Time zones, dialling codes and staying connected in Brazil
Most of Brazil, including Rio, São Paulo and Salvador, runs on UTC minus 3. The Amazon and the Pantanal are an hour behind that, and Fernando de Noronha an hour ahead. Brazil abolished daylight saving in 2019, so the gap to Europe changes twice a year even though Brazil's clocks never move.
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The short answer
- Rio, São Paulo, Salvador, Brasília
- UTC minus 3, all year.
- Manaus, Cuiabá, the Pantanal, most of the Amazon
- UTC minus 4.
- Fernando de Noronha
- UTC minus 2.
- Acre, western Amazonas
- UTC minus 5.
- Daylight saving
- None. Abolished in 2019 and not reinstated.
- Country code
- +55, then a two digit city code, then the number.
The gap to home moves, but Brazil does not
This trips people up every year. Brazil stopped changing its clocks in 2019. Europe still does. So the difference between Rio and Berlin is four hours through the European winter and five hours through the European summer, without anything happening in Brazil at all.
It matters for one practical thing: the call home. Work it out from your own clock changing, not from Brazil's, and you will not wake anybody at six in the morning.
Four zones on one trip
A route that takes in Rio and then the Pantanal crosses a time zone, and so does one that adds Manaus. It is only an hour, but it is an hour that lands on an early start, and jaguar boats and sunrise canoes do not wait.
Phones handle it automatically. Alarm clocks in lodges sometimes do not. On a trip we plan, the day-by-day is written in local time for each place, which sounds obvious and is exactly the detail that goes wrong on a self-booked route.
Getting a working phone
An eSIM bought before you fly is the simplest answer by a distance. It is working the moment you land, it needs no shop and no Brazilian tax number, and coverage from the main networks is good in every city and along the coast.
A local physical SIM is cheaper for a long stay but needs a CPF, the Brazilian tax number, which visitors do not have. Roaming from a European contract works and is the expensive option.
WhatsApp is not a nice-to-have here, it is the country's default channel. Restaurants, guides, drivers and lodges all use it, often instead of a phone call or an email. Ours is on every page of this site for the same reason.
Common questions
How do I dial a Brazilian number from abroad?
Plus 55, then the two digit city code without its leading zero, then the number. Rio is 21, São Paulo 11, Salvador 71, Manaus 92, Cuiabá 65, Florianópolis 48. Mobile numbers have a nine in front of the eight digits.
Will I have signal in the Amazon or the Pantanal?
Largely no, and that is worth planning for rather than discovering. Lodges usually have satellite internet in the common areas, sometimes only at certain hours. Tell people at home before you go that you will be out of reach for a few days.
Where this matters on a trip
Sources
Planning a trip to Brazil?
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