Taxis

Brazilian taxi’s are convenient and inexpensive. Brazilian taxi’s are legally required to use a taximeter, but you can also agree to a fixed price.

If you know to what things you have to pay attention, the taxi is a safe way of transport. Always take a formal taxi. You can recognise these by the text ‘radio’ or ‘coop’ on it. No matter how credible and sad the excuse of a taxi driver (‘I am to poor to pay a taxi licence’), never step into a taxi that is not official or looks informal.

The best tactic is taking taxi drivers who are approached by you because you are convinced they drive an official taxi. Ignore or say no to all drivers who approach you. If you arrive at the airport, you will be approached by a large number of ‘taxi drivers’ while you are tired and want to go to your hotel. This may also happen at the rodoviária (terminal for long distance busses). Often, these people are no official taxi drivers although they may even say that they are the official taxi drivers of the airport and that they are the only safe ones around. If they are not official, they are certainly not safer. If you don’t ignore them, it may become hard to get rid of them.

So how do you find a taxi? Well, in airports you can leave the area of the arriving airplanes and go to the departing airplanes. At the entrance you will see official taxi drivers bringing people who will leave the country. As they have to return to the city anyway you will have a good bargaining position. Except for that, they have treated the tourist they are bringing well so they will probably treat you well.

Another tactic is going to the exit. At bus stations (at terminals as well as rodoviárias) you will find taxi drivers waiting at an official taxi point. At busy places there is generally a group of them and you can see that they know each other. These taxi drivers are a member of a cooperative and their taxi’s are official.


Official taxi's should always have a red numberplate.