The cheapest way to call Brazil from Portugal and the rest of Europe
Portugal is home to the largest Brazilian community in Europe, and calling Brazil is a weekly routine for many of them: parents, grandparents, a bank, a notary’s office, the INSS. WhatsApp handles a lot of it for free, but not all of it. Here is how to dial Brazil correctly and what each of the paid options really costs.
How to dial Brazil from Portugal
- Start with 00 55 (or +55): 00 is the international exit code in Portugal and across Europe, 55 is Brazil.
- Then the 2-digit area code (DDD): 11 São Paulo, 21 Rio de Janeiro, 31 Belo Horizonte, 61 Brasília.
- Then the number: 9 digits starting with 9 for mobiles, 8 digits for landlines. Example: +55 11 9XXXX-XXXX.
- Leave out the carrier code (the "0 + 2 digits" used for long-distance calls inside Brazil). It isn’t used from abroad.
The options, honestly compared
- WhatsApp: free when both sides have the app and a connection. It can’t call a landline, a bank, a notary or anyone without the app.
- Your operator’s base rate: expensive. Vodafone Portugal’s price list, for example, charges 67.7 cents a minute to Brazilian landlines and mobiles on post-paid plans, VAT included (checked September 2026).
- An operator add-on: good value if you call Brazil every month. Vodafone Portugal’s Brazil add-on costs €1.66 per 30 days, renews automatically, and brings calls down to 2 cents a minute to landlines and 7 cents to mobiles (checked September 2026). It only works from that Portuguese line.
- Pay per minute from the browser: Hyallo starts at $0.03/min (about €0.03) to Brazil, with no monthly fee and nothing to renew. Mobiles cost more than landlines, and the exact rate appears before you dial. It works from a laptop or phone in any country, not only from a Portuguese SIM.
So which one is cheapest?
For people who have WhatsApp, WhatsApp. For a lot of calls every month from a Vodafone Portugal line, the add-on is hard to beat, and other Portuguese operators have their own international plans worth checking. Pay-per-minute wins when you call Brazil occasionally, when you don’t want another subscription, when you are calling from a laptop, or when you live elsewhere in Europe, since it costs the same from Lisbon, Madrid, Paris or London. What you should never pay is the base rate without an add-on.
Calling Brazil from elsewhere in Europe
The dialing is the same from every European country: 00 or +, then 55. These guides add the time difference and local details for each route:
From United States of America (USA)
From Portugal
From Japan
From Spain
From United Kingdom
From Germany
From Italy
From Ireland
From France
From CanadaWeighing Hyallo against a specific app? These comparisons go into detail:
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Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Portuguese number to use Hyallo?
No. You sign in with an email address and call from the browser. No SIM or phone number is needed.
Can I pay in euros?
Yes. You can buy credit in euros, US dollars, Brazilian reais or pounds sterling.
Why does calling a Brazilian mobile cost more than a landline?
Brazilian mobile networks charge more to terminate a call than landline networks do, so every provider prices mobiles higher. Operator add-ons do the same.
Is the first call to Brazil free?
Yes. Your first call, up to 1 minute, is free and needs no card, which is enough to check the sound quality.