What’s up, people! In our Dica today, we are going to learn about the road in Portuguese. If you want to travel throughout the city, you have to use roads. We’ve collected some essential words for travelling on the streets by car, bus, motorcycle, and more. You are going to learn these words in Portuguese and their definitions!
How to say Road in Portuguese?
First off, let’s define what a transport route is. A transport route is every surface which vehicles, people and animals use for transportation. When narrowing down the concept for land roads, there are roughly two types: urban and rural roads. Let’s learn the most common names of roads:
Rua (Street) – A common public urban road. Usually, there are many different houses and buildings on it.
Avenida (Avenue) – A wide urban public road. Wider than a street and often provides access to the city’s most important locations.
Estrada (Road) – A rural public road, often not paved. It’s more common in the countryside or urban areas further away from the center. These roads have historically been used by trucks and other transportation vehicles.
Rodovia (Highway) – These are paved public roads. They are rural and paved roads, that is, they are intercity roads where vehicles can drive at high speed.
Via expressa (Express way) – It’s a road designed for high-speed traffic. Also known as Interstate or Parkway.
A Travessa (Side street) – It’s a smaller road than a rua. It’s usually connects two other streets.
O beco / A viela (Alley) – Small, narrow street.
And do you know what we call a sidewalk? In Portuguese, a sidewalk is a calçada. Fun fact: the part that people walk on at the beach is called calçadão.
Learn to Pronounce the Vocabulary
Now let’s learn how topronounce the words that you’ve learned.
A rua | |
A avenida | |
A estrada | |
A rodovia | |
A via expressa | |
A travessa | |
O beco / A viela |
Wanna learn more about a road in Portuguese? Or maybe try to describe different roads and streets in Portuguese? Come have online Portugueses classes with us, and we’ll help you!
Examples with Road in Portuguese

Let’s take a look at some examples with the different types of roads in Brazil:
A Rio & Learn fica na Rua Siqueira Campos.
Rio & Learn is situated at Siqueira Campos Street.
A Avenida Atlântica corta toda a orla de Copacabana.
Avenida Atlântica cuts through the entire Copacabana shoreline.
A Avenida Brasil conecta a zona central para a zona oeste da cidade do Rio de Janeiro.
Avenida Brasil connects downtown to Rio de Janeiro’s west side.
A Via Dutra liga o estado do Rio de Janeiro ao estado de São Paulo.
Via Dutra connects Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
O centro da cidade do Rio de Janeiro tem muitas travessas.
There are a lot of side streets in downtown Rio.
A Estrada Reta de Piranema liga os municípios de Seropédica, onde fica a Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Itaguaí e Santa Cruz, onde está a Casa da Moeda do Brasil.
Reta de Piranema Parkway connects counties such as Seropédica, where the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro is located, Itaguaí and Santa Cruz, home of Casa da Moeda do Brasil.
Exercises with Road in Portuguese
Complete the phrases below with the correct type of road in the brackets:
- Ele correu com o carro na __________. (rua / via expressa)
- A __________ é um tipo de rua bem pequena. (avenida / viela)
- A __________ Brasil tem praticamente 60 km de extensão. (avenida / beco)
- A __________do Ouvidor fica entre duas das principais ruas do centro da cidade. (rua / estrada)
- A __________ que eu peguei não era pavimentada. (via expressa / estrada)
- Minha casa fica na __________ Barata Ribeiro. (rua / rodovia)
- Qual é a maior ___________ do seu estado? (avenida / viela)
- Na __________ você vai ver carros, ônibus e até caminhões! (rodovia / viela)
- Você não tem medo de dirigir tão rápido na __________? (via expressa / beco)
- A __________ da minha escola fica perto da minha casa. (rodovia / rua)
Want to make a road trip in Rio? Let’s travel to distant beaches with RioLIVE! Now that we know the several types of roads we can explore and discover Brazil. Let’s go?
Kisses from Rio & Learn!
Click on the links bellow to see more related Dicas
Road Signs in Brazil
Taxi in Portuguese
Public Institutions in Brazil
Prepositions of Place in Portuguese
Answers
- Ele correu com o carro na via expressa.
- A viela é um tipo de rua bem pequena.
- A avenida Brasil tem praticamente 60 km de extensão.
- A travessa do Ouvidor fica entre duas das principais ruas do centro da cidade.
- A estrada que eu peguei não era pavimentada.
- Minha casa fica na rua Barata Ribeiro.
- Qual é a maior avenida do seu estado?
- Na rodovia você vai ver carros, ônibus e até caminhões!
- Você não tem medo de dirigir tão rápido na via expressa?
- A rua da minha escola fica perto da minha casa.