Orientation: getting your bearings in Chapecó
Chapecó is a regional centre in western Santa Catarina, serving a wide area that reaches into neighbouring parts of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. For a visitor, that means the city functions as a practical hub rather than a sprawling metropolis: most of what you will want to see and do sits in the central area, and the transport options are correspondingly simple.
One local quirk is worth knowing before you start navigating. Many addresses in Chapecó carry a letter suffix — usually D for "to the right" of a given reference road, or E for "to the left". These letters are not decorative. If you enter an address into a GPS navigation system without them, you risk being directed to the wrong side of the city.
Rail, metro and tram
Chapecó has no rail, metro or tram network for visitors to use. Getting around the city is done by road, on foot, by bus, or by taxi and ride-hailing apps.
Walking
The central area of Chapecó is very walkable, which makes it the easiest way to cover the city's core on foot. If your accommodation and your plans are both in the centre, you can reasonably expect to leave the car keys and bus fare behind for much of your stay.
City buses
Beyond the centre, Chapecó has a network of city buses. Lines and timetables are available through the Moovit app, which is the practical tool for planning a trip.
- Fares: the fare is paid for each ride, with no free transfer — not even at the central terminal. If your journey requires a change of bus, budget for a second fare.
- Planning: check routes and timetables in Moovit before you set out, since the network is the main alternative to taxis outside the walkable centre.
Taxis and ride-hailing
Taxis can be difficult to find unless you are leaving from a hotel, so it is unwise to rely on hailing one from the street at random. Uber has operated locally since February 2018 and is a useful alternative, particularly if you are not starting from a hotel rank.
Long-distance buses
Chapecó's long-distance bus terminal sits a short drive from the church square in the centre. Be aware that it has an open structure: it can be cold in the winter months and the infrastructure is not great, so it is not a place to plan on spending a lot of time. The main destinations of interest to travellers are Foz do Iguaçu, Curitiba and Florianópolis.
Arriving by air: Serafin Enoss Bertaso Airport
Chapecó is served by Serafin Enoss Bertaso Airport (airport code XAP). Gol, Avianca and Azul have regular direct flights from São Paulo Guarulhos, Florianópolis and Porto Alegre. Note that Tam/Latam ceased its flights there in 2016, so do not expect to book with them.
Unusually for Brazil, the airport is owned and managed by the city itself rather than by the federal airport authority, which is why it does not appear in the INFRAERO database.
Two practical points matter when planning a trip through this airport:
- Winter fog: as at many airports in southern Brazil, Chapecó suffers frequent closures due to fog in the winter months (June to August).
- No easy fallback: the airport is the main commercial airport operating within a wide radius, so if it is unavailable there is no quick alternative for leaving the city. The nearest other major airports are all a long way off — Foz do Iguaçu, Porto Alegre, Curitiba and Florianópolis — which makes contingency planning worthwhile if you are flying in the winter.
Once you are on the ground, the city centre and its walkable core are your reference point for onward travel, whether by taxi, ride-hailing app or bus.