Been a few years since I've been to Rio and we heeded the advice of not taking any valuables out with us and dressing down.

We stayed in Ipanema at a hotel on the main street. Met a man at breakfast from Sao Paulo who told us to be vigilante etc. He was annoyed at the hotel as they wouldn't let his brother come up and wait while he got ready. It seems a lot of hotels have/had a no visitors policy!

We noticed the high railings on apartment blocks, and the visibly armed guards when they were bringing cash to a store - but that didn't stop us having a good time. We took the metro up into the main part of town and to Sugarloaf mountain to watch the most spectacular sunset I've ever seen (much better than the fabled Key West one) and even caught the bus back from there to our hotel - despite it being dark.

The main issue we had was the lack of people that spoke English, even at restaurants and fast food joints. We went back to the same place twice for dinner because they had a menu in English so we could just point and order!

The only time I felt ripped off was when I pre-ordered a limo/taxi from the airport. They seem to be offering big discounts to those passing by compared to what I paid.The taxi back to the airport ordered by the hotel was half the price.

Just be sensible, stay in well lit areas (a few streets off the main drag were darker, but we were ok) don't have anything on you that you are sentimental about. Leave a spare credit card in your hotel safe and have an RFID proof wallet to stop any skimming. I'm pretty sure everywhere we went was Chip and Pin so the card was always in our control.

Enjoy!