RIO DE JANEIRO · BRAZIL
Where the mountains rise straight from the sea.
Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf cable car, the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, favela walks and Tijuca rainforest, sunset sails on the bay and the samba nights of Lapa. The marvellous city, end to end.
Only in Rio
Three things you can only do here.
Beaches, viewpoints and boat trips turn up in every coastal city. A statue with its arms open over the whole bay, a cable car onto a bare granite dome, and a hang glider off the mountain onto the sand do not.
The open-armed icon
Christ the Redeemer
Seven hundred metres up Corcovado, the thirty-metre statue stands with its arms open over the bay, the beaches and the favelas all at once. You climb by cog train through the Tijuca rainforest or by van up the mountain, and on a clear morning the view runs from Sugarloaf to the open Atlantic. There is one like it nowhere else.
- 1 Christ the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado Train
- 2 Rio: Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Selaron & BBQ Lunch
- 3 Rio de Janeiro: Christ, Selaron Steps, and Tijuca Park Tour
Two cars to the summit
The Sugarloaf Cable Car
From Praia Vermelha, glass cable cars climb in two stages, first to Morro da Urca and then to the bare granite dome of Pão de Açúcar, rising straight out of the harbour mouth. Time it for late afternoon and watch the light turn gold over Guanabara Bay before the city lights come on far below.
- 1 Rio de Janeiro: Sugarloaf Cable Car Official Ticket
- 2 Rio: Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Selaron & BBQ Lunch
- 3 Skip the Line to Christ Redeemer, Sugar Loaf and Barbecue Lunch
Off the mountain, onto the sand
Hang Gliding Over the Beach
Run off the ramp at Pedra Bonita strapped to a pilot, then float down over the Tijuca canopy with the whole Zona Sul spread out beneath you, landing on the sand at São Conrado. Few cities let you step off a mountain and touch down on a beach in the middle of town. Rio is one of them.
- 1 Rio de Janeiro: Hang Gliding Adventure
- 2 Rio de Janeiro: Hang Gliding Tandem Flight
- 3 Rio de Janeiro: Paragliding Tandem Flight
Start here
The day out everyone books first.
If you only lock in one thing before you fly, make it this one. The Rio day most travellers plan the rest of the trip around.
The classics
Rio's Most Popular Tours & Tickets
Corcovado and Sugarloaf, favela walks, bay cruises and the Maracanã. The experiences most travellers book first.
Where to begin
The experiences a Rio trip is built around.
Corcovado and Sugarloaf, the favelas and the rainforest, the city sights and the boats on the bay. The experiences most travellers plan a Rio trip around, and the best of each.
From the top
Three ways to see Rio from above.
Half the point of Rio is the view down, the bay and the beaches and the peaks all in one frame. There are three ways up to it, and each one shows you a different city.
The urban jungle
A rainforest in the middle of the city.
Tijuca is the largest urban rainforest on earth, hand-replanted in the 1860s and now a wall of green draped over the hills behind the beaches. Open-top jeeps climb the old carriage roads past waterfalls and the Vista Chinesa lookout, capuchin monkeys cross overhead, and toucans call from the canopy. Half an hour from Ipanema, and a different world.
Read the guide: Tijuca rainforest jeep tours →Up in the hills
The communities on the hillsides.
Rio's favelas climb the slopes behind the beaches, and the best way to understand them is on foot with a guide who lives there. Rocinha and Vidigal look out over the whole Zona Sul, the city's musical heart beats up here from the samba schools to baile funk, and the welcome is warmer than the headlines suggest. Go with a community-run tour and the money stays on the hill.
See the favela tours →Cidade Maravilhosa
A skyline carved by mountains and sea.
Granite peaks rising straight out of the Atlantic, beaches curving for miles between them, and a rainforest spilling down to the rooftops. Copacabana and Ipanema, the lagoon and the bay, the wave-pattern promenades and the bossa nova that came off them. There is a reason they call it the marvellous city.
Browse the city tours →Golden hour on the water
Rio, from the deck of a boat.
The city looks its best from the water. Schooners and small yachts slip out of Marina da Glória into Guanabara Bay as the light goes amber, Sugarloaf and Christ catching the last of the sun while the beaches turn to lights. Most sails come with a cold caipirinha in hand and a swim stop off a quiet island. An easy, unforgettable few hours.
- 1 Rio de Janeiro: Sunset Sailing Tour
- 2 Rio de Janeiro: Sunset Sailboat Tour with Open Bar
- 3 Rio de Janeiro: Guanabara Bay Sunset Sailing Tour & Drinks
Rio after dark
The night the city dances.
When the sun drops, Rio heads for Lapa. Under the white arches the old bars spill onto the cobbles, gafieira halls fill with couples dancing samba cheek to cheek, and the live-music clubs run until dawn. Take a class first and you will actually keep up, or join a guided night out and let someone who knows the doors lead the way.
See all 21 samba and dance nights →By place
Pick a corner of Rio.
Corcovado for the statue and the view. Sugarloaf for the cable car at sunset. Santa Teresa and Lapa for old Rio and the music. Tijuca for the rainforest, the Zona Sul peaks for the trails above the beaches, and Arraial do Cabo for a day at the Brazilian Caribbean.
By activity
Or pick how to spend your days.
A boat trip if you want the city from the water. A hike if you want the peaks. The Maracanã if you want a game. Plus helicopter flights, hang gliding, sunset sails, favela walks, samba nights and the rest.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Rio? A long weekend that strings the two icons, the beaches and a coastal escape into three easy days.
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