Leisurely Rio
Sun worshippers stop at Rio’s renowned
Ipanema and Copacabana beaches to sunbathe and browse Brazilian craft stalls. You can wind down on
Diabo beach with a coconut drink in the shade. Slip away to ride on the vintage cable car to the top of
Sugar Loaf Mountain, a 396m peak protruding into the Atlantic Ocean. The Corcovado train chugs through the shade of the
Tijuca Forest, where you can stop to see waterfalls, grottoes and the nearby
Botanical Gardens’ tropical flowers.
Outdoor fun
Life spills outdoors in Rio de Janeiro’s beaches. You can easily join in a
volleyball match on Corcovado beach, or join
surfers on Barra da Tijuca
beach. Hang-gliders drift on the thermals high above
Pepino beach, and tall ships and yachts dock at
Marina da Glória further east along the coast
. Horses race at the
Jockey Club, and football fans can buy tickets for a match at the
Maracanã Stadium, the largest in South America with space for almost 89,000 spectators.
Hybrid culture
Art enthusiasts stay in Rio de Janeiro hotels near the
National Fine Arts Museum for an
introduction to 19th-century Brazilian artists like Candido Portinari. The
International Naive Art Museum showcases primitive and indigenous art, with almost 6,000 brightly coloured panels lining its walls. At the
Metropolitan Cathedral, an emblem of modern Rio, you can take in its 1970s cone-like structure and astounding floor-to-ceiling stained-glass, while the
Lapa district
buzzes with bohemian
bars and live music under the arches of its white
Carioca Aqueduct.
Historic icons
Visitors on Rio de Janeiro city breaks eagerly await the sight of the 30m-high
Christ the Redeemer statue, which towers over the city from the peak of the Corcovado mountain. The
National History Museum presents an astounding array of art and artefacts that trace Portugal’s colonisation of Brazil in the 16th century, life on a sugar plantation and the Brazilian imperial family. Learn more about them on a boat trip and tour of the green
Fiscal Island castle in Guanabara Bay, where the last ball of the empire was held in 1889.
