Rio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport

Galeão–Tom Jobim is Rio de Janeiro's main international gateway, back to a record ~17.5 million passengers in 2025 as traffic recovers. It sits on Ilha do Governador, about 20 km north of Centro and 40–70 minutes by road from Copacabana. One rule covers everyone: all flights use Terminal 2 — Terminal 1 has been closed to check-in since 2016, whatever your ticket says. In March 2026 Spain's Aena won the new concession, so expect gradual rebranding and investment over the next few years.

For the city, ride-hailing is the sweet spot: Uber/99 to Copacabana typically runs R$60–100 from the signposted pickup zones outside T2, while official taxi desks inside arrivals sell fixed-price rides at roughly R$120–160 — never accept rides from touts in the hall. On a budget, the BRT TransCarioca (R$5, Jaé card only — no cash) connects to metro Line 2 at Vicente de Carvalho in ~25–30 minutes, and the Expresso Gentileza bus links to the VLT tram for Centro; both are crowded and not luggage-friendly.

A word on the route: the expressway to the Zona Sul passes the Maré favela complex, where incidents at slow traffic do occur — keep windows up, phones out of sight, prefer daylight arrivals or pre-booked transport, and let the driver pick the route. And don't book tight self-connections with Santos Dumont (SDU): the cross-city transfer takes 30–45 minutes on a good day.