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Arrival, orientation and information
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BelAİm's
RodoviA?ria
is situated some 2km from the centre on Avenida Governador JosAİ Malcher, near the Almirante Barroso ring road: any bus from the stops opposite the entrance to the RodoviA?ria will take you downtown. If you want PraA§a da RepA?blica, catch the #316 or #904, or take one with "P. Vargas" on its route card; for the port area take the #318 bus. There are excellent facilities and services at the RodoviA?ria, including a ParA?tur information office (not always open, even when it's meant to be). If you're coming by scheduled airline, you'll arrive at BelAİm
airport
, 15km out of town (tel 091/211-6039), which has a BelAİmtur office (tel 091/211-6151), also with unreliable opening hours. There's the usual system of co-op taxis opposite the arrivals hall, for which you buy a ticket at the kiosk, but this is a ludicrously expensive way of getting into town ($15 for a fifteen-minute ride). Instead, you can walk to the opposite end of the terminal where you'll find the taxi stand for ordinary city cabs, which are much cheaper. Or you can take the "Marex Arsenal" bus from the airport to the RodoviA?ria and continue into town from there.
Boats
dock on the river near the town centre, from where you can walk or take a local bus up Avenida Presidente Vargas (not recommended if you have luggage or late at night), or catch a taxi.
Avenida Presidente Vargas is the modern town's main axis, running from the PraA§a da RepA?blica and the landmark Teatro da Paz right down to the riverfront. Buses coming into BelAİm centre from the airport and RodoviA?ria travel down Avenida Assis de Vasconcelos, which is more or less parallel. Most of the hotels, restaurants, shops and businesses are along Presidente Vargas, or just off it. On block 7 you'll find the FUNAI office and shop and the Varig offices, and on block 6 the VASP office and the telephone company. The central post office, one of the most impressive in South America, is on block 4, and the ENASA riverboat company building at the end of the avenida on the riverfront.
As well as the somewhat erratic offices at the airport and RodoviA?ria,
tourist information
is available at ParA?tur offices downtown at the Feira de Artesanato do Estado on PraA§a Maestro Waldemar Henrique (previously PraA§a Kennedy; Mon-Fri 8am-6pm; tel 091/212-0575 or 212-0669 ext 217). BelAİmtur's main office is at Av. Gov. JosAİ Malcher 592 (Mon-Fri 8am-noon & 2-6pm; tel 091/242-0900).
Maps
and town guides can be bought cheaply from the newspaper stands on Avenida Presidente Vargas or in the shop inside the foyer of the
BelAİm Hilton. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Brazil,
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