This guide to arriving and leaving Rio de Janeiro is pretty straight forward. The info I will provide you with here will help you making the safest, quickest and most affordable choices. Rio as a big city and as a former capital have quite few good options both to get to and from the bus stations/airports and to arrange flights and long distance bus rides.
The Airports
Rio is serviced by two major airports, one is Santos Dumont(SDU) located in the center of the city; it only has domestic flights. The other one is called Galeão (GIG) or Tom Jobim and is both an international and an domestic airport; it is located a bit north of the city center. How to get there and back I have described in my To and From the Airports in Rio – Galeão and Santos Dumont; there you can find all you need on that topic. Sometimes you are adviced to do your check in three hours (!) before international flights departure. This is a fact all over Brazil and although promises has been made it seems like the problems remain.
The Bus Station
The long distance bus system is very functional. In compensation for the almost non existing Brazilian railroads, the buses are good and fairly frequent. There are quite a few bus stations (or Rodoviárias in Portuguese) in Rio de Janeiro, luckily almost all destinations of interest depart from the inter state bus station Novo Rio. Actually, if you jump into a cab and just say Rodoviária (prenounced Hoddoviaria) the cabbie most certainly take you to Novo Rio. I have described getting there and back on the page To and from the Bus Station in Rio.
Long Distance Buses
The last part I will describe to you is about Buses From Rio – The Long Distance Buses and how to get tickets the best way. Like I mentioned earlier they are really good, nothing like the buses with miniature seats you have in Asia. Distances can be painfully long but comfort and many pit stops makes the journey more pleasant. By daytime you will also have the opportunity to take in the very changing landscape of Brazil.
Cheap Airfares
Having a section called Rio de Janeiro Travel Information without describing the best way to get airline tickets is worthless, so here it is: Airline Tickets in Rio. There is described in detail the best way to get your plane tickets. In general can be said that up until a few years ago it was almost impossible to make good deals when buying domestic flights. A few new budget airline companies has changed all this and nowadays you can actually get airfares in Rio that are cheaper than the bus tickets. Going to more remote or less traveled destinations is still pretty pricey. Buying international airline tickets is neither cheap nor expensive.
This should be all info you need about arriving and leaving Rio de Janeiro.
