Guide to Vacation Rental in Brazil

When you go to Brazil, you may be surprised by the number of people you meet who either own or dream of owning a vacation house or condo on the beach or in the countryside. Many Brazilians happily sacrifice a certain amount of variety in their vacation plans in exchange for the lasting connections they create with a place they choose as a favorite getaway.

Some property owners rent out the same home they use for their own vacations during certain times of the year as a way to supplement income. Others favor investing in properties that are basically meant for rental. It all adds up to a vast scope of offers in gorgeous locations in Brazil throughout the year.

Some of the properties available are located in condomínios – not to be confused with condos, a word Brazilians don’t use for apartments. Condomínios are gated developments that include houses or townhomes and may have security staff to patrol the grounds.

The vacation apartments discussed here are not units in self catering hotels, but condos owned by individuals who bought each unit separately when the apartment complex was built.

When browsing vacation rental websites, you will often come across the word temporada, which means “season”. Aluguel de temporada means, literally, “seasonal rental”.

Although even modest rental properties in Brazil can be expensive during the local peak season – summer on the beach, winter in mountain resorts, for example – prices drop during the off-season, especially on weekdays. Besides, some houses are spacious enough to accommodate two families, or a large group of friends who can split up the tab and make it more affordable for everybody.

Renting the right property at the right location can be a fun and gratifying experience for independent travelers who do fine without hotel amenities and cherish the freedom of having their own, if only temporary, vacation place.

A budget-friendly property may not be very close to main attractions and might require renting a car. Many properties have kitchen utensils and possibly pillows and blankets, but no linens, which requires a whole different kind of packing.

Brazilian vacation rental sites work as a channel between the interested parties. All arrangements for money transfers, getting and returning keys and the like must be carried out directly with the property owners. In these searches and contacts, you may need to brace yourself for broken English and possible communication difficulties in e-mail exchanges.

If quotes are in reais, the Brazilian currency, check the daily Banco do Brasil exchange rate (top right-hand corner of the home page).

These two Brazilian sites stand out for listing properties in several attractive areas of the country and for having most of their information available in English.

• Alugue Temporada
• Imóveis Temporada

If you get by in Portuguese, try these other sites that list properties nationwide, but still don’t have an English version:

• Veja Temporada
  
• Curtindo a Vida
  
• Classiferias
  
• Web Temporada
  
• Anúncio de Temporada
  
• Que Barato
  

Some classified ad websites focus on specific areas. Here are a few good ones for three states that are famous both for their beaches and their mountains:

Rio de Janeiro State (Including Rio, Capital)
Rio Férias e Temporada (in English) has listings for all the major tourist areas around Rio and some options in the capital itself.

São Paulo State
Temporada SP divides links between litoral (seaside) and interior (countryside) and it also features listings in places elsewhere that are really popular among São Paulo travelers, such as Trancoso and Porto Seguro, in Bahia.

Florianópolis
Here are some listings in the capital of Santa Catarina State, famous for its beautiful beaches.

• Aluguel na Temporada (in Portuguese)
• Viva Floripa (Spanish version available and English version reportedly coming soon)
• Adriani Marquez (in Portuguese)