Traveling Tips for the Pantanal, Cuiaba, Brazil

Leave generous connection times between flights, especially in São Paulo. The airport is huge! It took us at minimum 25 minutes to walk FAST from the gate at which we landed with American Airlines to reach the Gol Airline ticket counter to go to Cuiaba. Fortunately, we didn’t have to check bags as the line was extremely long. We were able to use the kiosks to check-in which saved us. After going through security and walking to our gate, we used up our hour connection (which was originally longer before our other delays). We got to the bus five minutes before it left for the plane.

Change money at an ATM in São Paulo as there were not any ATM’s at the Cuiaba airport. The information desk told us to “Go to the Shopping.” That seemed weird so we waited to go to a bank near our hotel which limited us to $100, so then we had to go to a gas station that charged a significant fee.

There isn’t much exciting in Cuiaba. There is no need to book any extra time to see drab buildings or breathe the stinky air. Just leave a safety net to arrive before the tour pick up time to get to the Pantanal. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).