Rio de Janeiro has always been the reference for Brazil around the world, both in films and novels, and has always been considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The combination of sea and mountains created the suburbs of Copacabana and Ipanema.
How about enjoying a relaxing day at the beach? Or visiting the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pao de Acucar) and Corcovado Mountain with the famous statue of Christ protecting the city? The views from both mountains are breathtaking.
The old and renovated Convent of St. Anthony offers beautiful Portuguese handcrafts. Also in the city center you can find the Museum of Fine Arts with the best collection of Brazilian painters and the National Museum, the National History Museum and several other first class museums.
A nice trip is a tram ride through the colonial neighborhood of Santa Teresa, a beautiful neighborhood with cobblestone streets, hills and old houses. You can even take a tour at the famous Maracana stadium.
Also, you can go hiking in the largest urban forest in the world, the Tijuca National Park. Tijuca is all that remains of the tropical forest that once surrounded the city there are 33 square miles of tropical forest with beautiful trees, streams and waterfalls, mountainous terrain and high peaks.
If you have enough time around Rio and do not want to spend money on domestic flights to visit the natural wonders of Brazil, we recommend overland visits to the tropical Ilha Grande, the historic city of Paraty or the up-scale beach resort of Buzios.
Rio is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with seven million inhabitants. The inhabitants of Rio are called Cariocas and are people with different backgrounds and are known to be friendly, self-confident, love music, night life, football and of course, the beach.
