Getting Around Brazil

The short version

The first thing to internalise about Brazilian transport is scale. Rio to Salvador, Salvador to Manaus, Manaus to Iguacu: these look like domestic hops on a map and are not. Between regions, fly. Within a city or a region, the choice is between metro, bus, ride hailing and driving, and the safety guidance has something specific to say about most of them.

Flying between regions

Brazil has a dense domestic network and it is how Brazilians cross their own country. Book internal flights as part of planning rather than as an afterthought, allow real time for airport transfers in the big cities, and remember that a connection through Sao Paulo or Brasilia can be longer end to end than the flight it serves.

At the airport, use the authorized taxi booths. Most Brazilian airports have them, and they exist precisely because the alternative is the problem described below.

Taxis: the rule

Do not hail a taxi in the street. The cited source records express kidnappings, assaults and robberies from unlicensed taxis, including from cars operating on fraudulent ride hailing accounts.

Use an authorized rank or booth, or book through an app. If you use an app, book it in the app rather than accepting an approach from a driver who says he is your ride, wait somewhere safe rather than on the curb, and use the designated pick-up areas at airports. The specific fraud is somebody posing as an app driver, so the check that matters is the one the app gives you: the car, the plate and the driver.

Buses

Intercity coaches are a serious national network and for medium distances they are genuinely good. Two facts belong beside that. Bus and coach crashes are frequent, and robberies are common on buses in many cities, which is a statement about urban services rather than long distance ones.

For city buses the ordinary precautions apply and they apply hardest between four in the afternoon and nine at night, which is the window the source names for phone theft. Keep the phone away.

Metros and urban rail

Sao Paulo and Rio both have metro systems that are fast, cheap and the easiest way to move through the middle of either city. They are also the option that keeps you out of traffic and out of a car you did not choose, which is worth something in itself.

Buy a card rather than queueing for single tickets, travel light, and treat a crowded carriage the way you would treat a crowded carriage anywhere: pickpocketing is common in Brazil and a press of people is where it happens.

Driving

You can drive in Brazil on a foreign license for a limited period, and the number that surprises people is the end of it: after one hundred and eighty days you need a Brazilian driving license. That is irrelevant to a two week trip and very relevant to a long stay.

The road picture is candid in the source. Brazil has a high road accident rate, driving standards are poor, and away from main highways rural roads are often in poor condition. Riding a bicycle is specifically discouraged.

Carjacking happens, particularly on major roads and in tunnels. The practical habits are to approach the car with keys ready, keep doors locked and windows closed, take care at traffic lights, be wary of somebody approaching to ask for information at night, and avoid stopping at the roadside outside a city after dark. If you must stop, stop somewhere lit.

Drink driving is a serious offense with checkpoints commonly in place, and penalties running from fines and a twelve month suspension up to three years in prison. Report any accident to the police on 190.

Boats, where the road ends

In the Amazon basin the river is the road. Scheduled boats connect river towns on timetables measured in days rather than hours, and for most visitors the practical form is a chartered trip from Manaus rather than public river transport. Which routes are running depends on the water: see our Brazil weather guide for what high and low water do.

Navigation, and the one thing to check

Routing software optimizes for time. It does not know which neighborhoods the safety guidance tells you to stay out of, and the advice is explicit that if you are using GPS you should check the suggested route does not take you into a favela. Look at the line on the map before you follow it, particularly at night, and particularly in Rio.

Verify before you travel

Routes, operators and airport transfer arrangements change. Confirm internal flights and any long distance ground legs close to travel, and read our Brazil travel safety guide, which carries the detail behind most of the rules on this page.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Brazil safety and security: the police number 190, favelas and favela tours, robbery on buses and the four in the afternoon to nine at night window for phone theft, arrastoes on beaches, express kidnapping, ATM card cloning and pink marked notes, methanol in spirit drinks, the illegality of vaping devices, shark attacks around Recife, carjacking, taxi and ride hailing practice, and the LGBT+ legal position. Accessed 16 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Brazil travel advice: the standing advisory against all but essential travel to parts of the country, and the statement that no travel can be guaranteed safe. Accessed 16 September 2026.