Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil and the state capital of Rio de Janeiro. The city is known for its sandy beaches like Copacabana and Ipanema.
Colorfull carnivals, football matches, great music, its beautiful tropical forests, featuring parade floats, flamboyant costumes and samba, is considered the world’s largest.
Rio de Janeiro is also known for its sprawling favelas (shanty towns).
As you can see, Rio de Janeiro has many good reasons for be visited, its amazing landmarks and diverse culture, makes it a must visit place and a good thing about Rio de Janeiro is that it always has something to offer to people of all the ages.
In addition to this, the most stunning view of Rio de Janeiro and Guanabara Bay can be seen from the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain.
If you are getting ready for the Biggest Sporting event on the planet 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil you are reading the perfect article. Here is all the information you need to spend a safety, informed and organized vacations in Rio de Janeiro.
First of all: Visa and Ticket Information
It is important to check if you require a visa to Brazil before booking any tours, airport transportation or accommodation on-line. Note that citizens of the US or Canada are required to obtain a visa prior to arrival. More info…
Once your flight is booked to Rio de Janeiro, we advise to buy tickets for the games in advance. These can be purchased at the official website of Rio de Janeiro 2016. When you know exactly which games you are going to watch, contemplate a location for a suitable accommodation.
Note: Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games 2016 begins on Friday, August 5 and ends on Sunday, August 21.
Venues of the Games
There are four main venues where the games will be hold: Copacobana, Maracanã, Barra (Barra da Tijuca) and Deodoro. The last two, Barra (Barra da Tijuca) and Deodoro, are the furthest away from the city center of Rio de Janeiro.
Depending on the games venues, there are a lot of options to book a hotel close to any of them.
Security Tips in Rio de Janeiro:
- Be precautious if you are on foot, especially at night, it is safer travel on a taxi, try to avoid lonely areas like subway stations.
- If you are going to walk in crowded areas, it is always good to keep valuable items, passport and additional cash in the hotel safe.
- For security reasons, it is good to take out money from ATM machines that are placed inside buildings, banks or shopping centres.
- It is always safer to visit city centers and famous tourist attractions in the daytime and dangerous areas should be avoided at night.
Things to know in Rio de Janeiro:
- Service charges (around 10 %) are added to hotel or restaurant bills at the end. Additional tips can be given to appreciate a good service or to round up the bill to a whole number and it is not obligatory to give tips to the taxi drivers.
- The climate of Rio de Janeiro is normally tropical wet and dry in all seasons. Summer starts from December to February, the temperature rises and it also rains. The best time to visit Rio de Janeiro is from July to September, at daytime is usually quite warm and with fresh air at nights, perfect for the beach destinations and to explore the beautiful natural sceneries of Rio de Janeiro.
- Rio de Janeiro it’s cheaper than destinations like Europe, but throughout South America, Rio de Janeiro has a reputation for being costly, as does Chile. A standard meal range is $7-10, nicer meals from $20-80. Attraction entrance fees cost around $20. The currency in Brazil is the Brazilian Real, which fluctuates quite often, usually between 2.2 – 3.0 Brazilian reais to $1 USD.