
Gran Sabana, Venezuela
Only the lonely EN-10 road ventures into Venezuela's wild southern tip. From there, we unveil otherworldly scenarios, such as the savanna full of dinosaurs in the Spielberg saga.
Gran Sabana, Venezuela
Only the lonely EN-10 road ventures into Venezuela's wild southern tip. From there, we unveil otherworldly scenarios, such as the savanna full of dinosaurs in the Spielberg saga.
VISA AND OTHER PROCEDURES
Portuguese and Brazilian citizens do not need a visa to visit Venezuela for up to 90 days. It is enough that they present a passport valid for 6 months after the arrival date.
HEALTH AND SAFETY CARE
There is a moderate to high risk of contracting malaria throughout the year in the Amazon, Anzoategui, Bolivar and Delta Amacuro regions. The risk of contracting severe malaria is restricted to Amazonas and Bolivar. Protect yourself from mosquito bites also to reduce the risk of contracting Dengue fever.
For more information on traveling health, see the Health Portal of the Ministry of Health and Tropical and Traveler Medicine Clinic. In FitForTravel find country-specific health and disease prevention advice (in English).
Security
At the time of creation of this text, Venezuela was experiencing a political situation of great instability and many countries advised their citizens not to visit Venezuela until there was some calm. Many of the services, including internal flights, were suspended due to protests against the rulers.
In order to be able to make the decision whether or not to visit Venezuela in conscience, you must bear in mind that, even when it is politically stable, it is a country with high risks to visitor safety, especially with regard to Caracas – Caracas, for example, has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
TRIP TO VENEZUELA
A TAP (tel: 707 205 700) fly from Lisbon directly or via Funchal (Madeira) to the Venezuelan capital Caracas from €800. At the time of creation of this text, there was a huge influx of Venezuelan citizens on flights from Caracas to Portugal and from Portugal to Caracas, caused by the urgency of exchanging Bolivars (Venezuelan currency) for Euros whose price had been in free fall for some time. For this reason, it happened with enormous frequency that TAP flights to and from Venezuela were sold out long in advance and overvalued prices.
INTERNAL FLIGHTS
There are six main airlines that serve Venezuela with several domestic flights:
airport, Aserca, Avior, Laser, Rutaca, SBA Airlines
From the country's most important airport, Maiquetia, in the capital Caracas, depart numerous flights, the most frequent to Porlamar, Maracaibo and Puerto Ordaz (Ciudad Guayana), Mérida, Ciudad Bolívar and Canaima.
The price of flights varies substantially from company to company, so it's worth comparing the values of several of them before buying tickets.
TRUCK
Given the inexistence of a rail network, the most popular way to travel is by bus, because, due to the fact that fuel is almost free, tickets have the most affordable prices in South America, €1 to €2 or even less per hour. trip.
The best buses in Venezuela are the bed bus with seats that recline up to bed position. You executives, like the bus bed, they have air conditioning usually too powerful, TV and often a bathroom on board.
Shorter routes are served by puesto by old US buses, repainted and sometimes even rebuilt and "kitted" in an eccentric way (more rarely minibuses) that work on the basis of only departing when full. They can be more expensive than the worst buses but also faster and, in some cases, even more comfortable.
SHIP
Venezuela has a number of islands off its Caribbean coast. Of these, only Margarita Island is regularly served by ferries – from Caracas and Puerto de La Cruz – and other smaller vessels.
CAR RENTAL
Renting Venezuelan vehicles through popular tourist service websites (expia.com style and the like) proves challenging if not impossible. Most sites do not show results when searching for vehicles, for example, in Caracas. Anyway, you can always rent a car after arrival for values that will be around €40 to €60 per day with insurance included. To offset this value – high compared to many European countries and the United States – the fuel is practically free – around €0,02 to €0,04 per liter, as a result of Venezuela being one of the world's largest oil producers and a socialist government nation.
Venezuela has a wide network of roads (82.000km) mostly in very acceptable conditions which is not to say that you will not need a robust 4WD vehicle for certain more remote areas, especially during and just after the rainy season.
During peak hours, but not only, traffic in Caracas and on the access roads to the capital can stop in endless queues. Drivers are aggressive and ignore the rules whenever it suits them best. There are also sudden robberies perpetrated by motorcyclists or armed pedestrians.
You'll find military checkpoints along almost every route across the country.
Venezuela appears on the map just above the equator. Even taking into account the recent anomalies, it has two well-defined climatic seasons: a drought that lasts from December to April and a rainy season that lasts the rest of the year. Preferably visit during the dry season and, if it's not a hassle, try to avoid the holiday periods for Venezuelans, such as Christmas and New Year's Eve, Carnival and Holy Week.
Venezuela's currency is the Bolivar Forte (VEF). Due to runaway inflation, at the time this text was created, it had been in free fall for some time against most other currencies. Furthermore, it has an official value substantially higher than that practiced on the black market.
In the 90s, Venezuela was one of the most expensive nations in South America. Today, the sharp devaluation of the Bolivar has made it one of the most accessible on the continent. There are ATMs in the main cities and payment with credit cards is widespread in the most sophisticated establishments. However, don't expect to find ATMs or payment terminals in the wild scenery of Canaima National Park or Amazonas.
ACCOMMODATION
Caracas, Margarita Island and a few other hotspots for Venezuelan tourism have their 4 and 5 star hotels. Despite being responsible for the inflation of prices – from €120 to €400 per night – this quotation, by inflated standard, does not guarantee the infrastructure, refinement and quality of service of the best European or North American hotels.
Os hostels e youth hostels, as we know them, are rare like the campsites. In other tourist places, the best accommodation solutions are often the inns, which there are in large numbers and usually with vacancies, with the exception of the long weekends around major holidays. Some posadas have their own styles, sometimes suited to the places or buildings in which they appear, others are mere cement crates. At inns lower level may have deplorable hygiene and comfort conditions. Choose the place where you will stay carefully and also take into account that in Venezuela there are plenty of brothels and sexual motels who rent rooms by the hour but may not excuse themselves from renting for one or more nights to tourists who visit them by mistake.
prices of inns vary in large order, from €7 to €10 per double room for the most spartan and uncharacteristic to €80 to €90 per night in inns exquisite historical.
FOOD
Restaurants abound in Venezuela. They serve a variety of dishes and snacks that are a testament to the country's ethnic richness, which over time has welcomed immigrants from all over: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Middle Eastern, Chinese, etc.
The least expensive way to have lunch is to order, in a popular restaurant, a executive menu ou of the day, which includes soup and main course for €3-5. As elsewhere in South America, some market stalls sell these same types of meals even cheaper.
In any restaurant, if you order meals à la carte, supposedly cooked just for you, they'll cost you a lot more. Venezuela has its dose of independent restaurants or part of the more sophisticated hotels you can find buffets wealthy but you will hardly find executive menu ou of the day. At these restaurants, expect to pay €20 to €80 for a full meal, depending on the reputation of the place.
INTERNET
Not all guest houses provide Wi-Fi, but you should expect it from the most expensive hotels in the country. If you do not have free access where you stayed, you should have no difficulty finding an internet café with very acceptable internet access. Many public libraries and bars provide this service, bars give passwords to customers.
If you want to have internet all the time and you own a smartphone ou tablets unlocked or portable and from a pen (USB Stick), buy a Venezuelan SIM card with minutes for calls and gigabytes for navigation included.