If you fancy winning a free 30 day trip to Brazil, check out the new Brazilian Tourist Board’s Embratur promotion “The King of Rolê”. Enter and you might win. More details CLICK HERE
Or watch the video:
If you fancy winning a free 30 day trip to Brazil, check out the new Brazilian Tourist Board’s Embratur promotion “The King of Rolê”. Enter and you might win. More details CLICK HERE
Or watch the video:
Brazil has announced the 12 films from which one will be chosen to be submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles as Brazil’s Oscar entry in the new category of best international feature film (previously Foreign Language). The list includes two documentaries (“Humberto Mauro” e “Espero tua (re)volta”) and two films that premiered in Cannes in May 2019
The 12 films are:
“Bacurau”, by Kleber Mendonça Filho
“Los silencios”, by Beatriz Seigner
“A vida invisível”, by Karim Aïnouz
“Sócrates”, by Alex Moratto
“A última abolição”, by Alice Gomes
“A voz do silêncio”, by André Ristum
“Bio”, by Carlos Gerbase
“Legalidade”, by Zeca Brito
“Humberto Mauro”, by André Di Mauro
“Espero tua (re)volta”. by Eliza Capai
“Chorar de Rir”, by Toniko Melo
“Simonal”, by Leonardo Domingues
The jury to choose the film to go forward is made up of directors Anna Muylaert, David Shürmann and Zelito Viana; producers Sara Silveira and Vania Catani; diretor of photography, Walter Carvalho; screenwriter Mikael de Albuquerque; critic, curator and founder of the festival É Tudo Verdade, Amir Labaki; and the director of Festival do Rio, Rio’s international film festival, Ilda Santiago.
Folha de São Paulo, one of Brazil’s top newspapers, has published its annual magazine “O Melhor de São Paulo”, that selects the best restaurants, bars and specialty eateries in the city of São Paulo, the gastronomic capital of Brazil.
Folha had a specialist jury choose their favourites for 2019 and also polled its readers. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the size of São Paulo, the readers’ choice often includes establishments that have more than one branch in São Paulo.
So while it is difficult to eat badly in São Paulo, some of the restaurants you might look out for during a visit are.
Top restaurants in São Paulo according to the jury:
Best Restaurant: Maní
New: Charco
Family: Capim Santo
Arab: Sainte Marie
Asian: Komah
Brazilian: Balaio IMS
French: Ici Bistro
Italian: Evvai
Japanese: Aizome
Latin American: Barú Marisquería
Pizzeria: Carlos Pizza
Portuguese: Tasca da Esquina
Steak House: A Casa do Porco
Vegetarian: Quincho
Top restaurants in São Paulo according to the readers polled by Datafolha
Best Restaurants:
Family: Coco Bambu
Arab: Almanara
Brazilian: Mocotó
Hamburger: Madero
Italian: Familia Mancini
Japanese: Aoyama
Mineira: Consulado Mineiro
Pizzeria:
Portuguese:
Steak House: Fogo de Chão
Brazil beat Peru 3-1 in Rio de Janiero’s Maracanã Stadium on Sunday 7 July to win its 9th Copa America. The victory also maintained Brazil’s record of winning the Copa America every time they have hosted it. Five times in total.
Brazil dominated the tournament, but it was the team’s first tournament win since picking up the Olympic gold medal in the Maracanã in 2106, and previously winning the Confederations Cup, also in the Maracanã, in 2013. It is a first Copa America title in 12 years.
Five Brazilian restaurants have been ranked in the world’s Top 100 for 2019. Highest ranked is Casa do Porco in São Paulo at number 39. Also in São Paulo are D.O.M. at 54 and Mani at 73.
Rio de Janeiro has two restaurants in the top 100. Lasai at number 74 and Oteque at 100.
For a full list of the World’s Top Restaurants visit The World’s Best
Following in the jet stream o Norwegian, it is now the turn of Virgin Atlantic to announce direct flights between the UK and Brazil. In this case a daily service as of 2020 from London Heathrow to São Paulo using the Boeing 787-9, Dreamliner, with an Upper Class, Premium and Economy Delight, Classic and Light offering.
This will be Virgin’s first South American route and it will join British Airways and LATAM Airlines in flying the London-São Paulo route direct, making Heathrow a very competitive hub to travel to-and-from Brazil and the rest of the south of South America.
Norwegian is scheduled to start flying direct to-and-from Rio de Janeiro and London Gatwick as of 31 March 2019. Norwegian will also use the Dreamliner. Briitish Airways also offers a daily direct service from London Heathrow to Rio de Janeiro.
Estação Primeira de Mangueira is the champion of Rio’s top samba schools for the 20th time in its illustrious history after scoring a perfect total of 270 in 2019. Second, with 269.7 points, was Viraduro who have only just returned to the elite competition.
The results of Rio’s Carnival Parade in 2019 were:











Photos courtesy of RioTur – the city of Rio Tourist Authority.
Baia do Sancho, a beach on the small island of Fernando de Noronha, off the northeast coast of Brazil, has again been named the world’s best beach in the Trip Advisor Travellers’ Choice awards. It is the third time the beach has been chosen as the world’s best.
Fernando de Noronha can be reached by daily flights from Natal or Recife.
A second Brazilian beach, Prainhas do Pontal do Atalaia, close to Arraial do Cabo in the state of Rio de Janeiro, was voted 12th best.
In 2019 the main parades of the Grupo Especial, comprising of Rio’s leading samba svhools, will take place on the nights of Sunday, 3 March and Monday, 4 March. The 14 schools parading, their samba and when they are scheduled to start, are:
Sunday, 3 March 2019
Monday, 4 March 2019
Normally six schools parade on Sunday night and six on Monday , but as no schools were relegated in 2017 and 2018 seven schools will parade each night in 2019.
The more information about carnival and the parade visit the site’s respective pages.

Brazil has won the Copa America Femenina and in the process has qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France in 2019 (for the 8th consecutive time) and the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Tokyo in 2020. Brazil played seven games in the Copa America , won seven, scoring 31 goals and conceding just two.
Chile has taken the second spot for the World Cup, but will have a play off with an African nation for a spot at the Tokyo Olympics.