Galeao and Santos Dumont; To and from the Airports in Rio

Going to and from the Airports in Rio with the REAL bus
They are blue and white and has AC, they are really comfortable, safe and also cheap, the only potential hassle is getting to and from the bus in the city, if itīs to late (ie. after 8 PM) the taxi option is probably better. These buses run from 5.30 AM until midnight everyday every 30 min. and costs 6.50 R$, it takes a long time (1h - 1h 45 min depending on traffic).

From
It goes all the way from Galeao (GIG) through the city center past the airport Santos Dumont (SDU) through Zona Sul all the way to Barra de Tijuca.

To
Going to the airports itīs more or less the reverse route, click at REAL Bus Itinerary Airports to get detailed information about the route. Catching it is real easy, just stand at a bus stop and when it passes wave frantically, if you are at any of the beach avenues just position your self close to any redlight and make yourself visible.

Changing routes
This sounds almost a bit too easy... and it is. Public Holidays and Sundays they shut off one direction of the traffic on the beach avenues in Leblon, Ipanema and Copacabana. This means that on Sundays and Holidays between 7h and 18h (during Daylight Saving Summer Time until 19h) in Leblon and Ipanema to the airports the bus runs on Rua Visconde de Pirajá (this day itīs easy to confuse the REAL bus to the airport with the identical one that goes to the bus station, make sure you catch the right one!), in Copacabana they run as normal. From the airports; In Copacabana the bus changes to Rua Barata Ribeiro and as normal on the beach avenue in Ipanema and Leblon. Itīs not over; Every weekday between 7h and 10h the traffic on the beach avenues only goes in one direction towards the city center, then the bus from the airports run on Rua Barata Ribeiro and Rua Prudente de Moraes to the airports as normal on the beach avenue (the beach side). During bigger events they also redirect the traffic in the whole of Zona Sul, then it might be a good idea to get a taxi to avoid possible confusions.

Going To and From Airport in Rio With Taxis
Aside from the special taxis going from the airport taxis are quite cheap.

From
Going from Galeao (GIG). The best taxis to catch are with the Aerocoop or Aerotaxi companies. In order to get these you have to go outside the airport building and find one there, they are yellow and should go on the meter which means 40-45 R$ to Ipanema. There are a lot of other yellow cabbies outside that all will try to make you pay a lot. Grabbing a Radiotaxi from inside the building is almost double the price (go to my Taxis in Rio page to find out more about taxis). From the Santos Dumont (SDU) airport I just recommend you to go outside the building and start haggling.

To
Going to the airports in Rio itīs best is to order a normal yellow cab from a company by phone, they will go on the meter (if they donīt, tell them to turn it on). Another option is to flag one down on the street, itīs easy to make them go on the meter. I have repetedly told you here to make them "turn on the meter", of course you can always try to negotiate, I know of people only paying 25 R$ from Copacabana to Galeao, but it could take some time.

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