We recently spent three months exploring Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Now it’s time to tell you how to travel to Rio, including when to visit, the best things to do in Rio, getting around Rio, city quirks, city safety, and how to survive Carnival in Rio, plus where to eat, drink, and sleep in Rio. It’s all here.

How to travel to Rio de Janeiro

The Marvelous City lives up to its nickname with friendly locals, a festive atmosphere, plenty to see and do, terrific food and drink, an unmatched mix of cultures, and its own Rio rhythm.

What do I need to know about Rio?

Everyone calls Rio de Janeiro simply Rio. People who live in Rio are called cariocas and, as the saying goes, “you can’t spell carioca without rio.” Cariocas are said to have gotten the nickname from an Indigenous word that means white house, a nod to the Portuguese royals who lived in fancy houses in Rio when they ruled Brazil.

Cariocas are proud of their Rio roots and traditions and even speak their own tweaked version of Portuguese with distinct pronunciations not used in other parts of Brazil. This makes navigating the language even trickier, as we learned during our month attending Portuguese language school in Rio.

The city got its name because Portuguese colonists arrived in January and promptly mistook Guanabara Bay for the mouth of a river. Rio means river in Portuguese and de janeiro means of January.

In 2012, the greater Rio area–from Tijuca National Park to the ocean–was collectively named a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Founded in 1565, Rio is the capital of Rio de Janeiro state. Rio served as the seat of the Portuguese Empire from 1808 to 1822, when the royal court moved from Portugal to avoid Napoleon. Rio was also the capital of Brazil before the capital was moved to the purpose-built city of Brasilia in 1960.

Rio is so big (nearly seven million people live within the city limits) and so complex that it’s almost a country unto itself. Motorcycles weave and beep through traffic. City sidewalks (miles and miles of them intricately laid with small black-and-white stones in a distinctly Brazilian style of sidewalk art called Portuguese Pavement) fill with cariocas, travelers, and cruise ship passengers (Rio is a popular cruise ship port of call).

In the Copacabana area of Rio, skyscrapers full of offices and apartments make the neighborhood look like many other major cities in Latin America, with one jarring difference. In Rio, women in bikinis and flip-flops (or bare feet) and topless men in teeny-tiny swim trunks called sungas stroll down the sidewalk, eat in restaurants, do their grocery shopping, get a haircut, visit the ATM, etc., on their way to or from the beach. In Rio, there is no such thing as “no shirt, no shoes, no service.”

To really observe the melting pot of cultures that is Rio, head to Copacabana Beach. There, you’ll see people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and socioeconomic backgrounds mingling and mixing. This space is expressly for everyone, and it’s a lovely thing to behold. Our post about Copacabana Beach will give you a preview, including the many, many, many roving vendors on Copacabana Beach ready to sell you everything from a new bikini to a cold caipirinha to shrimp on a stick.

What Rio neighborhoods should I visit?

Rio is a sprawling city wedged between a meandering waterfront and sheer mountains and made up of distinct neighborhoods. Here are highlights from different neighborhoods in Rio. Of course, the city has many other neighborhoods. These are simply the ones with the most to offer visitors.

The centro/downtown area bustles with business during the week. On weekends, streets are nearly empty. The centro/downtown area is home to notable architecture and many of the museums in our 8 Top Museums in Rio post. As we note in our post about Historic Sites in Rio, the centro/downtown area is also where many of the city’s founding events took place.

The Lapa neighborhood is home to some of the highlights in our post about 13 Unexpected Things to do in Rio, including the Bonde tram station and the Selaron Staircase.

Important Historic Sites in Rio can also be found in the Little Africa area of Rio, especially those related to the city’s long history with slavery. These include Pedra do Sal and the Cais do Valongo (Valongo Wharf), where up to a million enslaved Africans entered Brazil.

Visit the Urca neighborhood on a sunny Saturday to enjoy the waterfront walkway where cariocas gather to drink beer and grill snacks on hibachi-type grills. Neighboring Praia Vermelha (Red Beach) is another highlight in that area.

Botafogo, sometimes called Botasoho, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Rio. These days, Botafogo is where many of the city’s newest and hippest places to eat in Rio and places to drink in Rio can be found.

Ipanema Beach is one of the Most Popular Attractions in Rio and home to one of our favorite Luxury Hotels in Rio.

The gorgeous arc of Copacabana Beach is one of the Most Popular Attractions in Rio, and in the bustling Copacabana neighborhood, you’ll find even more Luxury Hotels in Rio.

The Santa Teresa neighborhood of Rio, created as a haven for Rio’s elite who wanted to escape plagues and diseases that spread through the densely packed heart of Rio, is like a city within a city. This bohemian hillside enclave rising above Rio is home to historic mansions (many in need of some TLC), enticing neighborhood buteco bars, artist workshops, and winding cobblestone streets. Take the Bonde tram up from the Lapa station and wander the area.

Many neighborhoods are also home to street art, as you can see in our photo essay about street art in Rio.

Is Rio safe?

Like any major city, crime and violence happen in Rio. These problems are exacerbated by long-simmering conflicts between law enforcement and gang members and drug dealers in the city’s notorious favelas (though it’s important to remember that not all favelas are alike). That conflict does boil over at times, but usually in areas that tourists don’t visit.

Pickpockets are around in Rio as well, and cell phones and other valuables do get snatched. So it’s important to pack your common sense if you travel to Rio. Be aware of your surroundings. Don’t keep your cell phone in your hand on the street (if you need to use it, move to the doorway of a business away from street traffic). And never wear flashy jewelry.

What are the best things to do in Rio?

We spent three busy months in Rio, and we still didn’t see and do everything in the city.

We did a LOT, however, and it’s all covered in the following detailed posts about things to do in Rio including:

The most popular attractions in Rio

Top 8 museums in Rio

Historic sites in Rio

13 unexpected things to do in Rio

Things to do around Rio

Where to eat in Rio de Janeiro

Where to drink in Rio de Janeiro

Luxury Hotels in Rio de Janeiro

Your shopping and sunning guide to Copacabana Beach

Photo essay of street art in Rio de Janeiro

What is Carnival in Rio like?

Every year, Rio puts on the most famous Carnival celebration in the world. It’s a massive, pride-filled, elaborate week-long celebration that many cariocas spend all year preparing for.

Check out the sounds, colors, lights, and precision of the Beija-Flor samba school procession in the Sambadrome during Carnival 2025 in Rio in our video, above. You can also watch our videos of processions from the Tijuca Samba School, and the Salgueiro Samba School.

Tens of thousands of visitors fill the city. Street parties erupt all over town. Celebrating happens day and night. After experiencing our first Carnival in Rio, we shared tips about how to survive and thrive in our First-Time Guide to Carnival in Rio for Lonely Planet.

Where should I eat in Rio?

Cariocas love to eat. In fact, it seems like most graze their way through the day. This means that Rio is full of restaurants, from cheap butecos serving traditional snacks and bites, to Michelin-star tasting menus, as we reveal in our post about where to eat in Rio.

Adult beverages are everywhere as well, so finding a cold beer, a glass of wine, or a craft cocktail is no problem, as you’ll see in our post about where to drink in Rio.

Where should I sleep in Rio?

There are many accommodation options in Rio, including Airbnb, which we used during most of our time in Rio (see our Airbnb tip, below).

We also had assignments to write about many of the luxury hotels in Rio, which we’ve gathered together in our post about luxury hotels in Rio.

Airbnb travel tip in Rio

If you’re booking an Airbnb in Rio, check the “read more” section at the bottom of the listing to read the complete house rules. This is where you will find any fine print about electricity use during your stay. Because electricity is expensive and in Rio it’s often necessary to use the air conditioning, some listings cap electricity use with the renter paying the difference.

How can I get around Rio?

Rio is served by public buses and a subway system called the Metro. Get a refillable purple Rio Mais card, sold in Metro stations, to ride buses and the Metro. City buses in Rio will also take reais. Foreign credit and debit cards are not accepted on city buses in Rio. Uber is also available in Rio and is often cheaper than taxis.

When should I visit Rio?

Seasons in South America are opposite those in the northern hemisphere, so when it’s winter in North America and Europe, it’s summer in South America. Peak season for travel to Rio is December to March, when the weather is hot and sunny and Carnival and New Year’s Eve celebrations are in full swing. July is usually the coldest month, but temperatures in Rio rarely dip below 74 degrees Fahrenheit (23 Celsius). Shoulder season in Rio, with cooler temps and fewer travelers, is April and May or September through November. It’s almost always quite humid in Rio as well, though there’s usually a somewhat refreshing coastal breeze.

Is Rio expensive?

Brazil is a very large country with a very large population and a very large economy that functions well and is stable overall. Prices in Rio are, generally speaking, higher than prices in neighboring countries, especially when those countries, such as Argentina, are experiencing economic downturns that benefit travelers with US dollars or euros.

More money tips in Rio

ATM tip: When using your foreign debit card at an ATM in Brazil, always decline the initial offer of a Brazilian bank exchange rate. It may seem as if you have to accept, but you don’t and this rate is usually below the official exchange rate. You will get a better rate by declining that first offer because your bank will debit your account at a rate much closer to the official exchange rate, which means more reais for you.

Credit card tip: When paying with your credit card, a screen will come up that allows you to choose to pay in Brazilian reais or your home currency. If your credit card does not charge a foreign transaction fee, always choose to pay in reais (not your home currency). This will save you money because your transaction will bypass local banks, which will process your transaction at a lower-than-official rate, and go straight to your home bank, which will process your transaction at an exchange rate much closer to the official rate.

 

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