Travel Like a Local: Where to Go in Brazil and When to Visit

Rio’s beaches, the Amazon rainforest and the Rio Carnival have long been considered must-sees when traveling to Brazil, but they only tell part of the Brazilian story. If you take a look at where people based in Brazil are actually travelling, a much bigger map starts to form, stretching from the country’s major cities to the Andes and the Caribbean.

Using anonymised local banking customer data and airport lounge usage, we have looked at the destinations and locations Brazil-based travellers are choosing throughout the year. What we saw is a network of journeys that start in São Paulo, which accounts for around a quarter of all lounge usage recorded, before moving through cities like Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and Belo Horizonte, and beyond Brazil’s borders to Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Santiago.

Those journeys also tell us something about when people choose to travel. During the Southern Hemisphere winter, the pull is noticeably south, with Santiago seeing the strongest increase in lounge usage between June and July. By December, that movement changes direction, with Colombia and the Caribbean becoming a bigger part of the picture.

Following those patterns won't give you the typical Brazil itinerary, and that's partly the point. Travelling like a local can mean looking beyond the destinations you're expected to visit and taking cues from the people who know the region best on where to go, when to go and what adventure you can expect next.

With around 25.2% of all lounge usage recorded, São Paulo is the clearest starting point in the data. And with one of South America’s largest aviation hubs on its doorstep, beginning here leaves plenty of room to decide where the journey goes next.

The strongest travel patterns spread across Brazil:

• Buenos Aires — 10.1% of total lounge usage, making the Argentine capital the strongest city after São Paulo.

• Rio de Janeiro — 9.6%, connecting the journey with Brazil’s Atlantic coastline, city beaches and forested peaks.

• Belo Horizonte — 4.6%, taking the route inland towards Minas Gerais.

• Brasília — 4.2%, putting Brazil’s modernist capital firmly on the map.

• Bogotá — 4.2%, carrying the journey north into the Colombian Andes.

What makes São Paulo interesting as a starting point is the range those routes open up. The data doesn't point towards one prescribed way of seeing Brazil; some of the best places to visit in Brazil sit alongside destinations across Argentina and Colombia, giving travellers the option to move between Brazil's coast, its inland cities and neighbouring countries within the same wider journey.

That also makes São Paulo worth thinking about as more than an airport connection. Starting there gives you access to the city itself before following routes already well travelled by people based in Brazil, which can have you heading to Rio and the Atlantic coast, moving inland towards Belo Horizonte or Brasília, or taking the trip beyond Brazil to Buenos Aires or Bogotá.

There isn’t one best time to visit Brazil. The size of the country means the experience can vary considerably depending on where you’re going, but the travel patterns give us another way to look at how the destinations chosen by people based in Brazil change as the year moves on.

Brazil in winter: follow the route south

Between June and July 2025, that shift is particularly clear. Lounge usage linked with Santiago increased by 61.7%, the strongest rise among the cities examined, as the Southern Hemisphere moved into winter.

The movement wasn't limited to Chile:

• Buenos Aires — up 22.4%

• Rio de Janeiro — up 18.8%

• Belo Horizonte — up 12.8%

• São Paulo — up 8.6%

June and July bring cooler temperatures across much of southern South America, changing what a trip through the region can look like. In Santiago, winter brings the ski season to the mountains surrounding the city, while Buenos Aires lends itself to a different kind of break, built around its neighbourhoods, restaurants and café culture.

For people considering travelling to Brazil in July, the data offers an interesting way to think beyond a single destination. A trip can begin in São Paulo or Rio before following the same southward movement towards Buenos Aires and Santiago, swapping Brazil’s coastline for cooler cities and, eventually, the snow-covered Andes.

Brazil in December: follow the festive route north

By December, the direction of travel changes. Instead of the southward pull seen during winter, the year-end data points towards a broader mix of Brazilian cities and destinations further north, with Curitiba recording the sharpest increase in lounge usage at 72.3% between November and December 2025.

The festive shift can be seen across several destinations:

• Punta Cana — up approximately 49%, taking the route to the Caribbean coast.

• Brasília — up 33.2%, bringing Brazil’s capital back into the picture.

• Bogotá — up 27.8%, extending the journey north into Colombia.

• Buenos Aires — up 24%, keeping Argentina firmly on the year-end travel map.

• Rio de Janeiro — up 21.2%, as Brazil’s Atlantic coast moves into its summer season.

If you’re considering visiting Brazil in December, these patterns show how travel choices broaden towards the end of the year. Rio and Brasília remain part of the picture, while increased travel to Bogotá and Punta Cana points further north. For travellers planning a longer trip, that creates opportunities to pair time in Brazil with destinations elsewhere in South America or the Caribbean.

There’s a reason São Paulo keeps appearing at the centre of these journeys. It is where much of the movement in the data begins, but what happens next changes with the time of year. Winter draws travellers south towards Buenos Aires and Santiago; by December, Bogotá, Punta Cana and other destinations further north become more prominent.

Taken together, the routes make a case for being a little less rigid when planning a Brazil itinerary. Start with Brazil but leave room for the journey to stretch beyond it. A few days in São Paulo could lead to Rio or further inland, while a longer South American trip might take its cue from the season and continue towards Argentina, Chile or Colombia.

That is perhaps the more interesting way to travel, like a local.

Wherever your journey takes you, make the airport part of it easier with access to one of our Brazilian airport lounges. If Brazil is just a part of your plans, you can also read up on how to travel like a local in China to see what’s available along your route.