Things to do
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Jardim Botânico do
Founded in 1808 by João VI to acclimatise spice plants brought from the Indies, and now a research garden of some 6,500 species. The avenue of royal palms, the orchid house and the Amazon section are what justify the walk.
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Praia de Copacabana
Four kilometres of sand under the black and white wave pavement laid to Burle Marx's design, worked all day by vendors and footvolley players. The shore break is stronger than it looks, and the New Year crowd fills it in white.
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Copacabana Palace
The white Art Deco block of 1923 that made Copacabana fashionable, built for the transatlantic trade and still the address on the beachfront. The pool terrace and the marble lobby are the parts guests come back for.
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Cristo Redentor
The soapstone figure raised on the Corcovado summit in 1931, reached by a cog railway that climbs through the Tijuca forest from Cosme Velho. The platform holds the whole bay at once, and the first hour after opening is the only quiet one.
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Escadaria Selarón
The tiled stairway between Lapa and Santa Teresa that the Chilean artist Jorge Selarón worked on from 1990 until his death in 2013, using ceramics sent to him from dozens of countries. It is narrow, and it is packed by mid morning.
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Hotel Fasano
Philippe Starck designed this Ipanema hotel on Avenida Vieira Souto, where the rooftop pool frames the Dois Irmãos peaks and a beach service runs down to the sand. The sea facing rooms and their balconies are the reason to book.
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Pão de Açúcar
A granite monolith standing at the mouth of Guanabara Bay, climbed in two cable car stages from Praia Vermelha on a line running since 1912. Climbers take the rock faces instead, on routes that start straight off the shore path.
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Parque Nacional da Tijuca
One of the largest urban forests in the world, replanted by hand from the 1860s after coffee estates stripped the hills bare. Trails lead to the Cascatinha waterfall, the Vista Chinesa pavilion and the Bico do Papagaio summit.
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Pedra da Gávea
At 842 metres this is one of the highest mountains in the world to end directly at the sea, and the hardest walk in the city. Trails cut by farmers in 1830 climb through forest to the Carrasqueira, a slab most walkers take roped and guided.
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Praia de Ipanema
The beach the bossa nova was written about, sorted by numbered lifeguard posts that each carry a different crowd, from the surfers at Arpoador to the families further west. The sun drops behind the Dois Irmãos peaks at the far end.
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Praia Vermelha
A short crescent of coarse red sand held between Pão de Açúcar and Morro da Urca, sheltered enough to stay flat when the rest of the coast is breaking. The Pista Cláudio Coutinho trail runs along the water from its far end.
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Real Gabinete Português de Leitura
A neo-Manueline reading room opened in 1887, its galleries rising three storeys in carved wood around a skylit nave, holding the largest collection of Portuguese works outside Portugal. Entry is free and it is still a working library.