Arena Da Baixada - World Cup Stadium

Curitiba is home to one of Brazil's 12 World Cup stadia for this summer's Carnival of Football. Here's how to make it your home for a few weeks, for less.

Fact File

City – Curitiba 
Stadium name – Arena da Baixada 
Stadium capacity – 41,000 
World Cup games – 4 
Time zone – 3 hours behind GMT

Matches

Group F – Iran v Nigeria 
Group E – Honduras v Ecuador 
Group B – Australia v Spain 
Group H – Algeria v Russia

The city

Curitiba in Parana state is the eighth biggest city in a country of big cities, and a whopping 934m (nearly one Mt. Snowdon) above sea level. Curitiba is also regularly listed amongst Latin America's best cities to live in.

Praca Tiradentes square in the centre of town is part-paved with glass, floating above extensive archaeological works and findings. The city sits on the Iguacu River and en route to the eponymous Iguacu Falls – think southern Niagara.

Curitiba is 250 miles southwest of Sao Paulo, about 6 hours by coach (around £21 at the time of writing). In fact you can even arrive via coach from cities in Argentina, Chile and Paraguay so compare journeys to see which works out cheapest.

Curitiba is served by Aeroporto Afonso Pena international airport, which includes routes via Miami (transfers into the city centre from £1).

Curitiba stadium

The Arena da  Baixada stadium was built as recently as 1999 for current tenants Atletico Paranaense, but has undergone extensive refurbishment. It's also known locally as Estadio Jaoquim Americo Guimaraes.

You’ll be pleased to know Curitiba is famed for its public transport; not that you’ll need it. The Baixada is pretty much central in Curitiba, around 2 miles south from Praca Tiradentes.

Curitiba hotels

You can either stick closer to the stadium which will bump your price up a little (it’s in a nice residential area) or find accommodation closer to Curitiba city centre – Centro.

Ignoring the probably-pricey but well thought of Sheraton, TripAdvisor recommends Quality Hotel Curitiba, Slaviero Conceptual Full Jazz, Bourbon Curitiba Convention Hotel and the Transamerica Prime Batel. Batel, incidentally, is where you’ll find most nightlife.

World Cup tickets

You can’t guarantee yourself tickets for Arena da Baixada matches unless you book the tickets directly through eSeats.com, an A+ Rated BBB company and accredited NATB company.

Plan your travel to Curitiba

If you want to dodge internal flights once you land in Brazil, your only option for flying to Curitiba direct is via Miami. That's great if you want to take in England's warm-up games against Ecuador and Honduras, and it might even save you money. Compare the cost of routing through Miami to using either of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo hubs, and use that as a basis to estimate the total cost of booking the entire trip yourself.

Whatever you do book, get your travel essentials sorted early. Arrange travel insurance for your trip, and also look into ways to keep your phone bill down and save on Brazil currency before you go.

Local knowledge

In the mid-1800s Europeans moved in – mostly Germans, Italians, Poles and Ukrainians. You can find their influence all over the city and in a number of museums dedicated to that heritage. There is also a huge arts and crafts fair every Sunday in the old city.

TripAdvisor reckons the best eateries include Barolo, Kandoo Culinaria Japonesa, Churrascaria Jardins Gril, Zea Mais and Quaranta.

Curitiba average temperature (June): 18°C 
Curitiba average rainfall (June): 3.9 inches

Football hipsters

The city’s two main clubs, Curitiba and Atletico Paranaense, maintain a fierce local rivalry. Some great nicknames at play here: White-Thigh or Grandfather-Thigh pitted against the Hurricane, respectively.

Stadium: Arena da Baixada
Country: Brazil
City: Curitiba
Capacity: 41456