Howdy ya'll!

Zona Sul, the southern tourist and beach areas, are really fairly safe, very upscale, nice restaurants and bars, and fairly well policed.  Keep you eyes open, but if you are in these neighborhoods, you will really enjoy it.  Otherwise, really keep your eyes open!

Blend in, don't wear expensive jewelry, don't take anything you can't live without, keep separate info on important papers and banking and don't throw your affluence around carelessly. We've been here off and on for 5 years and have been all around the Sao Paulo-> Rio-> Buzios area and have never had a problem.
To sum it up, wear sandals everywhere.
The people here are wonderful and very helpful.

Dear newcomer,

I work with expatriates in Brazil for over 10 years and my clients had never been hit by violence episodes. Rio and Sao Paulo are huge cities and like all have the big cities's problems - superpopulation, corruption, poor people living among riches and the high criminal rates, as consequence.

My advice for you is the same I give to all my clients: Brazilian people are 99% helpful and have good intentions but infortunately there are those 1% of bad guys, like everywhere and so you have to keep your eyes open. I don't think Rio is more dangerous than SPaulo, or NYC, or LA (where I lived), I just think you have to observe and follow the security habits of the area you are in. How to find that out? The best thing is looking for other foreigners and being part of their communities where the people hangout togheter, live in the same neighborhoods, have same living habits, etc. Until you get more comfortable to explore the country as a native.

Believe me, you will love RJ!

Alessandra Leite
aleite@assistereconsultores.com.br



Believe me, you will love Brazil!