| BRASIL - December 2003 |
| Claire Rosemary Jane, Children's Author |
| Homepage Index page Londrina University Rio de Janeiro My Christmas Day in Rio de Janeiro Corcovado Travelling around Rio Iguacu Falls Sao Francisco Enseada Pousada Da Ilha El Misti Hostel Carima Hotel Currency. |
| Details of my visit to Londrina University will also appear on my main website at http://clairerosemaryjane.co.uk |
 |
 |
| Travelling around Rio de Janeiro |
| Much has been written about how unsafe travelling around Rio de Janeiro is to the foreign traveller. It is a fact that the crime rate is high, but with care you are no more at risk than you are in any other major city, such as London, Paris, and New York, all cities in which I have travelled freely and with no problem. Of the options, taxi is probably the safest from the crime point of view for getting to and from the International airport. Next safest is probably the Real Expresso Bus, but you need to know exactly where you are going, what route it actually runs on, and have a very good idea as to where you need to get off it. My advice for the first time visitor is to take a taxi to and from your hotel or hostel, this is the time at which you are most vulnerable, and have all your luggage with you, and you are especially so if you are on your own as I was. If you do not speak Portuguese, you have an additional handicap, which makes the taxi even more advisable. For travelling around Rio itself, other than taxi, the next safest option is the Metro. It is safe, clean, and fast, (see photos below) but suffers from the fact that it only has two routes. It cost R$ 1.88 per journey in 2003, (approximately 40 pence in Pounds sterling). |
 |
| Right Rio de Janeiro Metro train. Note the cleanliness of the station. Below Interior photograph of Metro train. Again note how clean it is. |
| Photographs copyright Claire Rosemary Jane, not to be used without permission. |