Phone snatched on the beach or street
Keep your phone out of sight in busy areas and use Uber rather than hailing taxis.
Do South Africans need a visa for Brazil?
Visa-freefor South African passports
South Africans don’t need a visa for Brazil. You can stay up to 90 days.
What you need
Tick these off as you go. Your ticks are saved on this device.
How to do it
- Get your yellow fever jab at least 10 days before you fly.
- Just go with your passport and return ticket.
We couldn’t open an official page for this country from our checker. Confirm with its embassy before you travel.
Airlines decide whether you can board using a database called Timatic. Before you fly, check your route on the IATA Travel Centre.
What it costs in rand
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Visa | Free |
| Yellow fever jab (needed to come home, see below) | About R350 plus the clinic consultation |
Rand amounts use the exchange rate on 9 October 2026 (R16.53 to the US dollar, R18.50 to the euro, R21.87 to the pound) and are rounded. Work out your whole trip in the budget calculator.
Common problems and fixes
Coming home: yellow fever
South Africa asks travellers arriving from yellow fever risk countries for a yellow fever certificate, and that can include South Africans coming home. Get the jab at a travel clinic at least 10 days before you fly (about R350 plus the consultation) and keep the yellow card with your passport.
Plan your trip
Best timeSeptember to March
MoneyReal (BRL)
Return flight from Johannesburg (rough guide)R12,000–R18,000
Daily budget per person (rough guide)R900–R1,600
Three trip ideas
Rio de Janeiro
Sugarloaf, Christ the Redeemer and the beaches.
Iguaçu Falls
The Brazilian side has the wide panoramic views.
Salvador and Bahia
Afro-Brazilian culture and food.
Good to know
- Little English outside tourist areas: learn a few Portuguese phrases.
- Carnival dates push prices up sharply.
Book
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Sources and checks
Checked17 Oct 2026
Checked on 17 Oct 2026 against the open visa dataset only: the official page couldn’t be opened from our checker. Confirm with the embassy before you book.
- dataPassport Index Data (visa matrix for 199 passports, updated 17 Feb 2026) · imorte, continuing the dataset by Ilya Ilyankou (MIT licence) · published 17 Feb 2026
- officialYellow fever vaccination requirements for South Africa · South African Tourism · no date shown
- secondaryYellow fever: cost, timing and validity · Travelstart · published 1 Jul 2026
How we check: our method and every source we use.
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