Practical Rio

The CPF (Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas) is Brazil's individual taxpayer number, and it turns out to matter for far more than taxes. Opening a bank account, using PIX, signing up for a gym, and buying a proper SIM plan all ask for one. Any foreigner can get one, no visa or residency required, and it's worth doing before your trip rather than during it.

The straightforward route is applying through a Brazilian consulate in your home country, in person. As of 2025, applications from abroad have to go through the consulate with jurisdiction over where you live, and there's no fee. Build in time: appointment backlogs at busy consulates plus backend processing can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, so apply well before you travel if you can, ideally a couple of months out.

For a SIM card, Claro, TIM and Vivo are the three main carriers. TIM is the one most consistently reported to sell a tourist SIM on a passport alone, no CPF needed. Prepaid plans run roughly R$20 (~$3.92) to R$50 (~$9.80) for a week or two of decent data. Buying at Galeão airport works but the one on-site shop (Aerochip) is known for high prices. You'll do better buying in the city instead, at a carrier store in Copacabana, Ipanema or Botafogo, or by arranging an eSIM before you land.

PIX is Brazil's instant payment system, and it has quietly replaced cash and cards for a huge share of everyday transactions. A local scans a QR code or enters a payment key and the money moves between bank accounts in seconds, no fees. Using it yourself requires a CPF and a Brazilian bank account, which puts it out of reach for a short visit, but it's worth understanding since it's how most small businesses actually expect to be paid.

The scam to know about involves card machines ("maquininhas"). A vendor angles the screen away from you, claims the payment failed, and quietly runs it again, sometimes at a wildly inflated amount. It's a documented enough problem that investigators have linked rigged machines to specific spots in Copacabana, Ipanema and Arpoador. The fix is simple: always watch the machine's screen before it's touched, tap or insert your own card, and check your banking app before you walk away.

Beyond that, the general local pattern is small notes for kiosks, markets and street vendors, and cards for restaurants, hotels and shops. There's no official cash threshold that's meaningfully different from what you'd use anywhere else, just good judgment about where a card machine feels legitimate.

MetrôRio is clean, well-monitored and, per most expat and traveler accounts, considerably calmer than its reputation might suggest, arguably safer than comparable systems in several European and North American cities. The single fare is R$7.90 (~$1.55), which is meaningfully less than a single Tube fare in London or a subway ride in New York. Lines run Monday to Saturday from 5am to midnight and Sundays and holidays from 7am to 11pm, with extended hours during Carnival and New Year's. It's also the easiest way to see parts of Rio that never make a tourist itinerary, since Line 2 runs straight through the working Zona Norte, past Maracanã stadium and the Feira de São Cristóvão market.

Uber is the default for late-night trips, and locals and expats alike lean on it heavily after dark, especially on a first visit before you've learned which streets to avoid. Combine it with the metro for daytime crosstown trips and you'll rarely need anything else.

For short beachfront hops, Itaú Bike's orange bike-share stations are everywhere along the Ipanema to Leme corridor. A day pass is around R$10 (~$1.96) for unlimited rides up to an hour each, and it's genuinely one of the nicest ways to move between Ipanema, Copacabana and Leme along the water.

Brazil's public healthcare system, SUS, is free and open to anyone physically in the country, tourists included, no SUS card required for emergency care. It's a real safety net: dial 192 for SAMU (mobile emergency response), or head to any UPA (24-hour emergency unit). For anything beyond an emergency, though, waits for non-urgent specialist care can run weeks to months, and language can be a real barrier if your Portuguese is limited.

The consistent advice from expats is to treat SUS as the safety net it is, and still get private travel or health insurance for anything beyond a genuine emergency. It buys faster access to private hospitals and English-speaking care, which matters more than it might seem like it will until you actually need it.

Almost anything involving paperwork in Brazil takes longer than it would at home, whether that's a CPF, a bank account or a visa. It's not usually a sign that something's gone wrong, it's just the baseline pace. Build in an extra month of buffer beyond whatever timeline feels reasonable, especially if you're used to how quickly things move in the US or Northern Europe.

None of this is meant to be alarming, just practical. Choose accommodation near a metro stop or in a busy, well-lit area so getting home at night doesn't mean a long walk down a quiet street. An apartment with an electronic lock removes the everyday risk of losing a physical key. Carry only what you need: some small cash and a card with a limited balance rather than your main wallet.

A second, cheap phone with no banking apps installed is a smart move if you're going to be out late or in crowded areas, since phones get taken for the apps and accounts on them as much as for the hardware itself. The rest is ordinary common sense: stick to busy, lit streets, take an Uber rather than walk somewhere unfamiliar at night, and be careful about drinks around people you don't know well. Open your own bottle, watch your glass being poured, and treat an unusually generous stranger buying rounds with a little healthy skepticism, drink-spiking is a real and documented risk in nightlife settings anywhere, Rio included.

Claro, TIM and Vivo all cover Rio well; see the SIM card section above for current pricing. If you need to work while you're here, Zona Sul has a growing coworking scene, spaces in Ipanema, Botafogo and Copacabana, plus casual work-friendly cafés along the beachfront. Whatever you sign up for will likely ask for a CPF sooner or later, which is one more reason to sort that out before you need it.