pack size (whether for the beach or, yes, in a carry-on). The AAD recommends 1 ounce sunscreen to cover an average body per application, so we’d recommend throwing a few bottles in your pack or else stocking up in a pharmacy once you’re in Brazil.

Medication and Vaccinations for Brazil

Recommendations vary according to the regions you will be visiting; malaria is not common in the southern states of Brazil, for example. It’s best to check directly with the CDC’s latest Brazil recommendations.

Medical Travel Insurance

It’s unlikely that your health insurance policy in your home country will be of much use when you’re in Brazil.

While I haven’t needed care myself, I’ve accompanied friends to hospitals in São Paulo twice. The public hospital I accompanied the first friend to was a rather chaotic and terrifying place—I cannot stress enough how much you don’t want to try to depend on the Brazilian public health system.

My second friend, a traveler with travel medical insurance, went to a private hospital that was much more pleasant and offered relatively good care. She didn’t speak Portuguese but this was not an issue. She received a big bill for the treatment of her broken ankle and the scans and cast—she was very fortunate to be the sort of person who prepares with travel medical insurance.

This experience brings home to me why you don’t want to be forced to pay for medical care out of pocket in Brazil. If you think you’re unlikely to get sick it’s fine to save some money by buying a policy with a higher deductible, and pay for any small visits out-of-pocket. But if, like my friend, you slip on a wet sidewalk in a São Paulo downpour, you want to be covered for the serious stuff.

The travel medical insurance I used for my most recent trip to Brazil and will continue to use in the future is SafetyWing (full review here), because it is quite cheap and works like a subscription for my long, open-ended wanderings. The price varies according to your age, but is extremely reasonable compared to most of what’s out there. There is a $250 deductible. It covers health situations, which is essential, as well as a few other things that are nice to have for travelers, like trip interruption and cancellation and lost checked baggage.

Brazil has plenty of weird bugs and germs, poor drivers, wild dancing, slippery sidewalks, and other hazards. It is so, so important to have medical insurance that covers you during your entire stay in the country.

Passport and Visa

Obviously. Check the webpage of the Brazilian embassy or consulate for your country for the latest details on visas. Note that fines have recently increased a lot for overstaying your stay, and we strongly recommend following the rules.

People with USA passports can breathe easier as the rules recently changed and visas are no longer needed for short tourist stays.

Things Gringos SHOULD NOT Pack for Brazil

When we read others’ packing advice for Brazil and especially when we see what some gringos bring, we’re generally shocked by the silliness.

Here’s what we think you shouldn’t bring to Brazil:

• Swimsuit; instead buy one in Brazil, as it’s way more fun to wear the skimpy suits — for both men and women — that the locals favor! And if you’re overweight or whatever, please please please try not to worry. Brazilian men and women don’t mind showing lots of skin whatever their body type. If there were ever a place to let go of your body hang-ups, it’s here. Europeans, do note that in spite of the skimpy suits, women do not go topless in Brazil and to do so on a beach would cause you issues with local norms, unwanted attention, and is legally prohibited.
• Travellers’ checks or hard reais — no need to get Brazilian currency ahead of time, just make sure your bank is informed of your travels and will not block your card. Some Brazilian ATMs do charge a hefty tack on fee, especially at airports, but you can pay for almost everything including taxis or Uber with your credit card, which also tends to have a better exchange rate. When you need to withdraw cash, Bradesco bank branches tend to be the most accepting of foreign cards, in my experience. Travellers’ checks have been obsolete for decades and are definitely not worth the trouble. It is wise to always travel with about USD $100 tucked away somewhere separately from your wallet, which is an easy currency to exchange anywhere in the world in an emergency.
• Heavy Portuguese-English dictionaries and phrasebooks; instead, put WordReference, Reverso, and Google Translate on your phone.

Enjoy your travels, and let us know if you think we’ve skipped anything in the comments!