The bus system in brazil is really great. It has great connections between the states and cities. It is also much more reasonable priced than that of flights. Ofcourse the only draw back is that the travel is long and can have traffic. However the buses have many classes. You can go 'basic' which is just a normal nice bus to travel in. However for around 10Euros more you can have "double class" which is excellent. Here you get food, blankets, pillows, movies, drinks, rest stops. The seats recline nearly all the way back and are widers and much softer than planes or normal buses. It makes riding easy and fun.
If you go to the intercity bus stations there are many bus companies with variying prices and quality -- so you can find the most buget of deals. For the long travels we find it worthwhile to spend a tiny bit extra to get the comfort. We tried the very very buget bus, it was fine, but the airco was turned on SO high we couldn't sleep.
The main bus companies I could see are: 1001, Macanese, Expresso do Sul, Expresso Brazil. The best website I found was:
http://www.autoviacao1001.com.br/web/en/negocios/aluguelonibus/index.htm
Here select on the left hand side "Online tickets" and you can select your departure/arrival city, dates and it will give you many options. Not all as not all the bus companies in Brazil are online, but these appear to be the better companies so far. Prices are shown on the site. What is handy is even if you book, you can still change the date/time if needed. We just turned up 2 hours earlier and they let us take the eariler bus with same class (assuming there is space ofcourse). However with so many buses leaving all day to many destinations from many cities, it is not difficult to wait it out. So it is not necessary to feel pressured to book anything. Except maybe during big events like carnival.
The local buses in Rio are pretty organised. However you have to know where you are going. From the Interstate Rodivaria, you can take buses 126,127,128 to Copacabana. The price is either 2.10 real (no airco) or 2.25 real (with airco). Again the turn up the airco too high so I prefer the no airco buses.
The bus officials are great, you can ask them to tell when it is your stop. Sometimes even if you don't tell them - they know and help you. We made a typical grino mistake on our way back to the bus station to leave Rio. We saw a bus station also called 'Rodivaria' but it was Rodvaria Central - the central station of Rio city - NOT the interstate station. It looked VERY similar though, so we started to get off the bus. Luckily for us the bus official saw our mistake and waved/shouted us to sit back down. Saying "Not for you" and waving a nervous finger for us. She shook her head and we immediately sat back down. As we looked further around we noticed indeed this was NOT our station. The station was surrounded by many favelas, military police and looked like we could be robbed in less than 5 minutes. Phew. She then advised us when we were allowed to leave safely hehehe
Gringo note, there are many locals always willing to help you!
The metro system in rio is fantastic. This is the safest form of transport in Rio. However the lines do not go all over Rio. So there is no metro option from the interstate bus station to main copacabana. You must take a bus or a taxi. The metro costs 2 reals one way.
Hope this is helpful.
