In less than one month's time, 32 venues all over Rio de Janeiro, plus football stadiums in five other Brazilian cities, will be welcoming hundreds of thousands of sports fans for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

To help them make the best of their experience, Rio 2016 has launched spectator guides for every single Olympic sport plus the opening and closing ceremonies. The guides, which can be downloaded from Rio2016.com, provide spectators with all the information they might need to make their Olympic visit a memorable one, including maps of the venues and the stands, lists of the services available at the venue and details on what can and cannot be taken inside. 

Each guide contains clear information on how to use public transport to reach each Olympic venue. The city government has also launched a new website to help people find their way to and from the main Olympic sites.

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The train is one of the best ways to get to and from the Deodoro region, the spectator guides explain (Photo: Rio 2016/Daniel Ramalho)

"Whatever venue they are visiting, spectators can use the guides to find the toilets, medical facilities and information desks, and the entrances that are accessible to people with an impairment," says Hélio Cabral, manager of spectator experience at the Rio 2016 organising committee.

The guides can be printed in PDF format or saved directly onto smartphones, tablets and other devices for offline access. Print versions of each guide will be available in about 40 kiosks all over Rio during the Games.

Do's and Don'ts

One of the most important sections of the guides explains precisely what spectators can and cannot take inside the Olympic venues. The guides recommend that visitors carry their personal belongings in small bags that can be easily placed under their seats during events. One item that spectators will not be able to use inside the venues, for safety reasons, is the so-called selfie stick.

The official list of prohibited and restricted items at Rio 2016

For some sports and disciplines there are special recommendations. For example, at the football matches only see-through backpacks and bags will be allowed inside the stadiums.