GOLF IN BRAZIL

Sao Paulo—the heart of industrial, commercial and entrepreneurial Brazil—is also the main reference for Brazilian golf. Sao Paulo has more golf clubs and players than the rest of Brazil put together.

So, if you are planning a tourist or business trip to Sao Paulo, consider using one of its many golf greens. Any reputed hotel will give you the answers you may need for access to local greens.

But…just because Sao Paulo is prominent in the Brazilian golf panorama doesn’t mean that there aren’t other opportunities to play. The number of Brazilian golf greens is increasing rapidly. You can even play golf in the middle of the Amazon basin.

If interested in grasping the grandeur of the immense rainforest (without forgetting the golf), think of going to Manaus, an unexpected city, born from industrial dreams, but more and more, a big travel hub to the surrounding rainforest. Once there, besides local cruises on the river and visits to the ecological parks, the exploration of forest treks, or visits to the ‘caboclos’ settlements, there is also an opportunity to play golf.

Another major travel attraction in Brazil where there is a golf course is Iguassu, in the mid south, near the frontier with Argentina and Paraguay. Iguassu boasts the world’s biggest waterfalls, a natural phenomenon far beyond Niagara Falls (‘poor Niagara’, said Eleanor Roosevelt, when facing the place). The local Bourbon Iguassu Golf Resort hotel has excellent greens.

Rio de Janeiro also has several top greens not far from its southern beaches, and just some minutes away from Copacabana or Ipanema.

Also in the Rio de Janeiro region, you can find golf courses in Buzios—the Saint Tropez of Brazil, and, in the opposite direction, in Angra dos Reis, a luxury resort, with majestic greens, connected to a top local hotel: Hotel do Frade Golf and Resort. These places are both about an hour’s drive from Rio.

Much more to the south, there are the Florianopolis greens. Florianopolis is known as a top international place for sea sports (swimming, diving, and mainly surfing), but it also has excellent golf greens and clubs.

And that’s not all, of course. Because it is so big (a country with an area similar to that of the USA) the number of Brazilian golf greens is growing steadily. Amongst the recent ones, we would emphasise a number of courses in Bahia.

Bahia is a northeastern state of Brazil. A state with an insurmountable friendly and musical people, with a set of exotic traditions, and a long coast of thousands of miles, hiding hundreds of beach paradises still largely undiscovered outside Brazil

Bahia encompasses cities such as Salvador, Costa do Sauipe, or Praia do Forte, all with modern golf courses which have been built to satisfy recent demand and the real estate boom (Bahia is also a paradise for real estate bargains).

Eduardo Reisinho

Eduardo Reisinho is the publisher of Brazil-Travel-Guide.com a website where you can look for more information on golf, and other themes and travel information involving Brazil.