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Arrival and information
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There's hardly an airport in southern Brazil which doesn't serve Porto Alegre, and there are international services to Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Santiago, too. The
airport
(tel 051/371-4110) is linked by metro to the Mercado Publico, in the city centre, or take the L.05 bus, which links the airport with Praca Parobe (next to the Mercado Publico). Taxis into the city will cost about $8.
Buses from throughout Brazil and neighbouring countries stop at Porto Alegre's Rodoviaria , which is within walking distance of the centre; however, because the Rodoviaria is virtually ringed by a mesh of highways and overpasses, it's far less confusing, and safer, to use the metro from here. Porto Alegre used to be a major rail hub but, apart from suburban routes, the only remaining services are to Santa Maria, from where the line branches out to Santana do Livramento and Uruguaiana. Trains depart from the Ferroviaria, also accessible by metro. The metro (Mon-Fri 6am-11pm, Sat & Sun 5am-10pm; 50?) has its city centre terminal at the Mercado Publico, but as the system is very limited in extent it's only really of use when you arrive and leave Porto Alegre.
EPATUR, the city's
tourist office
(tel 051/311-5289), has very helpful branches at the airport (7am-10pm), at the Rodoviaria (7am-10pm) and at the Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana, Rua dos Andradas 736 (Tues-Fri 9am-9pm, Sat & Sun noon-9pm). SETUR, the state tourist office (tel 051/228-7377,
www.turismo.rs.gov.br),
has kiosks at the Rodoviaria (daily 7am-7pm) and the airport (daily 7am-7pm), but is of more limited assistance. Both agencies hand out excellent free maps of Porto Alegre. For up-to-date
listings
, consult the monthly
Programa,
produced by the tourist office, or the events listings in the newspaper
Zero Hora. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Brazil,
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