Rio de Janeiro: €563 ITA Airways Flights from Athens (€700 with Luggage)

Flights to popular South American destinations such as Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires have been extremely expensive since the pandemic, with light fares often costing over €1,000. Especially from Eastern Europe, we’ve rarely seen good prices for such routes. Currently, however, you could fly to Rio de Janeiro for only €563 with ITA Airways. This fare includes 8 kg of hand luggage. Flying with 23 kg of checked baggage costs €700 in ITA’s website – unless you are a SkyTeam Elite frequent flyer.

Our calendar displays all available dates for trips of 5 – 28 days. You can either look for the cheapest online travel agency (OTA) or pay roughly €40 more on ITA’s website. If you’re going to book the fare that includes luggage, booking on ITA’s website is probably the better choice. You can find this fare for departures in March and November 2024.

Availability gets a bit broader if you are willing to accept overnight layovers in Rome in at least one direction.

You’ll first fly to Rome onboard an Airbus A320. Then, you’ll board an Airbus A330 for the 12-hour flight to Rio de Janeiro. During the flight, you’ll be served food and drinks, have power sockets to charge your electronic devices, and each seat has individual on-demand video screens. The seats are aligned in a 2-4-2 formation. Should you want to reserve an exit row seat, ITA will charge €89 per flight.

Search & Book

The fare rules state that the trip has to be at least 5 days long (or include a Sunday) and cannot exceed 3 months. Also, you must fly between December 30 and June 24. Our calendar displays all available dates for trips of up to 4 weeks. For longer trips, check out Google Flights‘ calendar. You can either book these flights through an OTA for around €563 or on ITA’s website for around €600. If you wish to book the fare that includes luggage, or generally be on the safer side, then book on ITA’s website. Otherwise, Skyscanner can help you find the cheapest OTA.

Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?

More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:

Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.

If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.

This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.

Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.

This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.

Mileage

The tickets are issued in booking class W, meaning that you can expect to get:

Destination

Hotel prices in Rio de Janeiro usually start at roughly €20 but can quickly jump to at least €45 if you want to stay in a nice location. Whichever category and hotel you opt for, make sure to get the best price! Our recommendation is to search on booking.com, or even on our own Travel-Dealz hotel search:

Information & Tips for Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is the second largest but especially for tourists probably the most important city in Brazil. Famous for its carnival, Cristo Redentor statue, Sugar Loaf Mountain and Copacabana, Rio offers visitors a variety of experiences and sights.

The city has excellent flight connections to Europe. Fares are generally around €400 to €600 with the occasional steal of less than €400.

The Best Time to Visit

The best time to visit Rio is between December and March. At this time of year, the weather is warm but moderate, and the water temperature is perfect for swimming. Carnival takes place in February.

From the airport to the city

Express buses with air conditioning and lots of space for your luggage will take you to the city in about half an hour for the equivalent of €3. The taxi ride costs between €14 and €25. Make sure that you only take licensed taxis!

→ All Dealz for Rio de Janeiro

Information & Tips for Brazil

Brazil is probably the country in South America that is most frequented by tourists. Whether it’s the carnival or the Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro or touring the Amazon, visitors will get their money’s worth here.

Traditionally, flights to South America and Brazil from Europe are quite expensive, but since a few years, there are increasingly cheap offers, especially with Iberia and TAP.

Best Time to Visit

Brazil is a vast country – so there is no such thing as an overall best travel time. It all depends on what you want to see. It is best to visit the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo autumn and spring while the dry season fort the rainforest is from May to September.

Entry & Visa

EU citizens do not require a visa for stays of up to 90 days and can enter with a passport only. Note that, similar to the USA, that after your first stop in Brazil your luggage must be collected and brought through customs. Calculate accordingly when booking a connecting flight.

Finding the Best eSIM Plan

We’ve compared various eSIM providers, such as Airalo and Maya Mobile. To see which plan is best for your travel needs, and which network offers the best coverage, feel free to read our detailed guide:

The Best eSIM Plans for Brazil 🇧🇷 Compared

→ All Dealz for Brazil

Cover Picture: Photo by Krys Amon on Unsplash