Happy hours: how to get into the spirit of Brazil with teenagers

Pack your family holiday to Brazil with iconic sights, and make time for carnival and caipirinhas. Kate Wickers tells us how it’s done.

Christ the Redeemer, overlooks Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Just as well that Freddie, my eighteen-year-old son, is a good sport I think to myself as we’re standing in the headquarters of the Academicos do Grande Rio Samba school in Rio de Janeiro, just a day into our travels around Brazil. They’ve dressed him as an Egyptian pharaoh (during Carnival, themes are extravagant and global), and a lady in a feathered headdress is enthusiastically teaching him Samba steps, all part of our behind-the-scenes tour of Samba City, which houses the city’s top twelve Samba schools.

“In carnival, you must be prepared to lose everything. All inhibitions must go. You no longer own your body,” Rosa, our guide and the daughter of a Samba ‘Queen’ (lead dancer), tells us as I attempt to shake my spangled booty. “No posting this on insta,” Freddie whispers to me, which, I agree, is fair enough.

Kate and Freddie, Samba City, Rio de Janeiro © Kate Wickers

A holiday to Brazil is made for older teenagers

It’s a month before Freddie leaves for university, and, like many mums, I’ve been dreading the thought of an empty nest after raising three sons. So our holiday to Brazil takes on special meaning: there is an extra joy in being together (mixed in with an occasional, secret, melancholic moment on my part), but I am heartened by the rise in multigenerational travel post-pandemic, which says much about the realisation that, even when your family has grown, time away together is precious.

I know there’ll soon be times when holidays with friends and partners will take priority but for now, we raise a caipirinha (the national drink), to being in beautiful Brazil.

Copacabana Beach from Porto Bay Hotel © Kate Wickers

Bag a room with a view of legendary Copacabana Beach

We’re staying at the Porto Bay Hotel with rooms on the top floor overlooking one of the world’s most famous beaches, Copacabana. Each morning, I draw the curtains to the sight of Great Frigate birds circling the iconic sands in the rosy glow of sunrise. Brazil is perhaps the perfect destination when your child has recently reached adulthood. Caipirinha drinking and Samba dancing aside, many of the experiences that this legendary city offers require a certain maturity to enjoy.

A guided favela tour is a highlight of our holiday to Brazil

We hit the ground running (jetlag is minimal as the UK is only four hours ahead) with visits to Sugar Loaf Mountain and Corcovado – Rio’s iconic Art Deco statue of Christ the Redeemer – with far-reaching views over the city, including the hillside shanty towns known as favela. Most are no-go areas for tourists, but the safest two are those of Babilonia and Chapeau Mangueria. It’s still wise to visit with a local guide, and Edson “Eddie” Vander – a third-generation resident – is ours. As we walk the streets of his neighbourhood, which nestles behind Leme beach, we enjoy happy, chance encounters with his mum, dad, wife, daughter, nephew, and sister, which make me feel like an extra in The Truman Show.

“Ask me anything,” Eddie reminds us frequently, which leads to discussions on drugs and violence, and the stigma attached to growing up as a favela kid (“You know how poor a kid is if they don’t even own flipflops,” Eddie says). And yet… we are met with smiling faces, witness footy skills to envy on every street corner, learn that this is the birthplace of carnival, and feel the favela’s creative energy (it’s here you’ll find some of Rio’s best street art).

Mosaic pavement, Copacabana Beach

Take time out on the beach for BBQ and Caipirinhas

Exploring alone, we feel safe but keep our wits about us (it’s wise to have a crossbody bag, carry a minimum of cash, and leave expensive jewellery in the hotel safe), and we stroll along Copacabana’s black and white wave-tiled prom, enjoying the scene. Stalls selling coconut water and frozen acai juice (made from the Amazonian super fruit) pepper the wide golden sands, and bikinis the size of dental floss and colourful sarongs are touted by sellers, who weave deftly between sunbathers. Beachside, we eat well at a no-frills kiosk on barbecued steak brochettes served with cassava (a root vegetable native to Brazil), washed down with caipirinhas (local cachaça rum muddled with fresh lime and sugar).

Brazil supporters, Macarena Stadium, Rio de Janeiro

Is it a real holiday to Brazil without football in the mix?

Football in Brazil is a national passion, and we sign up for a “Carioca” (the name given to those born in Rio) experience, whizzing on the metro with the local fans and our guide Lago, to watch Flamengo play in the legendary Macarena Stadium. Outside the stadium, barbecue stalls sizzle, and inside fans wave gargantuan flags and the drumming and singing is deafening, punctuated by the bang of a flare each time Rio club Flamengo scores. It’s impossible not to get caught up in the atmosphere and we’re soon joining in, belting out what turns out to be the Brazilian equivalent of, “Here we go, here we go, here we go”.

Viewing platform, Iguacu Falls, Brazil

Immersing in the world’s largest falls at Iguaçu National Park

Brazil is vast and the only downside of travel here is that short flights are required to hop from A to B. We fly south to Foz do Iguaçu, where our base is the Sanma Hotel, set in tropical gardens opposite the entrance to  Iguaçu National Park. We want to experience the world’s largest waterfall system every which way, beginning with a boat trip and a thrilling ‘wet’ experience, which takes us over rapids and then soaks us to the bone (my advice is to invest in a plastic poncho) under the cascades of the Three Musketeers falls. “Wow! That was amazing,” we splutter, wiping away the water but not the huge grins from our faces.

Kate and family, Iguacu Falls, Brazil © Kate Wickers

Expect emotional moments on this holiday to Brazil

The 1.5 km waterfall trail ends at the spectacular Salto Floriano, and first glimpse of the 80-metre cascades that appear to fall in slow motion, renders us speechless. Next day, we cross the border into Argentina (all excitedly ticking the country off on our Been App!) to see the falls from above. The ultimate marvel here is the Garganta del Diablo (throat of the devil), the point where water thunders at an average of 1,500 cubic metres per second into the canyon, as we  watch daredevil swifts dart in and out of the spray to reach water-soaked crags, and rainbows appear through fine mists.

Worth splashing out on (if you’ll pardon the pun) is a helicopter flight. The arial views of the entire canyon and waterfall system, which I gawp at through tear-smeared eyes, are wondrous. “She’s off again,” comments Freddie, though, in truth, I can see he’s also moved by the immensity of it all, shaking his head in awe.

Tracking the maned wolf and other Cerrado creatures

Brazil’s Cerrado (savanna) covers 2 million square kilometres (21% of Brazil’s land area) and is second only to the Amazon for its biodiversity. After a flight to the capital Brasilia, it’s a 333-kilometre, six-hour drive, through wide open grasslands brightened by the yellow flowers of the Ipe tree, to the lovely eco-lodge of Pousada Trijuncao, which sits in a private 33,000-hectare reserve. We’ve come here to walk in David Attenborough’s footsteps, as seen in the episode on desert and savanna in Planet Earth III, which stars the endangered maned wolf, the largest member of the Canidae family (including dogs and foxes) in South America.

We set off just before dusk in a safari-style jeep with NGO Oncafari, who combine ecotourism with scientific study and wildlife preservation. “Look at the top of termite mounds,” Chiara, our guide, tells us. “Because maned wolf love to climb on top of those to poop.” It’s not such a ridiculous image when we learn that this is so that the wolf’s scent can be spread further over their territory.

Prehistoric-looking birds called Rhea, tiptoe through the low scrubland, and we see silver three-banded armadillo rooting out insects in the twilight, but for now our focus is on a sighting of a female maned wolf named Savanna, collared and monitored by Oncafari for her own protection. Chiara soon picks up a signal. Within an hour, we catch several views of this shy, russet-brown beauty (like a fox on stilts) with long bushy tail, on the hunt for small mammals such as cavy (a common guineapig-like rodent), and each sighting feels like finding treasure.

Lodge, Pousada Trijuncao © Pousada Trijuncao

Birdwatching and stargazing at tranquil Pousada Trijuncao

By night, the Pousada takes on another dimension as the perfect star-gazing station, from which the Milky Way’s gassy dust-filled bands are visible across a star-studded sky, where shooting stars go off like fireworks. Visit during autumn and towering termite mounds glow green in the moonlight, caused by fireflies that lay their eggs at the bases. The lodge offers exceptional birdwatching (the region is home to 850 species); kayaking on the Macaw lagoon (named for the birds that nest here); and safari excursions by fat bike (perfect for exploring the savanna’s sandy tracks) and 4×4 jeep.

Burrowing Owls, Pousada Trijuncao © Pousada Trijuncao

I quickly become a bird nerd, ticking off every species I see, including the toco toucan, burrowing owl, glittering-throated emerald hummingbird and the cartoon-like red-legged seriema: known as the Brazilian roadrunner. While I’m looking up, Freddie is looking down in the hope of spotting a puma or jaguar, whose pawprints make for tantalising viewing.

Now for the real beach part of our holiday to Brazil

For our last five days, it’s the rhythm of samba washed by the sea that calls us to the Bahia region, and the beach-side town of Trancoso, founded by Jesuits in 1583. It was the hippies (of course it was) who put the place on the map for boho travellers in the 70s, and although it retains that bohemian, dreamy, atmosphere, these days it’s wealthy Brazilians that flock here, although it’s yet to be discovered by many European tourists.

Pool, Pousada Tutabel © Pousada Tutabel

The region boasts an abundance of beautiful bays, and Pousada Tutabel sits arguably on the most gorgeous, Itapororoca, and has a luxurious beach-house vibe (we feel like the only guests here, even though there are sixteen rooms, plus two private villas). Within a day we fall into a happy habit of a dip in the ocean before breakfast (think coconut chia, banana pancakes, fruit platters, and mango smoothies), followed by a low-key excursion.

Kayaking Passeio de Caique, Tutabel © Pousada Tutabel

Encountering ‘Butt Washers’ on Rio do Brasil Reserve

We take a lazy 6km kayak along the river from Tutabel’s private Rio do Brasil Reserve – a tangle of palms, carnivorous plants, and mangrove (where tiny crabs wave for attention with one giant claw). “What’s that?” I hear Freddie ask our guide, gesturing to an iridescent blue and red skimming insect. “We call them butt-washers,” comes the perfect reply to tickle his teenage humour (it was, in fact, a red-faced dragonlet). And we wander through Trancoso’s UNESCO protected quadrado, a square lined with brightly coloured fisherman’s houses, now turned boutique guesthouses and restaurants (of these, Casa Gloria is the oldest and a favourite. Try the plantain ‘bobo’ casserole with coconut rice).

Praia de Itapororoca, Tutabel © Pousada Tutabel

Stop for a quiet moment of contemplation in Trancoso

The focal point of the town is the pretty church of Sao Joao Batista, its cement formed from whalebone and oil in the 16th century. On Trancoso’s main beach of Praia dos Nativos, we rent sunbeds at stylish Uxua Beach Club and watch life stroll by, from a guy selling woven bracelets accompanied by tamed budgerigars (bringing whole new meaning to the term budgie smugglers), to fishermen selling fresh-off-the-boat platters of oysters, and moonlighting gaucho offering canters through the shallows on sleepy steeds.

In-keeping with the scene, our caipirinha today have a tropical twist of fresh pineapple, and the toast is to next summer and where that might take us, with Freddie voicing what I’ve not yet dared to ask, that travelling with mum and dad remains on the cards. Oh, what a happy hour this is.

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