My First Trip To Rio De Janeiro In Brazil
Brazil has been a long awaited destination for me as I’ve been thinking about going to Rio de Janeiro for many years. It’s such a long way from Canada but when Air Canada opened up direct flights from Toronto to Rio on a seasonal basis, I took advantage of it as soon as my winter ski season ended when I booked one of the last direct flights of the airline’s season to Rio. To help prepare for this trip, I switched from my Spanish studying over to Portuguese since Brazil is Portuguese speaking and this alone was quite challenging since even many similar words on paper are pronounced quite differently.
After a lousy ten hour overnight flight being stuck in a middle seat without much sleep, I made it to Rio and the traffic is just as bad as reports had it. My Uber made it to my Airbnb in the south end of Copacabana very close to the Ipanema border which was an ideal location to beaches in both areas, restaurants and grocery stores within a block or two walking distance. I stocked up on food items from the Zona Sul grocer since it was my plan on this trip to make my own breakfasts as it was my first trip away from home while on my body recomposition program and I wanted at least the first meal of the day to be nutritionally solid.
After spending the first day to relax from my overnight flight and just scout the local area to find where things are, I made my plans to visit the main tourist attractions in Rio de Janeiro which are below with some photos plus travel videos. These videos all have my travel commentary but for those who would rather just watch visual overviews of these Rio attractions without my commentary, I made a separate set of videos with no commentary at my Unity Power Force website under New Music Videos Shot In Brazil.
Christ The Redeemer
On the majority of online travel photos and videos of Rio de Janeiro, the giant statue Christ the Redeemer at the top of a mountain is usually shown overlooking the city. This is the #1 iconic tourist attraction in Rio which of course I had to go see. I learned that it is an attraction that is weather dependent though as some tourists have had disappointing visits because of poor visibility due to rain, fog and cloudy weather.
Because it’s the #1 tourist attraction, crowds will be crazy there. So it was a balancing act of monitoring the local weather forecast and booking advance tickets. It turned out that the ideal day to go visit Christ the Redeemer for me would be the next day after arrival on a Saturday which I didn’t really want since weekend crowds would be the worse. But the start of the following week was forecasted to rain so I had no choice but to book Saturday morning so I went online to secure a spot for the official Christ The Redeemer van from Copacabana.
There are a few ways to go see Christ the Redeemer but I chose the official van as it would be one of the more cost effective ways as well as the quickest to get me up there hopefully before the big crowds arrive. The other popular way is via an official train that takes you all the way up to the top. I shot a video with my travel commentary about the different ways to go see Christ the Redeemer as well as magnificent views of Rio de Janeiro from the top just below.
To get to the van pickup spot for my morning 8 am pickup, I had to walk 30 minutes from the south end of Copacabana to the north end along the beach but since this was early in the morning, it was actually quite pleasant outside. It wasn’t too hot like during the Friday afternoon on my arrival day and there wasn’t a lot of people outside yet either. Only joggers, locals exercising on the beach and dog walkers were out this early in the morning so I found this 30 minute walk to be quite enjoyable (this wasn’t the only early morning beach walk I did in Rio as you will see later).
When I got to Christ the Redeemer, the crowds were already there but I still managed to make my way through them to get decent video and photos plus time just to marvel at the beautiful natural scenery below. I was done in an hour at the top and by the time the official van took me back to Copacabana, it was only about 10:45 am. For all first time travellers to Rio de Janeiro, Christ the Redeemer is a must see and it won’t take very long either as I took only half day to do this attraction.
From the top of the mountain at Christ the Redeemer, I was able to see Sugarloaf Mountain below which would be the other main tourist attraction in Rio de Janeiro. Sugarloaf Mountain would be my next attraction to visit for the next morning.
Sugarloaf Mountain
After Christ the Redeemer, the next big tourist attraction in Rio de Janeiro is Sugarloaf Mountain with its distinctive hump seen on the coast. This was going to be another site where it’s important to go early in order to beat the crowds and advance tickets would save me from having to line up for them once on site. However unlike Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain is not as weather dependent since it’s not as high up. Even in not so ideal weather, views are still good here. Since it wasn’t recommended to venture to downtown Centro area of the city on weekends, Sunday was wide open for me so I decided to book for the 9 to 10 am entry slot. As with Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf cablecars to the top are timed entries on advance tickets as a way to control the flow of crowds.
As with Christ the Redeemer, I didn’t want to go with a tour group as I wanted to go on my own for a more cost effective visit. In the case of Sugarloaf Mountain, I took the Metro subway from Ipanema (with General Osario station as my base stop) to Botafogo station. I found Rio’s Metro system to be quite efficient and safe although the underground stations are huge with a fair bit of walking underground. But I was able to use my credit card right at the turnstiles so it was super easy and cheap.
Again since it was early morning, once I got to Botafogo station, I walked 30 minutes to Sugarloaf Mountain through a very nice neighbourhood along the local beach there. Upon arrival since I had an advance ticket already, I went straight to the lineup to get on the cable car up the mountain and thus avoiding the long line for admission tickets on site. There was a crowd already there for the cable car too but it was moving along quite well and once up the first mountain (called Urca Mountain), visitors spread out so it never felt too crowded up there at any one spot unlike the limited space platforms at Christ the Redeemer.
It’s actually quite funny to see the reactions of other tourists inside the cable cars. I sensed from the languages they were speaking (Portuguese or Spanish), they were mostly from Brazil or other South American countries and for the vast majority of them, this was probably their first ever cable car ride. For me as a long time winter resort skier, cable cars of course are just normal!
Sugarloaf Mountain as a tourist site is actually two separate mountains with the cable car going up to Urca Mountain first which is the shorter one but bigger in terms of space up top with more shops, restaurants and exhibits. Views of the bay were really nice here. I could see Copacabana beach on one side and the smaller local beaches nearby just below. I could even see planes landing at Rio’s small domestic airport.
Sugarloaf Mountain is the higher hump reached by a second cable car from Urca and there were no lineups at all going up when I was there. At the top, I had a 360 degree view of the entire area near Rio. Not only was I able to see the sea and other mountainside areas outside of Rio, but I also saw parts of the city with the beach coastline as well which wasn’t possible from Christ the Redeemer since that site only faces outwards towards the sea. I was able to see Christ the Redeemer from here too.
Sugarloaf Mountain also has a series of nature paths which I liked since they offered some shading from the sun and there were also some nice views too. Here’s my video showing some of these awesome views I had at the top of both Urca and Sugarloaf mountains.
Perhaps not surprising, the prices of food, drinks and souvenirs at the vendors up top were really high, ie., tourist prices. After all, we are stuck up top in a major tourist attraction so of course they are going to try and gouge visitors. But overall, Sugarloaf Mountain was definitely worth visiting although as with Christ the Redeemer, I probably wouldn’t do it again if I ever return to Rio de Janeiro unless it’s for a sunset at Sugarloaf which I heard is quite nice from up top there.
Downtown Centro Rio De Janeiro
There are several smaller interesting tourist attractions in the downtown Centro area of Rio de Janeiro but this district has a reputation of being unsafe to visit. The truth is Centro is a busy business district full of office buildings where many Rio locals come to work during the week but is deserted at night and on weekends. So it’s advisable to venture into Centro only during daytime business hours during the work week which is what I did. Weekends are best for visiting other areas of Rio or just stay in Copacabana or Ipanema/Leblon which are the main safer tourist areas.
Rio’s traffic is notoriously bad so even though I could have taken an Uber to Centro, I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic so I did what locals and many other tourists do which is take the Metro subway. The Metro is fast, cheap and safe with good police presence. My base Metro station in Ipanema was only ten minutes walk from my Airbnb in south Copacabana and the Metro ride was only about 15 minutes to downtown Centro Rio.
Key tourist attractions in Centro include the Selaron Steps which is an outdoor stairway filled with beautiful ceramic tiles donated from around the world and the Portuguese Reading Room which is one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. There is also the modern cone shaped Metro Cathedral and the Confeitaria Colombo cafe which is considered one of the world’s most beautiful cafes. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get into this cafe as the lineups outside were too long. I did make it to the other attractions which were free admission and got nice video footage of them below.
From Confeitaria Colombo where I was only able to take a quick photo at the entrance, I walked about a block away and found a local ‘comida por quilo’ restaurant which is like a buffet you pay by the weight of your food filled plate. It was dirt cheap which is why many local Brazilians like eating at these.
All of these Centro area attractions were walkable to each other and from the Metro stations there. Just be aware of the crowded market areas so I kept my fanny pack underneath my t-shirt rather than wear it on the outside and my cellphone was in my pocket with my hand holding onto it. With these precautions, I had absolutely no problems walking around Centro.
Taking The Tram To Santa Teresa
One of the really interesting tourist activites to do in Rio de Janeiro is to take a cute tram that starts near the Metro Cathedral in Centro up to a nice quaint bohemian area called Santa Teresa. This neighbourhood which is up on a hill looking over downtown is very artsy and peaceful. The only problem is that even if coming early in the morning, the tram is very busy as I had to wait for an hour after buying my ticket to get on. Available trams do not come around very quickly. But once on the tram, it was a nice scenic ride as it passed over the Lapa Arches in Centro up to Santa Teresa.
The tram stops right in the middle of a very happening intersection where you can see interesting street art. I walked over to Parque das Ruinas which is like a big house in semi-ruins but converted into an open air art gallery. This site also had some gorgeous views of downtown Rio below as well as Sugarloaf Mountain. Parque das Ruinas is free admission too.
After Parque das Ruinas, I stopped at one of the many local cafes in Santa Teresa to try out some local Brazilian snacks and had one of the best coffees I’ve ever tried anywhere in the world. It was a leisurely stay in Santa Teresa that morning which was a really nice change from the busy hustle and bustle of downtown Centro. I did do this Santa Teresa visit on a separate day from visiting the other Centro tourist sights so technically I went downtown on two different weekdays even though for this trip after arriving back to the main tram station, I walked straight to the Metro station across the street to head back to Copacabana. I figure there was nothing more I wanted to see in Centro and I would just rather return to my Airbnb to escape from the midday heat for awhile.
Beach Culture In Rio De Janeiro
Finally of course there’s the beach culture in Rio de Janeiro. As you can see from the videos of both Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain, the natural scenery of the ocean, beaches and the mountains in the background is just breathtaking. It was amazing how almost every local I interacted with loves the beach life there. It seems that whenever they are not working, the locals are all at the various beaches whether at the big iconic curved Copacabana Beach, the more upscale beach along Ipanema and Leblon or the other smaller less touristy ones around Rio like those near Sugarloaf Mountain.
Personally I’m not a beach person as I’ll just get bored sitting under a beach umbrella and the daytime sun makes Rio way too hot for me anyway. But everyday I saw lots of locals hang out at the beach and the many vendors there selling everything from food to drinks (including alcoholic ones) got their business so fine tuned that apparently they all carry credit card terminals. People were also playing volleyball and pickleball among other beach sports popular there.
I should note that since I’m a red blooded man, the myth of the legendary skimpy ‘butt floss’ bikini turned out to be real! Almost all local women no matter what size and shape wear these on the beach. They are definitely not shy about it and now I can see where they all get their nice skin tones from. If you see an individual, male or female that is pasty white, it’s probably a tourist!
The weekends were particularly jammed packed at the beach but unlike your typical tropical beach in the Caribbean, most folks do not go into the water to swim. If they did venture into the water, it wasn’t for long durations as the ocean here is actually very cold. Surfers taking advantage of the waves here tend to wear wetsuits as Rio de Janeiro is actually pretty far south of the equator. It’s a weird combination with hot 30+ C degree midday air temperatures but still very cold ocean.
One thing many locals like to do is hang out by the far east side of Ipanema Beach where Arpoador Rock is to watch the sunset. I did go there for a bit but it was so packed that I started to feel uncomfortable and left since I didn’t want to be caught in a giant crowd all slowly trying to get home afterwards.
In contrast, I did spend a few very early mornings (7 am) along Ipanema/Leblon Beach and it wasn’t crowded at all at that time of day. Only joggers, cyclists, folks walking their dogs and locals playing sports or exercising were around so early. The early morning temperatures were also quite pleasant much like my early weekend days to Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain since the midday sun had not hit yet. I even worked out at the ‘Flintstones Gym’ which is a free beach gym with weights made from stone. I much preferred the early morning scene at the beach compared to the later big crowds. Here’s my video from one of my early morning strolls.
My Overall Impression Of Rio De Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is definitely a world class city so it’s not surprising why it hosted the Olympics. It’s been on my travel list for many years and I’m glad I finally got to visit. After spending several days there, I have to conclude that it’s the huge beach culture that really makes Rio. The natural scenery is also breathtaking but I found the city itself a bit on the dirty side with garbage and much of the buildings are quite dated. Even most of the office buildings in Centro look old.
The traffic is as terrible as I’ve heard before. However, I also feel that the danger factor of Rio de Janeiro is way overblown. As long as you don’t go anywhere near the favelas that surround the city and stay in Copacabana and Ipanema/Leblon near busy hotel and restaurant streets, tourists will be okay. I never felt uncomfortable at any time during my stay in Rio de Janerio and that includes my trips into downtown Centro as well. I just made sure I hung onto my cellphone.
Rio de Janeiro is also the city where they have the biggest Carnival festival but I wouldn’t want to visit at that time as crowds would be super crazy along with inflated prices for everything. It’s also during our Canadian winter so I wouldn’t want to leave my ski season to venture south.
I’m not sure if I would ever return to Rio since I’m not a beach person and I already did all the tourist attractions that I wanted to see there. But one thing I know for sure is that I will return to Brazil since it’s a very big country with lots more to see (the Amazon is an example). Next stop for me is Iguazu Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world.
