Remember when on this post I said there was something I’d share when the time was right? Well! The time has arrived: here are my best Rio de Janeiro tips and tricks!
In this blog post, I’ll share with you all my best advice to enjoy a safe stay while living your best life in Rio de Janeiro!
If you’re planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro, stay tuned to the next blog posts. A lot of content coming related to the “Wonderful City”!
First Things First – My Experience in Rio de Janeiro
I’d like to start by sharing that this was a dream come true as Rio de Janeiro was my dream trip. The only thing missing now is to visit during Carnival season.
However, I feel like, for the first time, going during the low season is the best option to get to know the city. I went in November: from the 14th until the 24th with 5 friends.
Even though we only had 10 days in this beautiful city, it was more than enough to enjoy the beach culture, Rio’s history, bohemian life and just live the awesome city vibes.
I want to share an unbiased Rio de Janeiro travel guide, but I loved visiting this city so much. It is as one of a kind as people mention it to be.
Let’s go through what I consider to be the most important tips and tricks for this city.
11 Rio de Janeiro Tips and Tricks to Enjoy the Best of the City (the safest way possible!)
1. When to Travel to Rio de Janeiro
As I just mentioned, even though Rio’s Carnival season (which is happening as I write this post) is a spectacular celebration to join; it is also a time when the city floods with visitors, prices increase exponentially, and you might not be able to get to know the city per se.
Of course, it must be a fabulous time to visit (included in my bucket list!) but maybe not the best for a first time in Rio de Janeiro.
The best time of the year to visit the Wonderful City is probably around September and November (when it is Spring coming to Summer), you’ll have nice weather and good temperatures and it isn’t yet peak season; and, of course, the entire summer season from December to March, where it’s more likely for you to catch very high temperatures and it is already peak season for tourism. PS: heavy rain might still occur, mostly in the evenings – it is a tropical country after all.
Since Rio de Janeiro is a city of services, there isn’t specifically a time when all the Cariocas (what is called to people from/living in Rio) leave the city.
It is very common for you to find the Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon beaches full, independently of the day of the week (especially if high temperatures are announced).
2. Plan the Trip with Time
My trip to Rio was only 10 days, of which 2 of them were in 11-hour planes. We needed to have a plan, make sure we knew what we wanted to see and kind of organize it.
I’m not saying to have an hourly plan with the place, restaurant and every single move tracked. One of the beauties of Rio is also to let yourself go with the city’s vibes.
If something unplanned happens? That’s okay. If you find an activity you want to do that it’s not on the plan? That’s okay. If you just want to enjoy a beautiful day at the beach? That’s also okay.
Make sure you know what you want to see, the timings available to do so (opening and closing hours) and if there are any local holidays coming or special events (concerts, football games, etc) that might impact your plans.
This takes me to the third topic on this list: book attractions!
3. Book attractions in Advance
When I visited Rio, without knowing, we ended up being simultaneously in the city with 2 holidays, Taylor Swift’s concerts and Brazil X Argentina football match. As you can imagine, it was crazy. But this kind of activity is normal in Rio.
What we did to make sure we would be able to visit our points of interest was to book our visits previously.
You can do that directly on the attractions’ website. This part works pretty well.
Just keep confirmation of your booking with yourself and, most times, it will help you avoid gigantic lines.
4. Check for Free Tours
If there’s a topic I must include in this Rio de Janeiro tips and tricks is free tours.
I’m not used to doing them when I visit cities (which is a dumb decision I make each time) but it was the best way to get to know Rio’s history! Or any city’s actually.
It was a suggestion made by a friend part of the group and I couldn’t thank her more! In our case, we ended up doing all our tours with Rio by Foot. A company present in different South American countries that offers a variety of weekly tours that you can best match to your plans.
We did all their free tours: Pedra do Sal (my absolute favourite, with our amazing tour guide, Rafa), Bossa Nova and Carioca Life (the one I recommend you not doing, mainly in foreign languages), Historic Centre and Santa Teresa.
Even though the tours are called “free” they aren’t (this isn’t a Rio thing, it’s a “free tour” thing).
The guide in the end expects a contribution so I recommend you take physical money to pay (around 50 Brazilian real per person, but it’s up to you and your satisfaction at the end).
5. When Arriving (from Galeão Airport)
One of the things I wasn’t mentally prepared for when I came to Rio was what would be expecting me at the airport. It might be similar in other South American countries but, since this was the first I was visiting, it caught me off guard.
The second you leave all the passport checks (be aware of the lines you’ll encounter), a lot of people will tell you they are taxi drivers and will take you for X real to your accommodation. Don’t. Go. With. Them.
Outside you have the taxi cooperative with whom you’ll be able to fix a price before boarding and that will give you more assurance of not being overcharged. Try to negotiate the price as most times they will try to charge you the “gringo” (foreigner) price.
Another option is to catch an Uber directly from the airport. The app works in Rio and it saved our lives in our commutes.
This way you can protect yourself from scammers that will try to overcharge you for a ride into the city.
6. Getting a SIM Card
Another thing these people at the airport will try to sell you is SIM Cards for you to have data in your phone. I would also recommend you to not accept these offers as there isn’t an official operator there selling and you might get scammed. For you to have access to data in Rio I would either download a digital SIM card app (a friend of mine used Airalo and it worked just fine!) or buy a SIM Card for your phone once you’re in the city.
For this last suggestion, I wish you a lot of patience because it was the option I went for and man… Was this too much work for the benefit that it brought.
I wasn’t quite following what was happening as a friend of mine was negotiating and speaking with the workers; but we ended up going to three or four different stores only to end up on a 30-minute call with the operator to have the card activated.
So, if I have to recommend you now, definitely get Airalo app or any other app that provides this service.
7. Transportation in the City
As I was just saying, Uber is present in Rio de Janeiro and I would say, coming from Europe, it is the best way to move in the city. The prices are very affordable compared with the real-euro ratio (at least when I was there in November 2023).
There is public transportation but, since we had a short stay, we wanted to enjoy the most and not spend time waiting for buses and metros.
One thing I want to alert you since a lot of Uber drivers alerted us when catching a ride is, if you have the window down, don’t use your phone. As someone might catch it and run and goodbye phone.
It never happened to us since we mostly had windows up and, when down, we took the precaution to keep our phones in pockets or purses.
You’ll see a lot of people selling food and drinks in traffic lights and transit places (when going from the airport to the city we saw A LOT since there was huge traffic). Most of them are just trying to make some money by selling you something but don’t give luck the chance.
8. Physical vs Digital Money
Usually, when travelling to countries with different currencies, I’m a fan of Revolut as a payment/card solution.
Even if they don’t currently allow you to exchange your euros/dollars/whatever currency into real (Brazil’s currency), you can pay with your card, and they will do the exchange automatically.
Be aware that, both on weekends and holidays, you will be charged a small fee for this exchange.
This solution will solve most of your payment problems as even the people selling in the traffic have an ATM terminal or will find a colleague that has. It mostly works both with NFC payments through your phone and contactless with your card. Almost 100% of restaurants, bars and stores allow you to pay either with your phone or with your card.
The only situation when we needed physical money was when doing the free tours. And in those moments, either you are lucky, and the guide has a Revolut account, or you need to go to a fixed ATM to withdraw cash.
9. Walking Around
There are a lot of questions about whether Rio de Janeiro is a safe place. A lot of violent news of robberies and assaults might scare you.
Being completely transparent, as I was aware of this, I never let my guard down during the trip. You need to always be aware of your surroundings and trust your instincts above all.
The best recommendation I can give you is to carry only the essentials. This includes a copy of your identification document (never carry the real one!!), a bank card if you need to pay for something and your phone (bringing an old one also minimizes damage versus bringing your expensive iPhone 15 Max Pro) if you believe you will need to call an Uber or if you are meeting someone. If something happens, you are assured you won’t lose anything critical for the rest of the trip.
In my case, I carried a Revolut card with 100 euros maximum in it and an iPhone 6. So, if anyone stole me, I would lose a maximum of 100 euros and a very old phone.
Additionally, I would also recommend leaving your jewellery and watches at home and even clothing that is recognizable as expensive. It will only attract attention to you, placing you as a target.
This doesn’t mean for you to walk around with your oldest clothes looking bad. Brazilian people, especially women, take really good care of themselves and have a great fashion sense. It just means that you will want to avoid attracting attention from bad-intentioned people.
Following these tips is what made me come back home with all my belongings and a great experience in the Wonderful City.
10. The Wonderful City’s Beach Culture
As a Portuguese, I’m very used to going to the beach and carrying my entire house there. We take a chair, a beach umbrella, towels and even an entire three-course meal in case anyone gets hungry.
In Rio de Janeiro’s beaches, you won’t need this. I’m mostly speaking about Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon but, on a 3-day trip to Búzios (which I’ll tell you more about it later), I found the same situation.
Arriving at the beach, you will have people asking if you want a chair, a beach umbrella, or anything to drink or eat and they will even put it all together for you.
As you are on the beach enjoying yourself, you will also see a lot of people selling bikinis (do buy them as the quality is way better than European ones but don’t forget to negotiate), other foods (açai, grilled shrimp, grilled corn, etc etc) and the very famous “canga” (a thinner towel that all Brazilians take to the beach).
It is quite the experience as I’ve never lived this in my life. It also made me realize how hardworking people in Rio de Janeiro and in Brazil are to expose themselves to such activity at such high temperatures.
11. Night-time in Rio de Janeiro
My last Rio de Janeiro tip and trick relates to the night-time.
It is because I believe it to be the only moment my friends and I thought to be in Europe and were too comfortable when we shouldn’t be.
Overall, it is super okay for you to go out at night, enjoy your drink or even a night at a club.
However, coming from pretty safe cities in Europe, we are used to walking home from a club or a bar.
When in Rio, even if it is just a block you are considering walking home at night, don’t. It’s best to pay a four-euro taxi or Uber and ensure you get there safely rather than encountering a situation you might prefer not to have to tell.
Summing it up, I believe this to be my best 11 Rio de Janeiro tips and tricks for any traveller planning a trip in the coming months.
Have you been to this amazing country or city? What was your experience like?
Stay tuned to the following blog posts! A lot of Rio de Janeiro content awaits you 🙂
Amazing post, amazing tips 😍 Thank you!
Thank you so much for your feedback 🙂 really appreciate it!