While planning a route from the Slabs near Niland CA to Yuma AZ, my GPS routed me via a road through the Chocolate Mountains. This turned out to be a military "Impact Zone" for artillery and missile target practice.

Fortunately the gate was closed.......

Nomad

The norwegians were quite lucky. Non annonced visitors aren´t welcome in drug controlled areas.

It is almost impossible to visualy diferentiate a "safe" poor neighborhood from a violent one in the outskirts of Rio.

In this case (and in other big cities in general) a good procedure would be to stay only in the main roads or in known tourist destinations. Don´t trust your map and GPS if it indicates a route througth smaller and smaller streets.

It is important to note that the violence in Rio de Janeiro is very localised. I was born in Rio and have never saw a shootout...

Fabio

Not to sound patronizing but I would assume going to any "poor" neighborhood in a place like Rio is a lousy idea for a bunch of green foreigners. Poor people are not necessarily bad. I've traveled a bit in third-world countries and it is not a "bad" or dangerous experience if you understand what you are doing. But one of the things I've learned is that urban slums should always be avoided if possible.

Traveling in the countryside is often different because the folks that live there, as poor as they might be, tend to bo friendlier, sometimes surprisingly hospitable and in many parts of the world they will actively protect any foreigners as long as they're not "dumb Americans" flashing their money and driving huge SUVs. There is always a chance of running into bad guys but as long as you're not ignorantly passing through a war zone or getting mixed up in a guerilla uprising you should be reasonably safe.

In big cities and slums though moral principles are often nonexistent, pretty much everything goes. You could literally get killed on the spot for a few dollars or just a pair of sneakers. But any reasonably experienced traveller should be able to identify such danger zones easily enough if only you pay attention to what is going on around you. One fairly reliable sign is the sudden lack of police presence. In many places bordering on dangerous slums you will see lots of heavily armed police protecting the safe areas, usually where decent (or at least rich) people live. A few blocks further down the road and you might end up in a hellhole where not even a police patrol would dare to enter.

Of course, if you happen to be too busy to maintain some basic situational awareness and prefer to take directions from the GPS you might as well find yourself in a really bad spot.

know before you go.

if you think it looks bad, it is.

Thanks, Fabio.

What's the best way to learn about the danger spots?

Ask the hotel? Ask the local police? Hire a taxi?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

OBG,

Wasn't that bad. It was 9am on a Monday. Everyone was sleeping. However, I really liked the gas station attendant down the road. " Your lost right? Get $5.00 gas (was 1998) and get the hell out of here. LAX is that way!"

Of course he was peering out of a window with bars larger than any jail cell I had ever seen before. I did notice the few folks around were watching me closely. Nothing like a Ford Taurus station wagon full of luggage with a Budget Rental Car bumper sticker to attract attention.

Could have been worse.

"...Nothing like a Ford Taurus station wagon full of luggage..."

Makes me think of National Lampoon's Vacation!!!

I used to work graveyard in that area, I thought it was fun back then...

I was solo. Headed from one town to the next for work. The GPS linked to laptop that resulted was nice to have though.

+1 on only going to Rio de Janeiro when you have local knowledge. Even then, it's probably not very safe either. I look American, and I was always keeping an eye on everyone. That, and the fact I always traveled in a medium sized group with people that looked local, probably helped me avoid issues.

Hello Doug,

If you want information about Rio, I’m going to be there next week. I can get some intel for you.

Fabio