Curitiba is the capital of Parana state in southern Brazil, a well-planned city known for its parks, bus rapid transit system and cooler highland climate, and a rental car is a useful way to reach the wine country, coastal towns and mountain routes that surround it. It is worth knowing up front that Bacacheri Airport (BFH), a small field close to downtown, is used mainly for general aviation and charter flights and does not carry the standard lineup of rental car desks that most travelers expect; the real gateway for renting a car in Curitiba is Afonso Pena International Airport (CWB), roughly eighteen kilometers northeast of the city center, where international and local companies operate full counters.
From CWB or downtown Curitiba, the historic Serra Verde railway corridor toward Morretes and the coastal town of Paranagua can also be covered by road, a scenic mountain drive of roughly ninety minutes that drops from Curitiba's plateau down through the Atlantic Forest escarpment toward the coast. Closer routes within the city and surrounding metro area, including the botanical garden district and Curitiba's ring roads, are simple and well signed.
Driving is on the right throughout Brazil, and one local quirk worth knowing is that most rental cars here run on flex-fuel engines built to run on either gasoline or ethanol, with pumps offering both at nearly every station, so it is worth asking which fuel your specific rental prefers before filling up. Roads around Curitiba itself are generally excellent, with the mountain descent toward the coast requiring more care due to curves, fog and occasional heavy rain typical of the escarpment's changeable weather. Fuel stations are frequent throughout the metro area, and the well-organized road network makes Curitiba an easier city to navigate by car than many of Brazil's larger metropolitan centers, even for a first-time visitor unfamiliar with South American driving norms.