Rio de Janeiro: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Rio is the only city in the world where the beach is not leisure but the town square. From Copacabana to Ipanema is seven kilometres of sand on which the whole of society happens — each stretch is marked by a numbered post and belongs to a different crowd, and people know exactly where they sit. Best between four and sunset.
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A short history of Rio de Janeiro
In January 1502 Portuguese sailors entered Guanabara Bay, thought it was the mouth of a river and called it the "River of January". On 1 March 1565 Estácio de Sá founded the city. In 1763 Rio became the capital of the colony, and in 1808 the entire Portuguese royal family fled here from Napoleon, so that for a time Rio was the capital of the whole Portuguese Empire. It remained the capital of Brazil until 1960, when the government moved to Brasília. In 1931 the statue of Christ the Redeemer was unveiled on Corcovado mountain, and in 2016 the city hosted the first Olympic Games in South America.
The ten best sights in Rio de Janeiro
1Christ the RedeemerThirty metres on a seven-hundred-metre peak
2Sugarloaf MountainTwo cable cars, and go for the sunset
3Copacabana BeachFour kilometres, and the pavement is a Burle Marx drawing
4Ipanema BeachPosto 9 is where Rio sits, and the sunset gets applause
5ArpoadorA rock between two beaches — the best free view
6Escadaria SelarónTwo hundred and fifteen steps, tiled by one man
7Santa TeresaA hill of mansions and a yellow tram
8Lapa ArchesAn eighteenth-century aqueduct the tram runs on
9MaracanãTwo hundred thousand people watched the 1950 final here
10Vista ChinesaA Chinese pagoda in the forest, over the whole city
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Rio de Janeiro →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Rio de Janeiro:
Free walking tours in Rio de Janeiro
The beaches
Rio is the only city in the world where the beach is not leisure but the town square. From Copacabana to Ipanema is seven kilometres of sand on which the whole of society happens — each stretch is marked by a numbered post and belongs to a different crowd, and people know exactly where they sit. Best between four and sunset.
- Copacabana Beach · The black and white wave pavement was designed by Roberto Burle Marx in 1970 — and the waves run along the beach, not across it, so from above the whole four kilometres reads as moving water.
- Posto 9, Ipanema · The lifeguard posts number the beach, and each number has its own crowd — Posto 9 has been the artists, the left and the beautiful since the 1960s, and it has not changed.
- Arpoador · A rock between the two beaches where the sun sets behind the Two Brothers mountains. Everyone on it applauds when the sun goes, every evening, and nobody can say when that started.
- Lagoa · A salt lagoon seven and a half kilometres round, with a path the whole way and the Christ above it. At Christmas a floating tree eighty-five metres high is anchored in the middle.
- Jardim Botânico · Planted in 1808 by the Portuguese king who had fled Napoleon and moved his entire court to Brazil. The avenue of royal palms descends from a single tree he planted himself.
- Parque Lage · A 1920s mansion with a courtyard pool, now an art school, and the Christ stands directly behind it. The café in the courtyard is free to sit in and the forest trail behind it goes up the mountain.
The two mountains
Rio was built between the sea and the mountains, and two of them became its symbol. Christ the Redeemer stands on a seven-hundred-metre peak and was finished in 1931, and Sugarloaf — "sugar loaf" — got its first cable car as early as 1912. Both are reached by rail or cable car, and both are best near sunset.
- Christ the Redeemer · Thirty metres tall on a thirty-eight metre pedestal, finished in 1931. The outer skin is soapstone, chosen because it tolerates heat and cracking — and the thousands of tiles were glued on by women of the city who wrote messages on their backs.
- Corcovado railway · A cog railway from 1884, built to carry the emperor up the mountain and still the way to the statue. Twenty minutes through the forest, and the carriages are open at the sides.
- Tijuca Forest · The largest urban forest in the world, and it is not natural: the slopes were cleared for coffee until the city’s water ran out, and in 1861 the emperor ordered them replanted. Six men and a hundred thousand seedlings did it by hand over thirteen years.
- Vista Chinesa · A Chinese pagoda in the middle of the forest, built in 1903 to mark the Chinese tea workers the king brought over in 1810 — an experiment that failed, and most of them stayed.
- Sugarloaf Mountain · Two cable cars in sequence, the first of which opened in 1912 — the third cable car ever built anywhere. The name comes from the clay moulds that sugar was shaped in for shipping.
- Mirante Dona Marta · A viewpoint halfway up Corcovado that gets you Sugarloaf, the bay and Botafogo in one frame — the shot most photographers actually want, and a taxi reaches it.
The centre and Santa Teresa
Rio was the capital of Portugal for thirteen years — the only time in history a European empire was run from a colony. The colonial quarter is still there, with a Portuguese library that is one of the most beautiful rooms anywhere and a monastery entirely gilded inside. Above it is Santa Teresa, a hill of mansions reached by a yellow tram.
- Real Gabinete Português · Three storeys of dark wood shelves holding three hundred and fifty thousand Portuguese books, under a stained-glass dome. Everything in it was cut in Portugal and shipped over in pieces in 1880.
- Mosteiro de São Bento · Plain white outside and entirely covered in gold leaf inside, carved over a century from 1590 by monks who were not allowed to sign their work. Sunday mass is sung in Gregorian chant and anyone may come.
- Theatro Municipal · A deliberate copy of the Paris Opera, finished in 1909 when rubber money was pouring into Brazil. The stage machinery was German, the marble Italian, and the whole thing was meant to prove Rio was a European capital.
- Escadaria Selarón · A Chilean painter began tiling the steps outside his house in 1990 and never stopped — two hundred and fifteen steps covered in two thousand tiles sent from sixty countries. He called it a tribute to the Brazilian people and died on them in 2013.
- Lapa Arches · An aqueduct from 1750 with forty-two arches, built to bring water down from the Santa Teresa hill. When the pipes were replaced the city laid tram rails on top, and the yellow tram still crosses it.
- Santa Teresa · A hill of nineteenth-century mansions built by coffee money, abandoned when the rich moved to the beaches, and taken over by artists in the 1960s. The tram up it is the oldest electric tram line still running in the Americas.
Getting to Rio de Janeiro and getting around
- Galeão Airport · The international one, forty minutes from the beaches
- Santos Dumont · Domestic, on the bay, and the landing is the view
- Metro Cardeal Arcoverde · The metro runs under Copacabana and Ipanema
Museums in Rio de Janeiro
- Museu do Amanhã · About the next fifty years, not the past
- Real Gabinete Português · One of the most beautiful rooms in the world, free
- Museu de Arte do Rio · A palace and a bus station joined by a concrete wave
- Niterói Contemporary Art Museum · Across the bay, and the ferry is part of it
- Cais do Valongo · Uncovered in 2011, and now a UNESCO site
Parks and gardens in Rio de Janeiro
- Tijuca National Park · Replanted by six men and a hundred thousand seedlings
- Jardim Botânico · Planted in 1808 by a king who had fled Napoleon
- Parque Lage · A mansion, a pool, and a trail up the mountain behind
- Parque do Flamengo · Burle Marx on land made from a flattened hill
- Pedra Bonita · An hour’s climb, and the hang-gliders launch from it
Things to do in Rio de Janeiro with kids
- Sugarloaf cable car · Two cars in sequence, the first from 1912
- Corcovado railway · A cog railway from 1884, open at the sides
- AquaRio · The largest aquarium in South America, by the port
- Maracanã · A tour of the tunnel and the dressing rooms
Cheap eats in Rio de Janeiro
Seven counters where Rio eats standing at a bar. A juice bar on every corner with forty fruits chalked on the wall, a botequim that has sold one dish since 1927, and a cheese bread stand at the beach. Five to thirty reais, and you pay at the till first.
- Bar do Mineiro · Feijoada every day, R$60, and the walls are the menu
- Confeitaria Colombo · Belgian mirrors, jacaranda counters, open since 1894
- Juice bars · R$12, standing, and the slip goes to the counter
- Feira de São Cristóvão · The north-east of Brazil in one hall, all weekend
- Globo biscuits, the beach · Sold from a bag on the sand since 1953, R$8
- Pão de queijo · Cheese bread, eaten standing at a bar counter, R$6
- Feira de Ipanema · Sundays, and the food stalls are at the back
Live music in Rio de Janeiro
- Pedra do Sal · Where samba was born. Free, every Monday
- Lapa · Friday night, under the arches, and the street is the venue
- Santa Teresa · Smaller bars up the hill, and the tram back down
Frequently asked questions about Rio de Janeiro
What is there to see in Rio de Janeiro?
The top sights in Rio de Janeiro are Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain and Copacabana Beach. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Rio de Janeiro?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Rio de Janeiro without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Rio de Janeiro?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Rio de Janeiro, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The beaches.
How do you get to Rio de Janeiro and get around?
The main ways are Galeão Airport, Santos Dumont and Metro Cardeal Arcoverde. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Rio de Janeiro, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Rio de Janeiro that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Rio de Janeiro for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.