Is Rio de Janeiro safe for solo female travelers?

Rio de Janeiro has many beautiful attractions and vibrant culture, however caution is recommended especially for solo female travelers. Crime can be prevalent especially in certain neighborhoods and at night. Always keep an eye on your belongings and avoid walking alone at night in less populated or unfamiliar areas. It's also recommended to keep your valuables and flashy jewelry inconspicuous to avoid drawing unnecessary attention. As a rule of thumb, traveling via taxi or Uber, especially at night, is safer than walking. Despite this, many tourists visit Rio safely each year, so it is not impossible to enjoy the city while taking appropriate precautions.

Safety rating

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How safe is Rio de Janeiro for female travelers?

Travel safety index

3.2 /5

based on 25 experiences from female travelers

Flavia

Flavia

Chile

Group travel

Overall, the trip was great. I traveled with my sister and her partner, and even though we sometimes went out together or separately, I felt pretty safe, always sticking to the quieter areas I knew were quieter. In the afternoon and at night, you can walk around Copacabana or along Rio's waterfront. However, I don't recommend going to Celarón at night. Many people say it's a great place to party. I've also heard many terrible stories about being mugged, intimidated, or otherwise attacked. You should definitely visit the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon, as well as Praia Vermelha. Other must-sees include Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Botanical Garden, Christ the Redeemer, and Tijuca National Park. A very interesting place to visit is the Museu do Amanhã. There are definitely plenty of museums and cultural attractions, as well as many beautiful beaches. Regarding food, I'm not a particular fan, but street food, especially the corn with butter, was delicious after climbing up and down the Sugar Loaf Mountain. We stayed in a high-rise apartment in a very, very old building in Copacabana. While it looked very nice in photos and also very pretty inside, the building wasn't in very good structural condition, which made us a little unsafe. Overall, it felt pretty safe, though I wouldn't recommend going to other places at night. Our transportation to visit the area was mainly a bicycle, rented through a phone app. Also, since everything was very close, it was very easy to walk almost everywhere. When we had to travel to distant places, we used public transportation or took a car through phone apps.

Posted: October 3, 2025Experienced: May, 2023
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Solo travel

* Extremely beautiful but did feel safe at all. * If you visit Pao de Azucar, go for the sunset, one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in my life. * A cool and safe space to stay is Hostel Sunrise, a room only for women, a pool and an entrance right on the road, which makes it safer to go home at night with an uber or taxi. * If you are alone, I would definitely recommend to travel with a Dry Bag to allow you to the beach with some basic belongings.

Posted: September 1, 2025Experienced: July, 2025
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Suelen

Suelen

Brazil

Solo travel

In Rio de Janeiro, most touristic areas are safe. The local food is amazing. The beaches are impressive. People is very friendly. I highly recommend it. Attractions are not expensive for travelers. You can use the public transport without worry.

Posted: June 20, 2025
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Wlianni

Wlianni

Brazil

Couple travel

A city with beautiful places but I constantly felt in danger and had to stay alert all the time. I really liked the places I visited. I avoided going up hills, but I wouldn't return to the city because of the lack of safety.

Posted: April 21, 2025
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Paula

Paula

Portugal

Solo travel

I loved Rio! I also managed to see some carnival celebrations as they started in January already! I felt very safe although I was also cautious because I know that it can be very unsafe there. Prices were very affordable but, as usually, in more touristic areas they were higher than they should be. I can definitely reccomend! And the weather was awesome.

Posted: February 3, 2025Experienced: December, 2024
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How safe is Rio de Janeiro for women?

Local safety index

2.5 /5

Based on 20 local experiences

Local crime index

3.1 /5

Based on 20 local experiences

Larissa

Larissa

In Brazil, we have an expression called "dar mole" (to be soft), and that's what you can't do. So, don't leave your cell phone exposed on places full of people or empty streets, where it can be snatched away. Always keep your purse and backpack in front of your field of vision. Don't make foolish savings. If it's night, call a car or an Uber to get to your destination. Your life, integrity, and even your material stuff are much more expensive than an Uber or taxi ride. Avoid being too friendly with strangers; always be alert. I've never been robbed in Rio. I live in a good area here and feel safe, but these are some precautions I take to avoid becoming a statistic.

Posted: August 11, 2025
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Rayanne

Rayanne

Rio is not the most safe, bug also not as dangerous as some make it seem. There are certain areas that are worse than others and you must be street smart to get by. Don't leave your stuff unattended, keep your bag on your sight, don't walk in dark empty places, attention around you, research places, if possible get company or even better a local to show you around. I was born and raised in rio and it's a beautiful city, and I only got robbed once in new year (which is a dangerous day to go by anyways), but it's overall a very charming city.

Posted: June 8, 2025
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Fernanda

Fernanda

Rio is safe for somethings but not much for others... its a good place to travel alone but chose wisely the place you Will stay and the People you are going to talk to. Be smart and aclive here! Dont walk around with Professional câmeras, for exemple.

Posted: May 31, 2025
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Laura

Laura

The city of Rio de Janeiro is pretty diversified. In Zona Sul(South Zone), there are rich places, and I imagine that is the place tourists would stay more. In those places, everything works nice, but you always have to stay alert about robberies and thefts. In the rest of the Rio de Janeiro: Zona Norte(North Zone) and Zona Oeste(West Zone), things get more complicated. There are nice neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods. You should always stay alert to never go into a Favela for accident. As I said... there are good favelas and bad ones. Feel free to ask me more about it :) But me, as a local, can tell you that: No, you are not going to experience anything really bad in Rio. You just have to be careful. It's an amazing town.

Posted: May 21, 2025
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Lívia

Lívia

Rio de Janeiro is safe if you go to tourist places, Dont go to favelas just because it's famous, focus going to beaches, museums, shopping mall, and nature places. That way you wont get annoyed by bad intention ppl

Posted: February 5, 2025
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Safety in Brazil