Big beautiful beach city with rock landscapes, and also a bit dangerous…
For others, Rio de Janeiro is a magical place…full of beauty, wonder, and festivities. And it certainly seems that way when you look at the beautiful beaches with rocky islands and towering mountain silhouettes in the distance. There’s no other major beach city I’ve seen like this, with towering rock formations in the distance. As with everything Brasilian, it’s always sexy!
But for me, Rio was bittersweet. It is a beautiful place and fun…but it is not safe. I hated having to look over my shoulder constantly. Having to not bring my phone to certain areas because I didn’t want to risk getting robbed. Also it not being a good place to wander around solo (which I often like to do). It was easily the most dangerous feeling of the 20 countries I visited during that year. So let’s cover all the highlights in the safest way possible.
3 days is enough for main tourist highlights. 5 days if you want to enjoy more beach days and night life, also hikes.
Where to stay:
- Ipanema – the safest and most convenient location for first-time tourist. My favorite was El Misti Hostel. Good location and great social vibe where you can meet lots of friends to party with. And probably one of the only neighborhoods in Rio where you can walk alone at night with your phone out. If you don’t know what you’re doing…stay in Ipanema!
- Copacabana – a good popular cheaper option for AirBnb, (located East right next to Ipanema) that’s still safe if you stick to only tourist and beach areas. But there’s still plenty of danger lurking around if you go to the wrong street. And even in the tourist areas.
- Botafogo – nice local neighborhood area. Way less gringos and foreigners, feels like none of them hang out here. Just locals having a jolly good time. Restaurants, bars, etc. Yes, there’s beach nearby as well. Cheaper and safer than Copacobana, and also nearby a (less iconic) beach. Depending where you plan to go, might also feel like a more central location. Easily my favorite area for a chill authentic vibe. Whereas other places feel touristy or superficial.
- Leblon – even nicer area of Rio (with nicer beaches as well), located further west of Ipanema. More pricey but very lavish. Expensive for locals, but affordable for foreigners.
- Barra de Tijuca – go here to party fancy style and hang with Rio high-society. Only reason why it’s not recommended as the first choice is because it’s quite far from everything else. But if you don’t care to do anything in tourist/central areas…this is THE spot to be. There are also complaints that Tijuca (aka “Barra”) is not Rio, and also kinda boring. And I agree….the commercial part of it is fun. But the beaches area is super boring and not a good vibe. And across the street is just gated apartments/condos. It’s not a fun vibe at all. And I also here people are more likely to get robbed in Barra on the beach since it’s kind of isolated.
- Flamengo – next to Lapa and safer than Lapa. Quiet, cheap, but accessible to partying in Lapa.
- Gavea & Jardim Botanico – considered affluent areas as well. But more relaxed and close to nature. I imagine these aren’t tourist popular the way Copacobana and Ipanema are, but they are still very nice areas.
Hostels:
- El Misti (Ipanema) – most people say this is the best one. Best vibe, nice and social and easy to make friends. Close to the beach. Super safe area. Bike rental rack right out in front. Restaurants and bars in every direction. Nearby clubs too if you don’t feel like venturing out of the neighborhood. Common areas suck IMO…small, dark, or in the public space (which gets closed at night).
- Ipanema Beach House (Ipanema) – actually a nice place IMO. And while it’s rated lower than El Misti, I think it deserves to be higher. The common areas are super nice, lots of cute garden cafe style seating in the front. Then the backyard area has a pool and lots of lounge space. Beds were comfy and seemed more quiet since they were built of wood. El Misti are metal beds, which make more noise IMO. Still very social, although less party vibe than El Misti.
- Tupiniquim Hostel (Botafogo) – I actually really liked this one. Nice chill vibe in very local area with awesome bars. Terrace has decent amount of space and also a view of the Cristo statue up the rock mountain. Overall vibe is super chill and loungey. Meet people and go out. Or just stay off to your own corner and do your own thing. It’s not like groups of people running up and down the stairs getting ready to run to the beach or clubs at night.
- Discovery Hostel Rio (Gloria) – I heard this was a personal favorite for many people. I never tried it, especially since the area doesn’t seem attractive to me. Gloria is not known for being safe.
- Books Hostel (Santa Teresa) – largely known as a crazy party hostel. Which some people may or may not like. But also, sometimes it’s really quiet and boring as everyone is totally partied out. And the place might seem runned down and also the neighborhood doesn’t look the greatest. It’s what I heard, I haven’t seen it for myself.
- Selina – many people didn’t like them anywhere near like the ones the Selinas in other countries. They look nice but kind of cold hotel vibe with no common areas or social atmosphere.
What makes a good hostel is a combination of the vibe it has, but also the location.
Neighborhoods & Walking areas:
- Beach areas – walk along the beach at Ipanema and Copacobana. Any areas where you see loads of cops and military police posted on every other corner, is generally a safer to be.
- Lapa – dangerous, you can get robbed anytime at day or night. Yes…even on the iconic Escalera stairs that many people go to take pictures.
Hate to say it but Rio is not the place to randomly stroll around with no direction. It’s not safe.
Activities to do:
- Beaches (going from north to south):
- Botafogo – not popular because the water is dirty (due to boats and oil) and dangerous. You can’t swim but you can sunbathe on the beach, play sports, and take nice photos of the landscape (Pao de Azucar “Sugarloaf”).
- Leme – calmer peaceful beach on weekdays, chaotic on weekends. No security so you may gets lots of thieves and druggies.
- Copacabana & Arpoador (viewpoint) – classic iconic beach of Rio. Think of this as the “downtown beach”. Popular beach with the most people. Many sporting events are here as well. Unfortunately many thieves and safety issues (all hours of the day).
- Ipanema – already a really nice area. It’s the best mix in terms of safety and still central area area. Go further west towards Barra de Tijuca for even more upscale beaches in nicer neighborhoods. But you start to feel like it’s less local.
- Leblon – nice beach right next to Ipanema. Also super nice and even more safe than Ipanema. Only more people with money here.
- Barra de Tijuca – also referred to in short as “Barra”. It’s SUPPOSED to be the nice beach of the nice area and safer. But it’s not in my opinion. The residential buildings are all gated areas across the street. And there aren’t many storefronts and shops/restaurants nearby. So it ends up being more secluded and you don’t have safety in numbers.
- Joatinga – beautiful public beach in private neighborhood. But you’re allowed to go into it.
- Christ the Redeemer – you can take 60-90mins to walk up, enjoying the trees, views, and monkeys/birds. Or you can just take the tram. Just about everybody takes the tram. If you don’t have much time in Rio, I wouldn’t blow 90 minutes doing this hike.
- Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar) – iconic rock mountain. You can hike it, or just be lazy and take the bus.
- Favela tours – usually foreigners go to Vidigal or Rocinha. The others are Santa Marta, Chapeu Mangueira, Morro da Babilonia, and Cantagalo. I’ll let you research what each has and how to go about it. Usually, you don’t enter a favela without a local guide.
- Hikes (“trilhas”) – I share the big 5, and there’s the rest:
- Pedro Bonito
- Dois Irmaos – use a guide and moto-taxi. FYI, this is in the favela.
- Pedra de Gavea
- Morro da Urca
- Pedra Telegrafo – the popular rock one where people take pictures of themselves hanging off (but the ground is close by). Start heading there around 2:30pm (to catch the sunset). About 45-60min car ride getting there, 60min car ride getting back (in traffic). The hike up is only like 40 minutes from the start point, going down is like 15 mins.
Restaurants & Cafes:
- Clan BBQ – nice area to check out. Lots of fancy-dressed people in this area.
- Girl of Ipanema restaurant.
- Momo ice cream – really good ice cream!
- Confeiteria Colombo (cafe) – Instagram place. Look up this big beautiful historic place.
- Plage Cafe – another IG place. Beautiful architecture and view. The crowded atmosphere, higher prices and mediocre food reputation…I let you judge for yourself.
- Palace Churrascaria – best meat hands down.
- Marius – didn’t try but I hear it’s great for seafood. It’s also very pricey/fancy.
There are really many to try but I named some iconic ones as well as ones that are in good areas for you to explore. Generally, I eat around Ipanema and Botafogo a lot.
Bars & Clubs:
- Lapa area – classic college-style cheap clubs are in this area. Which I hate and avoid as best I can. Not safe. I always hear about shit happening here.
- Ipanema & Leblon – super safe area.
- Barra de Tijuca – safe-ish area.
- Quartinho Bar (Botafogo) – fun, crowded place, with people spilling out into the street. All bars in the nearby surrounding area are fun as well.
- Pedro do Sal – rachet street party area. Be safe, be cautious.
- Praca Coronel Assuncao – local street party area near sketchy parts of downtown but this might actually seem safe. At least safer than Pedro do Sal.
Carnaval:
- Included this section here because many people go to Rio during Carnaval. It’s a huge holiday celebrated all over the city.
- Carnaval celebration usually means you go to the Sambodromo (big stadium) and watch the huge parade with big platform-vehicles and many dancers going by. You watch it once in your life and that’s probably enough. It feels like 4 hours of the same song on and on and on. If you ever go again, it’s more fun to get dressed up and actually dance in it. I have no idea how you join a samba school to make this happen.
- Next thing and more common thing to do is the (open) block parties. There are tons of street parties in every neighborhood, open to the public and anybody can join. A band plays music and moves around as people dance and get festive on the street. These however can be dangerous as people get robbed…especially during the night ones. The block parties go on all day long (day and night).
- Closed parties…then are (closed) parties that are walled or fenced off from the public. Basically, you have to pay to get inside them. Some are super cheap, others cost a lot of money and have more beautiful/upscale/fancy people. Generally these are much safer but still I hear of people getting mob-robbed in these too! Just be careful.
Miscellaneous tips:
Safety tips:
As I’ve already mentioned, Rio is not safe. The vibe definitely feels much more dangerous than Mexico or Buenos Aires (Argentina). Do not mess around here. I heard of people getting robbed every week (from our hostel). The criminals 100% will target you. I AM WARNING YOU! (If you’re gonna be a carefree gringo, you will probably have a shit experience.)
Unfortunately, I chose not to do many things because of constantly hearing about safety issues. I’ve already been to so many beautiful places in the world, so I’m not in a race to tick more boxes. I’d rather take my time with Rio carefully exploring as safely as I can.
- Leave valuables at home – do not take your passport, phone, or lots of cash if you can help it. Whatever you bring, assume you can be robbed and lose it all at any moment. Yes…some areas are super safe, but still.
- Don’t go to Lapa or Centro – it’s just flat out dangerous and too close to poor neighborhoods. The area is dirty and clubs are grimey anyway (not my vibe). If you insist on partying there, don’t bring your iPhone. Maybe a crappy burner phone (if you insist), for calling Uber/friends. Btw…Lapa is a place that you only go with a group of friends. Never as a solo person or you’ll get targeted very quickly.
- Avoid northern neighborhoods – go for the stadium for a futbol game, or whatever other thing you wanna see, and leave. Don’t linger around.
- Street robbery – 2 guys come up with guns asking you to give everything you have. Other times, one quickly bear-hugs you from behind while 2 others pick your pockets. By the time you turn around to collect yourself, they’re already vanished running away. This random bear-hug robbery happens even when you’re walking in a big group of friends (they pick the guy at the end), and sometimes even stab you.
- Beach robberies – other robberies are less violent…simply snatch your bag at the beach and run off. They will snatch, run, and dump/burry the bag all within 10 minutes. Simply beware of ANYBODY sitting awkwardly close to you. Do not be a goddamn fool. Nobody wants to sit next to other people at the beach…so if you see someone trying to be near you, it’s for a reason!
- Phone flashing – do not use your phone in public if you can help it. Take your photo and put it away.
- Transportation – metro is safest, then Uber or taxi…I think train is next…and bus is probably the least safe. A girl told me on the bus, 5 guys surrounded her. 3 in back, 1 in opposite aisle, and another jumped into the seat next to her threatening with a knife.
- Uber – do not jump into an Uber or taxi if you see 2 people in it.
- Hang with locals – they will show you how to act and behave. Look sexy if you must, but don’t look like a tourist with money. Hide that shit.
- Anti-LGBT – I have heard that Rio can be not so LGBT friendly at times and people might say mean things to you. In this regard, I’ve also heard that Sao Paulo is much more progressive in this matter.
- AlertaZonaSul – follow this Instagram account to see the latest crime incidents in Rio. Be careful as crime is on the rise.
Nearby towns:
- Niteroi – considered the Floripa of Rio. Check out Costao de Itacoatiara.
- Best Restaurants in Rio de Janeiro – Eater