Just general enquiry...
Have you been to one?
Are they worth doing?
When / which / where are the best?
What sort of $$$ do they charge?
i went to Rio for 5 weeks...stayed with dennis at connectionrio...cant recommend it highly enough..safe area and awesome training for a very reasonable price
How is the training at Gordo's/connectionrio?
If you don't have any teammates or anyone down there to help get you set up then try to hook up with Dennis at Connection Rio (or someone similar) and they can set you up and also help you navigate the area during your trip. If you aren't set on Rio then email Fabio Gurgel. He does the Alliance Exchange program which is really inexpensive and you can get everything taken care of for you. Transfer to and from the airport, a place to stay, unlimited training, private classes, etc. Fabio is awesome, has good English, and will make sure that you have a great time. I don't think I need to mention that you'll get incredible training there.
I would recommend a BJJ camp. A lot of them have a repetitive mold for helping foreigners get the most out of training during their stay. I went to one back in 2004 from Felipe Costa www.brazilianblackbelt.com. There were three training session a day. The best part about it was the high level instructors were dedicated to being at the camp. You don't want to fly to Brazil and find out that someone you wanted to train with is doing a seminar somewhere, booked with private lessons, on family vacation, or whatever. Some of the various instructors that participate are Felipe Costa, Comprido, Jacare, Demian Maia, Ratchino, Leo Viera, Ricardo Viera, etc..
Turin - dude, if you go to brazil no camps necessary
just go to fight zone or gordo's or gurgel's for bjj
if you want mma, go to cm systems
done!
Have you ever been to Brazil?
Gordo's is about an hours bus journey out of Copa/Ipanema where most tourists stay and the area Barra isnt really known for being a tourist mecca. FightZone is in Copa but there are schools that I'd rather train at such as De la Riva or The Carlson Gracie academy in the Copacabana area.
A lot of the schools that you would have heard of are in areas that most people dont want to stay in when not training. If you've not been to Brazil before and dont want the hastle of travelling between places and setting everything up on your own then connection rio or the gracie barra camps are useful resources.
Personally I'd rather do it myself but I wouldnt just be there to train BJJ I'd want the freedom of doing what I want when I want. The prices that I've seen for BJJ camps are pretty steep but Connection Rio is about the same price as most hostels in Copa/Ipanema and Dennis seems willing to arrange sessions at other academies as well as Gordo's.