The airport HSBC ATMs had a rep as the worst of the worst and should def be avoided but I've never had any problem with the ones inside the bank in Leblon/Ipanema over literally hundreds of transactions.

As an aside, I flew into GIG's new terminal today and it is massive. You will literally walk 10 minutes or more between the gate and immigration. Agents were asking all Americans if they had a visa and when the answer was "no" they just said ok and stamped it but it sure gave a few people quite a scare for a few seconds. Grabbed a yellow taxi from the departure level (who had just dropped someone off) and my ride to Leblon was 65 reais. Driver gave me his card and said he does flat rate 50 reais to GIG which is good but still not as cheap as uber (40).

I suggest Uber in Rio, Taxi drivers over charge and if you don't speak Portuguese they will take you for a ride. Yellow Taxi from the Airport is good, but in the city, take uber.

My uber ride to the airport was awesome, the diver offered a nice selection of music, chilled water. In Sao Paulo Taxi drivers are far more trustworthy. Rio, like Miami can be really shady.

While everyone has a right to their transportation preferences, I find that pretty vague. Please give details from your personal experience that support these sweeping conclusions.

My experience has been radically different in over 20 years of frequent regular visits to Rio. The rides I have been "taken on" by drivers of the regular yellow taxis have been pleasant and direct, and drivers have acted honestly in all transactions, charging on the meter. I take yellow taxis that are known entities, members of a cooperative with a home base, and with the name and phone number of the cooperative painted on the back fender. I can only recount my lack of any problems as evidence for the character of these family men who are simply trying to make an honest living to support a wife and children.

I find the "paranoia" deliberately incited on one other forum regarding taking pre-paid taxis from the airport for "peace of mind", rather than those totally "rogue" yellow taxis, to be equally unrealistic as this sales pitch for Uber.
YMMV

There's a very fancy Samsung display lounge--I'm not sure what to call it--next to the Visa Olympic Superstore on Copacabana beach. My guess would be that there's a Samsung tie-in promoting wifi.

Ive been screwed by taxi drivers in Rio plenty of times but only late at night. Heres how it works- u leave the bar and pile into a taxi and tell the guy where to go. He doesn't turn the meter on and you don't realize it. You arrive at your destination and he gives you a garbage price and an argument ensues and you probably lose. Good news is this can be easily avoided- before getting in make sure the guy is willing to turn on the meter. Some won't so don't get in. Simple as that.

I don't speak Portuguese, and I know I have been taken for a ride several times. I prefer yellow taxi but sadly I don't trust any taxi driver in Rio due to a several experiences during my trips in April and May.

The taxi fare between Barra and Copacabana average fare has been R$75, on my last trip the driver charged me R$150. Also, on another incident, I showed the driver my map and the name of the place I wanted to go "Parque Lage" He drove me all over town and we ended up at the wrong park, for a moment there I thought I was going to be kidnapped, what should have been a R$10 fare ended up being $R50, I knew he did this on purpose, but not knowing the language there was nothing I could do.

On my trip in April there were 2 taxi trips the hotel told me the drivers over charged me. I took taxis all over Sao Paulo and I find them to be more trustworthy than Rio.

Per the hotel and feedback from people who live in Rio, they told me to uber it, taxi drivers are hit and miss, some are honest and some are not. At least with uber you have a set fair and they can't over charge you. I stay at the Grand Hyatt and even though they are not suppose to, they highly recommend uber.

On my last trip I took uber it to the airport R$65,
In April I took a taxi to the airport R$95

Don't get me wrong I LOVE RIO, but I find the taxi drivers to be shady. If you don't speak Portuguese be careful.

Anybody got any great plans for the Olympics. I'd love to hear what you are going to see and do during your time at the Rio Olympics. I'm envious.

We speak portuguese and we still got taken for rides in Rio. If they pick up on any accent other than from another carioca, there will be cabbies to try to benefit off your lack of knowledge. I suggest taking the metros when possible. Buses are also fine once you understand the system and as long as its not at peak work commute hours or night. For the airport, use the fixed rates.

For some reason, I couldn't get Uber to work from the airport, so I did take a cab to my hotel...Hilton Barra Rio. The driver couldn't understand what I was saying, so I pulled out my hotel confirmation with the address. I don't speak Portuguese, but do speak some Spanish, and was pronouncing Barra the Spanish way
I think the fare was about 80R. Was about 9am on a Thursday, he did take the tunnel.

Otherwise, I used Uber the rest of my trip. Some sample fares:
* to Copacobana (rush hour): 45R
* to Copacobana (non-rush): 35R
* Copacobana to Cathedral Natural: 12R
* Cathedral to Sugar Loaf: 12R
* Sugar Loaf to Ipanema: 15R
* Hilton to airport: 50R

All of the Uber cars were in great shape. They were all stick shifts. None of the drivers admitted to speaking English, but they all at least spoke a little.
They would ask me if I had a route preference, and I'd just say something like best way.
And all of them must have give me a 5 rating as a passenger ^

Uber isn't approved to pick-up from GIG airport.

You can move the pick-up needle to the main street just off the airport property (Estrada do Galeao) close to the military base (Base Aerea do Galeao) the Uber drivers know that you are waiting at the airport. They will call you and arrange a place to meet. Some drivers prefer to meet upstairs on the departure level.

If you don't speak any Portuguese this may be challenging. He'll need to know the terminal number, if you are on the departure or arrival level and it helps if you tell him the letter designation of the exit door A-D.

I had a taxi driver try to take me to the wrong museum even though I was very explicit and had the name of the museum written (in Portuguese) with the address. When we got to the right place, I just gave him cash for what the fare should have been and left the vehicle. No problem.

Just a caution on whose posts you credit on the Brazil forum there. Try to get to "know" the cast of characters who post regularly. Lots of misinformation. Lots of excessively cautious sentiment (and I DO NOT take risks). The most frequent poster gets most of his info from Google and has probably spent less time actually IN Brazil than you, but is good at making his sound like first hand advice. One so-called Rio expert once told a woman with a medical condition to use any nearby tree to relieve herself. Another was advising on picking up "professionals" in PMs. So "buyer" beware.
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@MSPEconomist--
I quite agree with that tactic, anywhere, not only in Rio.
It takes more "chutzpah" than many polite first world tourists can muster though.

Perhaps it an honest mistake, maybe he is illiterate... Did you actually pay less than the meter?

Taxi drivers for the most part are very hard workers and the vast majority are pleasant. I almost always tip them in appreciation for their work. ^

Yes I did. I also said the name of the museum, stressing the key word that distinguished it from the other one. I wanted MAM and the driver tried to take me to MAR. I was annoyed by the time I lost sitting in a traffic jam trying to get near MAR and then to get out of there and toward the correct museum.

I never heard of MAR (Museu de Arte do Rio), now the MAM, in the good old days I used to go to its movie theater just about every week to see Bu�uel, Cocteau, Ingmar Bergman, Truffaut, Godard, Antonioni, and many other non-Hollywood cerebral films. I have very fond memories of that place!

How did you like it?