Reais

The Brazilian money is call real (singular) or reais (plurial). Before you leave, make sure to find a good exchange rate. I've called five different currency exchange offices, and for 300$CND some places were offering me only 525 reias, and the best place 600 reais. This last place is called Globex 2000, and has several offices in Montreal. They don't charge fees nor commissions, that's why they offer the best rate.

Our full itinerary

Everything is officially booked ! Here is a map with our 4 destinations :

A : Copacabana (Botafogo)
B : Paraty
C : Ilha Grande
D : Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa

For our last two days, we will be staying at the Books Hostel, in Santa Teresa. I absolutely want to go to the Escadaria Selaron, which are beautiful stairs made in blue, yellow and green tiles. Only 10 minutes walk from our hostel :)

Paraty

After Copacabana, we will be visiting the historical village of Paraty. Che Lagarto is where we'll stay for three nights :)

Ilha Grande

Our next stop (after Paraty) will be on the biggest island of Rio : Ilha Grande, part of the municipality of Angra dos Reis. We will be staying at the Biergarten Hostel for two nights, and doing some trekking, kayaking, etc. The Hostel is located in the largest village of the island, Vila do Abraao, with only 1 900 inhabitants.

Finding a place to stay in Copacabana

Finding a place to stay, on New Year's Eve, is VERY complicated, especially if you're traveling on a small to medium budget. This is why you should not be last minute like us, and start looking more than a month before !

I recommand Airbnb, which is an Internet plateform that allows people from around the globe to rent their place. It is less expensive than a hotel, and you feel like a local, in my case, a Carioca ! Make sure to check the host information :)

If you don't want to spend a penny, I recommand CouchSurfing, which is a web service that allows you to sleep on someone's couch for a night or two, for free ! CouchSurfing is a very tight community of people who wants to help each other to travel all around the world for nothing, and to discover the city from a local perspective. And ever if you don't feel like spending the night on the couch of a perfect stranger, there's a lot of activities and meet-up that you can do with the natives, once you get there. For example, I receive invitations from Cariocas to spend some times with them, go to the beach, take a coffee, and go surfing.

After looking for hotels, hostels, bed & breakfast, etc., we booked a nice designer appartment for the first 5 nights in Botafogo (30 minutes walk to Copacabana's beach), in a very secure district. The host seems very generous, he is answering my hundred of questions in less than an hour. He even created a guidebook so guests could know where to go, what to eat and what to see in the neighborhood. He is my source of inspiration for the name of my blog : The Carioca Life ! Take a look :

From : https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/241981

During our 6 days stay in Copacabana, beside the big NYE party on the beach, we will be going to the Christ Redeemer (Cristo Redentor), which is 99 ft tall statue, on top of Corcovado Mountain. 

We'll also go to the Sugarloaf Moutain (Pao de Açucar).

Getting the Visa

Most countries, including Canada, need a tourist Visa to go to Brazil. It is a bit complicated, and you cannot be last minute : it takes 10 working days.

For those of you in Montreal, choose the French site, because the English version for the Tourist Visa is for Vancouver and has too much requirements that are not needed in Montreal.

The Consulate is located on the 17th floor of the Westmount Square, close to the Atwater Station.

Visit the Consulate site to learn more : http://www.consbrasmontreal.org

Booking the flight

My budget was small, so I wanted to have a good deal. After looking through every comparison sites in the world (!), Expedia offered the best deals and felt very secure to me. We thought of going with a traveling agency, but it was more expensive and did not offer any added value, such as a medical or cancellation insurance.

We finally booked our flights at 3am, only five weeks before take-off : I did not get a lot of sleep that night !

The prices fluctuates a lot, so when you see something close to 1 000$CAN for NYE time, book it ! And avoid a stop in New York : you might get stuck on ground if there's a snowstorm. Miami heat is way better ;)

Also, be careful with Expedia, we had some issues for booking a bed & breakfast, and they could not fix our problem.

Rio for NYE

Why Rio ? Good question.

Well first of all, my first criteria was that I wanted to go to a hot destination, so no european NYE. Since my friend only had one or two weeks, I had to forget about Asia and Australia. In the States, only Florida and Hawaï are hot in December-January, so we though of going there at first, only for a week.

Then, I googled : Best places in the world for New Year's Eve. And then it came up : RIO ! Big party with fireworks on Copacabana beach ;

Picture from : http://www.cntraveller.com/recommended/itineraries/best-places-to-spend-new-years-eve/new-years-eve-in-rio-de-janeiro