Rio de Janeiro

The city

One of the major economic and cultural hubs of South America, the City of Rio de Janeiro is a cosmopolitan metropolis, known worldwide for its scenic beauty and its natural resources, the city provides a harmonious and agreeable environment for its inhabitants and visitors, for both leisure and work.

The Carioca

Rio de Janeiro City’s main virtues is the kindness and hospitality with which its residents welcome all visitors. Thanks to this cordial temperament and this innate spirit of receptivity, Rio de Janeiro has been distinguished in the tourist market by a series of international awards for which friendliness and human warmth gain weight with opinion formers.

The environment

Its exuberant natural resources include 90 Km of beaches, the Tijuca National Park, which includes the largest urban forest in the world, with 3,200 hectares of Atlantic Forest, the State Parks of Pedra Branca, Desengano and Chacrinha, covering an area of 48.500 hectares, and the Rodrigo de Freitas, Jacarepaguá, Camorim, Tijuca and Marapendi lakes and lagoons. The ecological treasures of the city includes two of the three largest urban forests in the world, a shoreline present in most of the city’s borders, and a collection of biomes, ranging from native forest to mangroves, from monumental hills to almost virgin beaches.

Tours in Rio

Corcovado – Christ the Redeemer

This is one of the main beauty spots in the city, standing 2,330 feet above sea level and providing a sweeping panoramic view of sea and mountain, a world famous vista. The mountain is crowned with the statue of Christ, 98 feet high with a 26 foot pedestal containing a chapel that can hold 150 people. 

Sugar Loaf

This natural symbol of Rio de Janeiro can be seen at the entrance to Guanabara Bay. There are two stages in the cable-car trip to the top of the rock. The first is from the station at Praia Vermelha to Urca Hill, which rises 705 feet above the bay, and the second links Urca Hill to the top of Sugar Loaf, 1,300 feet high. 

Lapa Arches and Santa Teresa district

Located in the Largo da Lapa Square, the center of Rio’s turn-of-the-century nightlife, the Lapa Arches hold their place in history as the most monumental work undertaken in colonial Rio. This magnificent structure contains 42 arches in two tiers. 

Municipal Theater and Cinelandia

Designed and built by A. Guilbert and Francisco de Oliveira Passos, the theatre was inaugurated on July 14, 1909. The main murals are by Eliseu Visconti - the ceiling and back drop - by Rodolfo Amoedo. Mosaics are by Henrique Bernadelli. 

Botanical Garden

A paradise of plants and trees from the four corners of the earth. Founded in 1808, it spreads over an area of about 340 acres. Over 5000 species of plants, some of the most impressive being the Imperial Palms planted in 1842. 

Tijuca Forest

Rio's largest park is the Tijuca National Park, covering 3,300 hectares, and including Tijuca Forest. The Park is the largest urban forest in the world. As you look up at the Corcovado from the Lagoa, the mass of greenery clinging to the edge of the mountain and stretching miles to your left, is the Tijuca National Park. 

Beaches

Rio has 90km of white sand beaches of which the following are the most interesting: Copacabana, Arpoador, Leme, Ipanema, Leblon, Vermelha, São Conrado, Barra da Tijuca, Recreio dos Bandeirantes, Prainha, Grumari, Macumba.

Surroudings