World Cup fever is upon us, and the world and his wife is looking forward to attending this mega event. However, navigating your way through this behemoth of a country can be confusing, tiresome, and can become disastrous easily. Brazil is welcoming to visitors, but it is also notoriously crime-ridden and risky if you stray down the wrong path. During the World Cup, it will also be very, very expensive regardless of your precautions to attend it with the minimal expenditure. This Buzzle write-up tells you what to keep in mind while planning your trip to this global football fest.
Geographically, Brazil is a very diverse country, and drastically differing climatic conditions prevail in various regions. Due to its large size and pan-equatorial location, Brazil experiences 6 forms of climatic conditions―equatorial, tropical, temperate, semiarid, highland tropical, and subtropical. While coastal regions such as Rio de Janeiro are famous for their tropical, sunny weather, the northwestern regions house the largest rainforest in the world―the Amazon rainforest―and are consequently hot and humid, while the southern region of Rio Grande do Sul experiences snowfall.
The 12 host cities for the World Cup are spread across all these regions, which can make acclimatization and travel difficult; Porto Alegre and Manaus, for instance, lie more than 2,700 miles apart! Thus, it is important to establish a base in one of the cities, and choose which matches you really want to watch, and which you can do without. Here’s a helpful guide.
World Cup 2014 Guide
First of all, I hope you have already secured your match tickets for the World Cup. If not, you can apply for and find out more about the same here. The applications for the tickets will be sorted out according to random draws and on a first-come-first-served basis.
Fans and journalists who don’t already have a Brazilian visa need to get a Spectator or Press visa, respectively. Visas for people attending the World Cup are issued free of charge. Citizens of most South American countries and the EU are exempt from visas for a 90-day stay. US citizens need to apply for a Spectator visa to attend the games, or a tourist visa if you intend to extend the trip beyond the World Cup. However, it is recommended to check the status between your country and Brazil for more precise info.
Brazil is regarded as the home of football, summed up by the famous phrase ‘the English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it’. It has a proud history in the FIFA World Cup, having won more trophies than any other nation. To many, the 2014 World Cup being awarded to Brazil is a spiritual homecoming of sorts, the biggest gala in the game being played where it is most adored. However, after the honeymoon period passed, it soon became riddled with numerous logistical difficulties. Stadiums were not finished in time and are still perilously close to missing deadlines, the preparations were marred by allegations about and protests over the corruption and laxness in the bureaucracy, and the difficulties posed by the sheer distance between the various venues.
The World Cup is spread over 12 host cities, this makes it difficult for both players and fans to attend all of their nation’s matches in fine fettle, since the climatic conditions in two successive games may vary drastically.
The following image shows all the host cities. The adjoining distance calculator will help you map out your itinerary by calculating distances between any of the host cities.
