Safety when visiting Rio de Janeiro

Common concern for visitors to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is the safety and security situation. Even though city is much safer than what visitors presume, some precautions should be made. 

When talking about Rio de Janeiro and visits there - one topic seems to be on most visitors mind. How is the situation about safety and security? Just like any other place I cannot guarantee that nothing bad will happen in a particular area. There are however some general rules about Rio de Janeiro and the good news is that it is much safer than what visitors presume.

Tourism is a very important part of Rio de Janeiro. Both financially and culturally Brazilians take pride in the fact that people choose to visit their country and city. A lot of efforts are therefore made to keep areas with tourists safe. This starts with arriving at the airport.

Getting at the airport, carrying your laptop, and getting into a taxi is to be considered completely safe. If you get into a yellow taxi they might want to charge extra for the trip but they will not rob you.

A few years back there were a few instances where buses and cars with tourists got stopped on the way and robbed. Extra security on the roadway has made this a non event. It was never common to begin with - however the events got alot of media attention and were bad commercial for the city.

If you stay in south zone of Rio de Janeiro (most commonly Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon) you will therefore arrive safely and your stay will probably be trouble free if you use common sense. Most incidents where people get robbed are with guests they themselves have invited to their hotel or apartment.

There are of course no guarantees but you should be able to move around everywhere in south zone during daytime. In evening and night time (after midnight) one use common sense just like anywhere else.

There are no advices that I will give you for the south zone of Rio de Janeiro that I would not give for tourists visiting Piccadilly Circus in London or Paris. Unless you have proven that you are carrying huge amount of money ($1000s) you can relax in south zone and even get too much to drink. You have a risk of getting pick pocketed however risk of someone trying armed robbery against you is extremely small. Risk of getting pick pocketed is also small but naturally a bit larger during crowded events like carnival.

Security advice is different when it comes to city center. You can stay in Rio for a long time without ever visiting city center. Visiting the main areas in city can be done with guide in combination with tours to other areas of Rio de Janeiro like in conjunction with a trip to Christ the Redeemer.

For someone who wishes to visit the city center on their own there are a few more rules. Center of Rio de Janeiro is a place of commerce. If you go there during daytime in weekdays you will safely be able to walk in main streets and by foot to visit the primary places of interest. If you are identified as an obvious Gringo - panhandling can in downtown take on a more aggressive nature where panhandler will follow you and make physical contact after you already have said no. More often than not it is not a major problem though.

Visiting city center by foot in weekend evenings is not a good idea. Early Saturday is ok, but avoids Saturday evenings and Sundays. For the most comfort take the metro there during daytime in weekdays. Best station to exit is Cinelandia , even though it is quite full of homeless people.

If wish to visit Lapa to experience the more local nightlife on thursday to saturday evenings you should take taxi there and taxi back home. While in Lapa after nightfall you should stay in the streets of Riachuelo and Mem de Sá and make sure you do not wander off.

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