Travel from Salvador to São Luís (both in Bahia)

I don't know if this is true for Bahia, but I have taken OniBuses from sta. Catarina to my wife's small town (12 hrs) in Rio Grande do Sul.

I have to say that there have beenn some of the most comfortable travel that I have ever had.

You do need to prepare, mainly bring a blanket & get the best seats you can.

However, I'd rather do that than fly any day.  Driving is OK, but you need to be a good defensive driver.... Check that, a great defensive driver.

And you also need to know how to avoid trouble.

As an aside:  We just had my Bro-in-Law fly in from Brasil to Miami on GOL.  Weather caused them to divert & deplane in Orlando.    After 6pm, all the GOL  staff disappeared with him & much of the travelers stranded in MCO overnight, as hotels got filled up fast.

My Bro-in-Law spoke very little English & was just devastated with his family stuck too.

All airlines have their issues, but what GOL did was crummy & lowlife.

If I have any small options, I don't fly.

I don't know if this is true for Bahia, but I have taken OniBuses from sta. Catarina to my wife's small town (12 hrs) in Rio Grande do Sul.
I have to say that there have beenn some of the most comfortable travel that I have ever had.

You do need to prepare, mainly bring a blanket & get the best seats you can.

However, I'd rather do that than fly any day. Driving is OK, but you need to be a good defensive driver.... Check that, a great defensive driver.

And you also need to know how to avoid trouble.

As an aside: We just had my Bro-in-Law fly in from Brasil to Miami on GOL. Weather caused them to divert & deplane in Orlando.  After 6pm, all the GOL staff disappeared with him & much of the travelers stranded in MCO overnight, as hotels got filled up fast.

My Bro-in-Law spoke very little English & was just devastated with his family stuck too.

All airlines have their issues, but what GOL did was crummy & lowlife.

If I have any small options, I don't fly.
-@archlab

Thank you, I’ll look into the omnibus thing. I have been driving here before and it was remarkably trouble free. There are speed traps and speed bumps everywhere, so very few people go a lot faster than the limit. (You have to avoid Fridays and Saturdays, especially the evenings, for obvious reasons.). From this experience, I reckon it will take at least 32 hours of driving time, probably more.

Speaking for myself, when I can, I often take the bus over flying. This way you get to actually see something and not have all of those airport hassles. Also, if you are thinking about driving, find a way to estimate the road tolls. I drive a lot in the south, and at least there, the road tolls add up FAST

06/23/23 @Kurterino.  Do you mean São Luís, the capital of Maranhão?  If so, fly: it's a hot and, depending on the season,  dusty or muddy drive.

@abthree OMG do you mean after that to go to lençóis maranhenses? Stunnning, stunning, stunning!

06/23/23 @abthree OMG do you mean after that to go to lençóis maranhenses? Stunnning, stunning, stunning!
-@Peter Itamaraca

It Kurterino who's doing the traveling, and he hasn't stated his plans.  But he knows Brazil well, so he'll land on his feet. 👣

@abthree I meant that lençóis maranhenses is one of the most amazing places in Brazil - nothing else.

Sometimes it appears to me that expats who live in South East Brazil share the generally accepted (Brazilian) view that other areas of Brazil are full of rogues and bandits, drug dealers and murderers. The truth is we have just as many as you do, but without the cold winters, over-developed beach towns, huge favelas, massive noise polution, etc, etc. Truth be known, it is quite nice here...

06/23/23  Sometimes it appears to me that expats who live in South East Brazil share the generally accepted (Brazilian) view that other areas of Brazil are full of rogues and bandits, drug dealers and murderers. The truth is we have just as many as you do, but without the cold winters, over-developed beach towns, huge favelas, massive noise polution, etc, etc. Truth be known, it is quite nice here...
-@Peter Itamaraca

And the same number of  "rogues and bandits, drug dealers and murderers" are spread thinly over a LOT more territory.  To say nothing of millions of good, simple people who more than make up for any lack of formal education by being a lot more "educados" than people I've met anywhere in what the great cartoonist Henfil used to call the "Sul Maravilha".

I can find something to like anywhere in Brazil that I happen to land, but for living, I always want to be somewhere north of a line that runs through Belo Horizonte and Vitória.