Rio de Janeiro: Getting You Organized

If you have reached this page, you are probably on your way to Rio de Janeiro or already here. So let us bring some order to your thoughts about the city every Brazilian dreams of reaching. We will not tell you about the city's history here; as we said, we will sort out the everyday things for you: tips, small things, the practical stuff nobody puts in a guidebook. In short, we will teach you to fish instead of giving you fish.

Here we will cover the two things you need on day one: how you get out of the airport or the bus station, and how you move around the city once you are in it. One warning before we start. Fares, app prices and payment rules in Rio change several times a year, and they have changed a lot recently. Treat every number below as a ballpark, check the app or the machine in front of you, and if you want the figure for the week you land, write to us on WhatsApp at +55 21 98689-5321. Alright, let's begin.

How Do You Get Out of Here???

If you are arriving on a flight from outside Brazil, you will probably land at Rio Galeao international airport, also called Tom Jobim airport. This airport is roughly half an hour by car from the Copacabana and Ipanema area, the neighborhoods where you will probably be staying, though traffic can easily double that. We always recommend taking a car straight to the hotel and not getting tangled up with a bus, even though that option exists. A yellow taxi or one of the prepaid fixed-fare taxi desks in the arrivals hall will run you somewhere in the region of R$80 to R$150 to the south zone, depending on the exact address, the hour and whether it is a weekend or a holiday. An app ride is usually the cheaper option, commonly landing somewhere between R$50 and R$90, but it swings with demand, so open the app before you commit to a taxi.

One thing worth knowing at Galeao: app cars do not simply pull up at the kerb outside arrivals. There are designated ride-share pickup zones, and the easiest of them is up on the departures level, a short walk and one escalator from where you collect your bags. The arrivals-level zones exist too but they are more confusing and thick with touts trying to sell you a ride. The app will tell you which zone your driver is heading for; read it before you start walking.

If you are traveling within Brazil, you may land at Santos Dumont airport. This is a smaller airport located inside the city, right on the bay, and it is a much shorter hop to the south zone: fifteen or twenty minutes without traffic. Expect roughly R$90 to R$120 in a yellow taxi and something like R$60 to R$90 in an app car, again depending on the hour. At both airports you will find yellow taxis waiting for you at the exit from the terminal. App drivers at Santos Dumont pick up from the airport car park.

Arriving by bus? You will get off at Rodoviaria Novo Rio. This central station is in the downtown and port area. Here too, the yellow taxis will be waiting for you, and the apps work perfectly well from there. The ride down to Copacabana is short, about eleven kilometres, and it usually comes in well under the airport fares, but the station area gets congested and the price climbs with the traffic. Here as well, we would not recommend the bus.

How to Get from Place to Place

Ride apps: Uber and its competitors are now simply how Rio moves. Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians drive for the apps, and the middle class, long tired of the poor service of taxi and bus drivers, abandoned the alternatives years ago. The service in Rio is excellent, easy and still cheap by European or Israeli standards. Two habits worth adopting: check the licence plate before you get in, and prefer the app's own in-app payment so there is a record of the ride.

Bicycles: around the city you will find orange bicycle stations. The system is called Bike Itau, run by the operator Tembici together with the bank, and you unlock the bikes with the Bike Itau app. There is a single-ride option for a short hop, a leisure pass covering a couple of days that is far better value if you plan to ride more than once, and monthly and annual plans for people staying longer. Each trip is capped, usually an hour on weekdays and two hours at weekends, and you pay per extra minute beyond that, so dock the bike and take another one rather than holding on to it. Electric bikes are available in Rio and always cost extra. Prices have moved several times in the last couple of years, so check the app rather than trusting any number you read online, including ours.

Metro: still the best solution for escaping the traffic jams, and the cleanest, coolest ride in the city. The single fare is R$7.90, which makes it the most expensive metro in Brazil, and it is reviewed most years. You no longer have to queue for a card: you can simply tap a contactless credit or debit card, a phone or a watch at the gate, or buy a digital single ticket in the app. The reloadable Giro card still exists and is sold at the booths and machines if you prefer it. Women-only cars used to run at rush hour only; since 2026 they operate during all the metro's hours. Using the metro you can quickly get from Copacabana and Ipanema to the city center, the Maracana stadium, Leblon and more. Note one change: the old Metro na Superficie shuttle buses that connected Botafogo station to Jardim Botanico and Gavea were discontinued, and regular municipal bus lines with metro integration replaced them, boarding on Rua Sao Clemente and Voluntarios da Patria by the station. If the Botanical Gardens are your destination, ask at the station which line is currently doing that run.

Bus: the least comfortable public transport service of them all, and the apps have taken most of its appeal away. A municipal bus ride costs R$5 with no distance limit, and the same fare covers the BRT and the VLT tram downtown. The big change is that Rio's municipal buses no longer take cash at all: you board with a Jae card, tap a contactless bank card or phone, or pay by Pix at the turnstile. If you are here for more than a couple of days and plan to use buses, pick up a Jae card early, because it also gives you a free transfer to another bus, the BRT or the VLT within a couple of hours. Most buses in Rio have no air conditioning and during rush hours are very crowded, so you will probably have to stand. If you are more than one person, skip the experience and split a car. A bus at rush hour in Rio: not recommended for the faint of heart.

Taxi: for a large part of the population, Rio's yellow taxis became a fallback rather than a first choice once the ride apps arrived. As a rule, a taxi will be more expensive than an app ride for the same journey. After years of poor service and high prices, the people had had enough and Brazilians voted with their feet. Nevertheless, a taxi is an excellent option if you are standing in the middle of the street and want to get back to your hotel quickly and safely, or if your phone has died. Raise your hand and a taxi will stop for you almost anywhere, even if it means stopping traffic. Insist on the meter, and remember that the night and holiday tariff is higher than the daytime one.

Rio Trip is an Israeli travel agency in Rio de Janeiro, with more than 23 years in tourism, guiding travelers in Rio. We run day trips in the city and the surrounding area and also organize tours for private groups according to the client's requests. We would be happy to help you plan your trip in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. Transport prices and payment rules here change often, so write to us on WhatsApp at +55 21 98689-5321 and we will tell you what things actually cost the week you arrive.