TRAVEL TIPS: Taking Taxis in Rio De Janeiro

Getting a taxi in Rio is slightly different to that in England or many other parts of the world. It is common practice to hail a taxi down by waving your arm on the side of the road and they are so plentiful that you will never have to wait more than a minute before one comes along and stops for you. Its also quite fun the first couple of times if, like us, this is not the usual taxi etiquette you're used to. Despite this, here's a few things to be mindful of

Golden (or Yellow) Rules

-Always take the YELLOW taxis. these are the official taxis in Rio there is hundreds of them all over the city, pretty much every other car so you cant miss them. these are legit and registered and also very cheap so really there's no need to risk taking any other lift or offered transport you are unsure of. We did not encounter any offers of lifts or dodgy propositions in our time here. But we've heard it can happen, so stay YELLOW.

- R$4,80. This is the starting price for the meter in all the yellow taxis. This is a legal regulation so every taxi journey you take should start at R$4,80 if it does not, get out and get into the next taxi.. There's plenty of them. If you feel confident in speaking Portuguese then you could ask 'Quanto?' (How much?) but to be honest from our experience going by the meter is very cheap. Apart from our initial trip from the airport, the most expensive trip was from Sugarloaf back to Ipanema which was about R$25,00 (£6.00)  much more reasonable than an English taxi so cant really complain. If Portugeuse as a language is not your strong point then I would advise always keeping a map in your back pocket. This can help a lot when trying to explain where you need to go. Otherwise you may end up as we did, on a couple of occasions, zooming past the destination you thought you had agreed on and desperately shouting FANTASTICO whilst pointing back behind you.