Ouro Preto

Introduction

Ouro Prêto

© RobandAmy

Ouro Preto is the colonial gem of the state of Minas Gerais in the southeast of Brazil. The city is located about 100 kilometres from Belo Horizonte and almost 500 kilometres from Rio de Janeiro. It's one of the main sights in Minas Gerais because its splendid Baroqua architecture which gave it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Weather

Ouro Preto has a humid subtropical climate, with warm and humid summers and mild, dry winters. Temperatures are mostly between 25 °C and 28 °C during the day and between 10 °C and 18 °C at night.

Getting There

By Plane

Tancredo Neves-Confins International Airport (CNF) is located about 40 kilometres from Belo Horizonte. Azul Linhas Aereas has its second main hub at this airport. Also, Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes and Latam Brasil have regional flights from this airport.
American Airlines, Copa Airlines and TAP Porutgal have international flights to Miami, Panama City and Lisbon.

Belo Horizonte/Pampulha – Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU) is located about 8 kilometres from downtown Belo Horizonte. From 2004, the operations of this airport were reduced to small planes with a capacity of max. 50 passengers. Only Passaredo and FlyWays Linhas Aéreas serve the city from Pampulha.

By Car

Ouro Preto sits on BR-356 about 120 kilometers southeast of Belo Horizonte and about 18 kilometers west of Mariana.
Drivers coming from Juiz de Fora and Rio de Janeiro in the south should take BR-040 to Conselheiro Lafaiete, take the Ouro Branco Highway and once in Ouro Branco transfer to state highway MG-443 for the last 12 or so kilometers to Ouro Preto.

By Bus

Regular buses connect Ouro Preto with Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

City buses run to neighbourhoods outside of the city center, as well as to neighbouring towns like Mariana.

By Foot

The town's small size and steep hills make walking the most convenient way of getting around the city center. Bring some good shoes and be prepared to huff and puff a bit, as the streets are cobbled and you will spend the day walking up and down steep hills. Travellers with impaired mobility may have a hard time getting around.

Sleep

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafes (Lan houses) are increasingly common, and even small towns often have at least one spot with more or less decent connections.
An increasing number of hotels, airports and shopping malls also offer hotspots for Wi-Fi with your laptop computer or of course smartphone. Sometimes it is free, sometimes you need to register and there is a time limite and sometimes you need to pay a small amount for (day) use.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

The country calling code to Brazil is: 55. To make an international call from , the code is: 0014. All cities use the following emergency numbers: 190 (police), 192 (medical) and 193 (fire department). However, if you dial 911 or 112 while in Brazil, you will be redirected to the police.
Brazil uses two-digit area codes, and phone numbers are eight digits long. Numbers beginning with digits 2 to 5 are land lines, while eight-digit numbers beginning with digits 6 to 9 are mobile phones.

Public payphones use disposable prepaid cards, which come with 20, 40, 60 or 75 credits. The discount for buying cards with larger denominations is marginal. Phone booths are nearly everywhere, and all cards can be used in all booths, regardless of the owner phone company. Cards can be bought from many small shops, and almost all news agents sell them.

Brazil has 4 national mobile operators: Vivo (Telefónica Group), Claro (Telmex/América Móvil Group), OI and TIM (Telecom Italia Group), all of them running GSM and HSDPA/HSPA+ networks. Pay-as-you-go (pré-pago) SIM cards for GSM phones are widely available in places like newsstands, drugstores, supermarkets, retail shops, etc.

Post

Correios is the national postal service of Brazil. It is a government run postal service and overseen by the Brazilian Ministry of Communications. Post offices are generally open from Monday to Friday from 09:00am to 5:00pm, although post offices located in shopping malls have their own opening hours, usually from 10:00am to 10:00pm. There are no set opening hours at weekends and as post office owners can choose when to open and close. More and more post offices are open until 1:00pm on Saturdays though. You can check things at the nearest post office.

Sending postcards, letters and parcels is a rather straightforward process and services are reliable, though not overly fast when sending post internationally, mostly taking about a week to the USA and Europe, and there is a track-and-trace service for this as well. Domestically, there are both next day as well as more expensive same day delivery options. Stamps are available at post offices, as well as some kiosks or other places where they sell postcards.

For sending packages internationally, you can also used competitively priced private companies like TNT, UPS or DHL. They are generally much quicker and not much more expensive.

External Links

• Official Tourism Website