Curitiba tourist information

Curitiba has a very simple and practical transportation system. Public transportation consists entirely of buses. There are several different types of bus, each with a different function.

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Moving around in a car can be difficult in and around the city centre because of the many one-way streets and constant traffic jams. This makes the public transportation system more attractive if one wants to go there. The trinary system allows quick access to the city centre for car drivers. Some avenues are spacious and laid out in a grid, and apart from some points around the city centre, Munhoz da Rocha Street and Batel Avenue, traffic jams aren't thus severe.

Recently, the city installed around 200 traffic radars, causing much discontent among drivers in general. This technology uses sensors under the pavement which trigger a digital camera if the car is above speed limit. The picture, including the date and time it was taken, is sent to the driver's home, as a speeding ticket. The system can send these tickets to drivers anywhere in Brazil.

The speed limit is usually 60 km/h on avenues, but can be 40 km/h in dangerous places or where many pedestrians cross the street.

Afonso Pena International Airport is Curitiba's main airport. It is located in the nearby city of São José dos Pinhais and all commercial flights operate from this airport. It is integrated into Curitiba's transportation system, with rapid buses and executive buses connecting the airport to the city.

Small aircraft may also use the Bacacheri airport, which today hosts a flight school and an airbase.

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Weather  ^*

Located in Southern Brazil, Curitiba is a somewhat humid city in Subtropical zone. Its is located in a plateau (around 900 m) and the flat terrain with flooded areas contribute to its mild and damp winter, with average temperatures of 13°C (55°F) in the coldest month, falling slightly below 0°C (32°F), in coldest days. During summer, the average temperature is around 21°C (70°F), but gets above 32ºC (90ºF) on hot days. In fact, of Brazil's twenty-six state capitals, Curitiba is the coldest, due to altitude, despite being 600 km north of Porto Alegre, the southernmost state capital in Brazil, but located at sea level. Curitiba's inhabitants claim that its weather is unpredictable. Heat waves during winter and cold waves during summer are not uncommon, and even inside a single day there can be a lot of variation, what is typical in subtropical areas. A local saying says that "Curitiba is a city in which the four seasons are clearly defined, and it has all four every day". This characteristic is consequence of some factors:

Temperature - Yearly Average

* The flat terrain surrounded by mountains in a rough circle with radius 40 km help block the winds, allowing the morning mist to cover the city on cold mornings. * The flatness of the terrain hinders quick water drainage after rains, providing then a good source of water vapor for the atmosphere. * Cold fronts come often from Antarctica and Argentina all year long, bringing tropical storms in summer and lots of cold winds in winter. They can be very quick, with no more than one day between the start of the southern winds and the start of rain. * Curitiba's weather is also influenced by the dry air masses that dominate Brazil's midwest most of the year, bringing dry and hot weather, sometimes even in winter.