How to visit Bonito, Brazil on a budget

I spent a lot of time thinking about visiting Bonito and trying to weigh up the costs and difficulty of getting there. Bonito is expensive and I couldn't decide if a few days in the city would be worth the additional cost. I spent a lot of time (let me repeat, a lot of time) Googling to try and find more information about Brazil's ecotourism capital, but came up empty handed.

As my trip into the interior of the country was was more than it, I've put together this guide for the other gringos out there. I'll cover the price of visiting Bonito, my tips for visiting Bonito on a budget and when is best to visit Bonito. Hope this helps!

What is Bonito anyway?

Bonito is a town in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, about 5 hours away from the state capital Campo Grande, and is known for its ecotourism and plethora of outdoor activities. The area is full of impressive caves, crystal clear water and watersports.

The local government decided pretty early on that they didn't want the area to be overrun by massive tourism, and therefore set limits on the number of visitors to each activity everday. To support this, they also created a system where the entrances to the activities can only be bought by official tour companies from the region. This makes visiting the areas independently a bit trickier.

Why visit Bonito?

This was a question that I toyed with for ages. I was in Sao Paulo at the time, literally on the other side of the country. I wouldn't really consider myself an "outdoor" type of person meaning that watersports and other outdoor "fun" doesn't really excite me. HOWEVER. I came to the conclusion that being in Brazil for three months meant I did have the time, and that the extra money would be well spent on such unique experiences.

Before the floating began - look at that water!

What was my 3 day itinerary in Bonito?

I decided to spent three full days in Bonito, doing three different types of actitivies. Given the cost of the place, I also went against my normal pattern and booked my onward bus (to Brasília!) before even arriving to limit the amount I had there.

Day 1

The morning was spent visting the Buraco das Aves in the morning. This is a GREAT place, known for it's sighting of red-and-green macaws. I particularly loved this place, as the farm provides a very "hands-off" approach to the birds. Only water, no food, is provided, in a concerted effort to limit human interaction and human dependence. The farm decided to portion off a large part of its grounds to preserve the land, giving the macaws lots of space to thrive. As our guide explained, this approach has actually led to an increase in the number of macaws sighted in the area, with the currently number sitting around 70 pairs.

Couple of lovebirds

We then headed to Rio da Plata, a fazenda which can only be described as magical. One story buildings constructed out of wood, green lawn everwhere, horses, cows and even a garden where they grown their own produce. We had lunch here (all you can eat, and I truly tested this limit), with SALAD and then a warm rice pudding mmmmm. I then had a nap in a hammock and woke up just in time for the snorkelling/ floating. This is literally what it sounds like. You get snorkel gear and a life jacket to keep you buoyant and then just let the current of the river propel you. It was so beautiful and the water was so clear. Literally was floating between schools of fish and so many different types! This went on for like three hours, truly heavenly.

Day 2

This day was a lot more chill. I only visited the Gruta de Lagoa Azul, which is a cave with bright blue water at the bottom. You can't swim in the water, just descend into the cave to take photos and then ascend again, but it's still impressive.

I was back at the hostel by 12, so just used the pool and chilled for the rest of the day. My roommate (pictured above) came back at some point too, which led to us splitting a beer by the pool. V nice.

Me in the Gruta of (you guessed it!) blue water

Day 3

This was the day I was most excited for. The Pantanal is one of the most excited parts of Brazil in turns of wildlife. I'd done a lot of research but a trip out there just wasn't feasible in terms of my budget. As a happy medium, I decided to do a trip to a fazenda just on the edge of the Pantanal, meaning I could still experience the area a bit, even if not fully immersing myself in the nature. This was at Fazenda San Francisco.

In the morning we had a boat ride, and in the afternoon we did a safari ride through the farm's grounds. We saw crocodiles, capybaras, deers and lots of different types of birds. Here both lunch and an afternoon snack were provided and we were on the bus back to Bonito by 4pm.

Our jeep

How much does it cost to visit Bonito?

For all the activities I listed above, in September 2023, including transfers, I paid 1138 R$.

This isn't of course including accommodation (which for me averaged about 75 R$ a night) and the cost of covering meals not included within the activites.

How to do visit Bonito cheaply?

These tips definitely follow the motto of "Do what I do say, not what I do".

• Don't fly directly to Bonito! I would recommend arriving in Campo Grande (via plane/ bus), as it's significantly cheaper than going directly to Bonito. Then you have a couple of options:

  • The public bus is offered by Cruzeiro do Sul, which departs twice a day and costs 101 R$ per way. Book directly in the bus station to save on booking fees.

  • There is also Blablacar, which runs a lot less frequency, but seems to average about 60 R$ each way.

  • I stayed a night in Campo Grande, but you can definitely skip this. The Campo Grande bus station has a great luggage storage facility, so if you have a long layover between buses, go and explore the city. Rucksacks count as "small" baggage, which cost 6 R$ for 8 hours.

• Stay in a hostel with cooking facilities. There are some very fancy hotels in the area, but the reality is that you will spend very little time there.

  • Guest House Recanto looks like the best bet at around 45 R$ a night. Unlike most hostels, they don't provide breakfast, but they do have cooking facilities.

  • I actually stayed in HI Hostel Bonito at 75 R$ a night, which had a pool and a great breakfast (with eggs!). This was perfect for me as I did have a bit more down time.

• Be discerning about the quantity and quality of the activities. There is LOTS on offer, but many activites are quite similar.

  • For example, Rio de Sucuri and Rio da Plata both offer snorkelling and river floating. This is an AMAZING thing to do, but once is enough!

  • Both Gruta de Sao Miguel and the Gruta de Lagoa Azul are caves. They are different from one another (one has more water, one is more impressive in terms of natural structure), but again, if you are on a budget, just pick one.

• Limit the time in Bonito. Outside of the tourism activities, Bonito has limited offerings. Time your stay exactly so that you don't have a full day in Bonito. You won't need it.

• Not all the supermarkets are created equally. On the main street in Bonito, there are a few different supermarkets. The quality and price is, however, wildly different.

  • I would recommend Santos and Ype. My experience with the others was low quality and wildly higher prices than I used to.

• Carefully consider how to visit the attractions. As a solo-traveller, who hasn't driven in three years (and never on the right-hand side!), using the tranasfers provided by the tour company was the best bit.

  • Hiring a car is definitely more flexible, but not neccessarily cheaper. Having spoken with others, it seems like the daily rate as of Sep '23 is around 90 R$ per day. However, the car hire places keep odd hours, meaning it can be a bit tricky to coordinate this around your schedule.

• Book the tours in Portuguese. All the attractions cost the same, regardless of the tour company, except if you want to do the tour in English. There was instruction and information given in Portuguese, BUT, as someone who anyway only understood about 60%, it's not that necessary to understand what's being said

  • I booked with Big Tour. I can really recommend, and Fabio there also speaks great English!

• Visit in the low season. The prices set by the tour companies are raised during the high season. For this reason, the best time of year to visit Bonito is during the low season. I personally found this made it easier to be spontaneous when booking tours and meant there was minimal crowding at the main attraction sites.

Conclusion

I hope this post has detailed why you should visit Bonito. I loved the few days I spent there, indulging in different actitivies and I especially loved the fact that I had only overspent by about 200€. The trip to Brazil's ecotourism capital ended up being worth the splurge for me. It is of course possible to spend eye-watering sums over there, but if you're also a backpacker looking to minimise costs, I hope these tips help you to navigate how to visit Bonito, Brazil on a budget.