See upthread. Most places will do NYE dinner (usually with free flowing beer and wine). None however will have info online, and some may only start taking reservations nearer the end of the week.

Your hotel concierge should be able to help (resist their attempts to direct you to the property's own rstaurant). Also, budgets will vary wildly. I would recommend for example Venga, or Salome.

Anything you can recommend that isn't wildly expensive? We're actually thinking about following the suggestion in this thread of having a simpler dinner on NYE and rather having a great dinner the evening before...

Also, how would you recommend to get to the JW Marriott from GIG?
Is it easy to get safe transportation at the airport? Or is it more advisable to order transportation through the hotel or a third-party limousine service?

Thanks!

There are lots of yellow taxis right outside the main airport door once you exit customs. Perfectly safe........expect to pay R$120 depending on traffic.

Ignore the taxi touts in the terminal and the attractive well dressed ladies who also hawk radio taxis. You'll just pay more.

Like anywhere else make sure the taxi has the correct plate (legal taxis have RED plates......not grey ones which are for private cars) and the driver has his license card with photo prominently displayed.

Paying 120 reais for a taxi to copa from gig is quite the ripoff. Try an Uber first and you might only have to pay 40-50. The most I payed for a regular taxi was 70 I believe.

Anything that's open for dinner on NYE will be expensive (or overpriced compared to usual prices). One exception will be finger food at more simple bars (as opposed to sit down dinners).

Esmjb.........

You can't argue with the meter.

Just make sure it's on the right fare basis (1 or 2) and if you know your way around the city, enjoy the ride. I normally toss the driver a R$20 tip as well and that's included in my quoted price.

I've stopped using Uber in Rio because a lot of the drivers do not know the city and can't follow a GPS properly for some reason. But beyond that, it seems of the 10+ Uber I took this year all of them had cars with 2-3 dashboard warning lights on as well as the gas tank warning light. Scary stuff.........

LOL! The gas tank warning is because they are (nearly all) converted to cheaper LPG tanks, so the gas tank is empty (or nearly empty, with only 1-2 liters for an emergency in case they run out of fuel).

But I agree with your assessment on general cluelessness of Uber drivers in Rio, especially UberX. Although if you're a tourist, it can be easier to call an Uber than to try to explain where you're going to a taxi driver who speaks zero English. And a high proportion of taxi drivers (10% in my experience) are dishonest towards gringos and will take the longer route, wasting your time in the process in order to make an extra 10-20 reais.

20 reais tip for a taxi is excessive, common practice is to round up the fare, up to a max of 5 reais or so (or nearest 1-2 reais if around town).

KKKKKKK.......yeah my brother in law did that to his car as well. Didn't realise the implication though. Thanks for the info.

As far as tipping goes R$20 is about $4 US, so it's nothing to me for an airport trip if I enjoyed the bate papo along the way........around town I round up to the nearest R$5 though. Even thought it's obvious I am a gringo, I speak Portuguese with a Carioca accent and know the city very well, so I doubt I've been taken advantage of for the last 10 years. But your point is spot on.

So, just to be sure: Can I just use Uber in Rio or should I stick to taxis?

I recommend using Uber exclusively. There are some situations where it might make sense to just hail a taxi if you are in a huge hurry.

So then we could probably just withdraw money inside a bank in the city? We wouldn't have to bring BRL with us or exchange money at the airport?
I'm generally not a big fan of cash in foreign currencies...

Most likely it would be fine but I always like to have some local currency on me just in case. Maybe 50 euros worth would be enough. Then pull out the rest at a bank, I prefer HSBC, nearby where you are staying.

Thanks!

I also liked to use the no-fee HSBC ATMs in Brazil but it no longer exists, it was sold to Bradesco. I used the Bradesco ATM without a problem in Lebon. ^

I normally withdraw R$1000 at a time (some 300 US) and carry about R$300 which has a way of disappearing, although I use a cc for most purchases.

FYI, I just received this email campaign from Venga regarding their NYE (this shows how last minute venues make their preparations and take bookings). Obviously, as it's common in Brazil, no prices or further info: they tell you to email [email protected]

The photo is taken from the venue, so you get a pretty good view, despite being only on a raised ground floor.

https://emailmarketing.locaweb.com.b...&envelope_id=2