Getting into Rio de Janeiro
Take a prepaid taxi
There are three options for getting to the centre of Rio de Janeiro: shuttle bus, local bus and taxi. Unless you speak Brazilian Portuguese, the most convenient way to get to the city is to take a taxi.
Taxi
Ignore the taxi desk outside of arrivals and head to the Rio de Janeiro State Tourism Authority desk for prepaid taxi vouchers. Ensure you have the address and phone number of your hotel, and that your driver resets the meter before you leave the airport. This can cost as much as double the rate of an ordinary taxi, but you'll have peace of mind that you're not being overcharged or taken a longer route. (However, if you want to take a local taxi, Aerocoop or Aerotaxi are decent companies.)
Cost: Around BRL 120 to the tourist zone (around BRL 60 in a yellow metered taxi)
Bus
To save money, take the air-conditioned Real Auto Bus (Premium) line 2018 to the city centre. Journey time is around 45 minutes and buses run from 05:30-23:00. It covers the most important destinations along its route, including Rio's other airport (Santos Dumont), the city centre and the beachfront destinations of Flamengo, Botafogo, Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. The line 2018 terminates at the Alvorada bus terminal near the mall BarraShopping in Barra da Tijuca, with a journey time of 60 minutes - sometimes up to twice that in busy traffic.
Tip: When you want to get out of the bus, just ask the driver for it, and he will stop anywhere as soon as it is safe.
There's also a smaller bus that goes every 30 minutes to Alvorada by Linha Amarela and stops on request, with a shorter journey time of around 35 minutes.
Cost: Line 2018 costs BRL 16.
Location: Line 2018 leaves from Terminal 1, Arrivals B.
Shuttle bus
There's also an hourly airport shuttle bus that stops at major hotels and beaches.
