Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
Beaches, samba, and Christ the Redeemer
Photo by Agustin Diaz Gargiulo on Unsplash
Photos by Mike Swigunski, Krys Amon, Gabriel Rissi and Wadé on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Brazil
May to September (dry, mild winter)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 137mm in Jan
Where it is
22.91°S, 43.17°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Visit Christ the Redeemer
- Take the cable car to Sugarloaf
- Relax on Copacabana and Ipanema
- Hike Tijuca Forest
- Explore Santa Teresa neighborhood
- Watch sunset from Arpoador
Rio de Janeiro travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Brazil
Mid-rangeExchange at casas de câmbio in Centro or Copacabana. Airport rates are poor. Cards are widely accepted, even at beach vendors (Pix is universal in Brazil).
ATMs & cards
Banco do Brasil and Bradesco ATMs in airports and malls are most reliable for foreign cards. Withdraw during banking hours in well-lit areas. Limit: R$1,000-1,500 per transaction.
Avoid these
- standalone machines
- any withdrawal after dark
Use these instead
- Banco do Brasil
- Bradesco
- Itaú
- Santander
Use machines inside bank branches, malls or the airport. Many Brazilian ATMs stop dispensing to foreign cards in the evening as an anti-fraud measure.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Brazil
Stay alertDon’t take expensive phones to the beach. Use Uber instead of walking in unfamiliar areas at night. Stay in Copacabana, Ipanema, or Leblon.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Ipanema
- Leblon
- Botafogo
- Copacabana — the beachfront by day
Worth more attention
- Copacabana — and the Lapa arches after dark, where most robberies of visitors happen
- Favelas without a resident guide, whatever a tour operator says
- Carrying a phone, a watch or a camera visibly anywhere on the street
- The beach at night, which empties and is not policed
The standard local practice is to carry a small amount of cash, a cheap phone and nothing else, and to hand it over immediately if asked.
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Brazil visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Other passports
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$80
Brazil reintroduced visas for these three nationalities. It is an e-visa applied for online.
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Brazil
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Yellow fever — recommended for most of Brazil including the area around Rio
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
Getting treated
Public emergency care (SUS) is free to everyone including foreigners, but is crowded and slow. Private hospitals in Rio and São Paulo are excellent and expect insurance or payment up front.
Dengue, zika and chikungunya are all present and mosquito-borne — repellent matters. Yellow fever vaccination should be given at least 10 days before arrival.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodTry açaí bowls (the real thing, not tourist smoothies), feijoada on Saturdays, and churrasco at a rodizio restaurant.
Nightlife
Street parties and samba rather than clubs. The best nights are outdoors and cost almost nothing.
- Lapa — samba, and the Friday street party under the arches
- Santa Teresa — the bohemian version, up the hill
- Leblon — and Ipanema, for the beachfront bars
- Pedra do Sal — Monday samba, on the steps, for free
Closing: 04:00 or later in Lapa.
A beer in a bar: R$8–15
Lapa is superb and is also where people get robbed. Take nothing you mind losing, keep your phone away, and take a car back.
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- 99Works here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
99 the Brazilian one, often cheaper
- From the airport
- Guarulhos to central São Paulo R$80–130
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper than a taxi and, in the big cities, the default for everybody.
Some favela and periphery addresses will not be accepted by drivers at night; that is a driver safety decision, not a fare one.
Time zone and your working day
America/Sao Paulo — 1 hour ahead of you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–16:00 your time, 10:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 08:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 08:00–16:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Brazil
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 3.4× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Brazil, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Portuguese (Brazilian)
- HelloOi / Oláoy / o-LA
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youObrigado / Obrigadao-bree-GA-doo / -da
- Yes / NoSim / Nãoseeng / nowng
4 more phrases
- Excuse meCom licençakong lee-SEN-sa
- How much is it?Quanto custa?KWAN-too KOOS-ta
- The bill, pleaseA conta, por favora KON-ta
- Cheers!Saúde!sa-OO-djee
Softer and more open than European Portuguese, and the de sounds like "dje".
Religion
Catholic and Evangelical
The largest Catholic population in the world, with a fast-growing Evangelical share and Afro-Brazilian traditions such as Candomblé and Umbanda practised alongside.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with a kiss on each cheek between women, or a woman and a man; a handshake between men
- Expect physical closeness in conversation — standing back reads as cold
- Arrive late to social invitations; on time is genuinely early
- Learn a few words of Portuguese, and never open in Spanish
Don't
- Do not make the OK sign with finger and thumb — it is obscene here
- Do not walk with a phone visible in the street
- Do not wear obvious jewellery or watches on the beach or in the city
- Do not call Brazilians Hispanic or assume they speak Spanish
Where to stay in Rio de Janeiro
No Holistay rentals in Rio de Janeiro yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Rio de Janeiro on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Galeão GIG
45 minfrom the airport· 14 km as the crow flies
45 min to the south zone.
Also worth pricing: Santos Dumont SDU — domestic only, ten minutes from the centre.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
