Top Things to See in Rio de Janeiro

I've written extensively about each neighbourhood and sight we visited in Rio de Janeiro but I wanted to put together a quick reference guide of the top things to experience in the Marvelous City, in case you don't want to read through it all but are still asking yourself "What should I see in Rio?"

If you're interested in more details, definitely feel free to check out the lengthy photo-filled blog posts here. But for a short and sweet overview, keep reading below!

Where to Stay

Discovery Hostel is one of the best hostels I've ever stayed at. The staff is extremely friendly and kind, willing to show you around and party with you too! The location is superb - a 5 minute walk to the metro, a 10 minute walk to Santa Theresa, and a 15 minute walk to the Lapa entertainment district. After a long night partying in Lapa (which is where everyone parties!) you'll be grateful that your bed is only a short walk away. 

Although we didn't stay near Rio's beaches, I definitely recommend that you do. The sights and the location are superb, and there are many stunning AirBnBs you can rent out. There's nothing better than being a 5 minute walk from the beach, which is where you might want to spend most of your time. 

Where to Eat

When in Rio, you should definitely eat "churrasco", the Brazilian twist on an all you can eat restaurant. In this case, servers come around with huge skewers of meat and carve off pieces for yoo. M and I liked the experience at Carretao, but we wouldn't recommend the food. The Brazilian steakhouse we have here in Canada is better! So, if in Rio, dish out more money for a place like Oasis or Fogo de Chau. I haven't personally been to either, but I've heard good things about both. 

My favourite meal in Rio was at Espirito Santa. It was our first meal in Rio, and I thought the prices were a little high. But after a few days in the city, I realized it as just an expensive city, haha. Espirito Santa has everything going for it - the location, the taste, the drinks, the service. I highly recommend getting the Guerreiro, which is their filet mignon dish. 

Odds are you'll end up near the Largo do Machado subway station at some point - it's where buses leave for Christo Redentor as well as the "subway bus" to the Botanical Gardens. Tucked into the mall on the south side of the plaza is Rotisseria Sirio Libanesa, a small but incredibly busy Middle Eastern snack place. We had delicious cheese-filled pies, and loved them so much that we visited here twice!

The Portuguese are famous for their chicken, and that stereotype has been passed down to the Brazilians as well. I heard of Galeto Sat's while watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations Rio de Janeiro episode. As a huge Bourdain fan, I had to go, and it did not disappoint. M and I ordered a heaping plate of chicken each, the juiciest, tenderest, and most delicious chicken I've ever eaten. It looks a bit sketchy on the outside what with the fluorescent lights, but the servers dressed to the nines, a swanky interior, and mouth watering food all make up for it. 

Another food place made famous by Mr. Bourdain - Barraca do Uruguay. M and I hiked quite aways along the beach for these sandwiches, and we loved them so much we had to order another so we could try all three flavours. It's the perfect lunch on the beach, with a flavourful sauce that I would gladly pay good money for just to find out the recipe. 

What to See

When in Rio, there's one sight that you really cannot miss - Christo Redentor, one of the seven wonders of the world. Apparently, the real wonder isn't the statue itself, but the view from mountain Jesus sits on. M and I had some really bad luck with weather, so we weren't able to fully appreciate the view, but it was still cool knocking this off our bucket list. 

If you want a break from the crowds, the Botanical Gardens are the perfect place to spend an afternoon. They were even featured in Kygo's music video! The  orchid gazebo and a pathway lined with giant palms were my favourites. 

There's been a lot of talk about Lagoa de Freitas in regards to the Olympics. I don't recommend that you swim in the water, or go anywhere near it, but strolling along the lake is a fun (and safe!) time. I didn't realize Rio had so many hills and mountains in the city until I came here and saw the surroundings for myself. The houses built into almost every hillside are a unique Rio sight.

M and I can't speak for the views from Christo Redentor, but the views from Sugarloaf were a jaw-dropping out of body experience. Seriously! I don't think I've ever gazed upon a natural wonder so stunning. It reminded me of a blend between Machu Picchu and Ha Long Bay, with the hills and mountains of the first, and the water surroundings of the second. But it was better, because we were so high up, and the sun was setting, and the light was doing all these crazy gorgeous things. Don't miss this experience!

What to Do

Even if you're not close to the neighbourhood (like we were), it's still worth taking a stroll around Santa Theresa. M and I didn't take the cable car from the bottom since we were just a short walk away, but if you get the opportunity to step on the fun yellow tram, do it! This neighbourhood is a picturesque look into the history of the city - you might encounters favela shanty towns as well as giant hillside mansions. 

Do what every Carioca (resident of Rio) does - go to the beach! Both Ipanema and Copacabana are great choices, but apparently most residents prefer Ipanema. So if you want to avoid the tourists, go there! Our friends from the hostel (and us) were the only tourists there, and it was a cool experience to spend the day watching the women in their skimpy bikinis, staring jealously at the men showing off their athletic moves, and sipping on cold beers and caipirinha's. 

This one is a bit controversial, but after some talking, M and I decided to go on a Favela Tour. Many people decide not to go because they feel like it's intruding into the residents lives/making a show out of poverty. But the residents of the favela are very welcoming, and the tours bring in a lot of money for them. I didn't once feel uncomfortable or unwelcome, and I'd definitely recommend you go on a tour. 

Another case of bad weather cursed M and I as we hiked up Dois Irmãos, but apparently this is one of the best views of the city. It's almost directly opposite Sugar Loaf, so you get a 180 degree different view. Here are some photos courtesy of Google, since by the time we got to the top, the whole mountain was covered in a cloud (typical Rio). To get to the hike, M and I took a taxi to the bottom of Vidigal favela and then took a motorbike taxi to the top of the favela where the path starts. The motorbike up was one of my favourite moments in Rio! Vidigal is a very tourist friendly favela, and the locals know you're looking for the hike, so there's no need to worry about safety or getting lost. 

Another one of my favourite moments, and something that many locals do, is watching the sunset from Pedra do Arpoador. Located at the junction between Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, this rocky outcropping takes a while to walk to, so make sure you give yourself enough time before it gets dark (M and I were running at one point!). Pick up a drink on the way there, and sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. 

After the sun sets, there's really only one place to go out in the city - Lapa entertainment district. The nightlife stars at the infamous Lapa Arches, which are great to see in the daytime too. At night, they act as a portal into an insane street party, with thousands of people congregating to drink, dance, and have a good time. 

That's all for my recap of Rio de Janeiro. If you want to read about each adventure more in depth, go here. If you're reading this, I hope you make it to the beautiful city of Rio one day. 

With the Olympics happening there now, there's been a lot of talk in the media about many negative aspects of the city - you'll get Zika, you'll get kidnapped, you'll get sick. In reality, M and I experienced the total opposite of negativity! Of course we were cautious and smart, but both of us felt it was the safest city we've been to in South America - safer than anywhere in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, at least. 

Do your research, talk to people who have been, and don't let fear or exaggerated facts / made up fiction stop you from travelling anywhere in the world.

Rio de Janeiro Walking Tour

On our second last day in Rio, M and I went on a free walking tour with our hostel. It was a great way to experience a part of the city we had only seen during the night – Lapa – and an area that we hadn't visited yet – Centro. 

Centro isn’t a safe place to visit on the weekends. Since it’s the financial area, on Saturdays and Sundays it’s completely empty and devoid of people. While that sounded great for my photos (yay, no people in my shots!), our hostel guide told us that many kids from the favelas come to the area to take advantage of the emptiness and pickpocket/steal from people. 

The hostel used to do tours on the weekends, but after one of the guests got robbed (and stabbed!) they decided to only run them during the week. 

Centro is buzzing with people and energy. I expected to see more men in suits, but apparently Rio’s economy isn’t doing too well since the oil slump a few years ago, so there weren’t that many to be found. Above is the famous oil building that was the hub of Rio’s economy not too long ago. 

This area is populated with European-esque buildings and plazas, an attempt by the Portuguese to bring a little bit of home to this foreign place. Banks, opera houses, city halls, and palaces all have a similar architectural style. 

My favourite part of the tour was getting coffee at Café Curto, located on the second floor of a shopping mall. Rumour has it that this is the best coffee in all of Rio. It runs on a "pay-what-you-want" system for their cups of coffee as well as their beans, meaning there’s no set price, you just give what you think it’s worth!

We also ate a quick lunch across from the Municipal Theatre at a cute patio restaurant with yellow awnings. It was called Amarelinho da Cinelandia, and I'm 99% sure we ordered the Badejo de Brasileria to be split amongst 4 people. By our fifth day in Rio, M and I had learned that portions here are huge and one menu item is usually meant to be shared with at least another person. This fish stew was full of flavour and spices. 

Between Centro and Lapa is this stunning church – yes, church! – inspired by indigenous pyramids and temples. It's actually the official Rio cathedral, aka the seat of the Catholic Church in the city. Strange that such a conservative church would build this insane and non-traditional building, but they did, and it really is stunning. 

In Lapa, the main tourist attraction is the "Escadaria Selaron" steps, built by Selaron to attract people to his house which sits a little ways up the steps. To encourage people to pay him a visit and buy his art, he made the walk up the stairs interestingly attractive, with tiles from all over the world creating this mural. 

Even though his house is only a short walk up from the bottom, Selaron extended the steps all the way to the top. During the day, walking up the steps is an incredible experience. When night falls, the steps are transformed into a drinking hub, with hundreds of locals sitting on the steps and on the sides drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and having a good time.

Undoubtedly, the place to be during the night is anywhere near the Lapa arches. Passing through these searches is like passing through into another world ruled by samba, locals, cheap drinks, and a party that never stops. (Sorry for the low quality photos, I left my DSLR in the hostel and all we had was M's phone!)

We went in Lapa two nights in a row, and I honestly could have come here again and again and never gotten sick of it. We went to a botega (bar) full of locals, where a band played and everyone crowded around singing and dancing. A few locals took pity on our poor dance moves and tried to teach us how to samba the Brazilian way. Despite their efforts, I swear my hips will never move the way they should! We had a great conversation with them, talking about their life in Brazil, police brutality, and the discrepancies between the rich and the poor.

I put together a short video of our nights out in Lapa –  it's pretty bad audio + video quality, but it will give you a better idea of the insanity that was Rio's nightlife.

Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro

After the disastrous non-existent views from Christ the Redeemer, I was eager for a second chance to see Rio de Janeiro from above. It's a wonderful city from the ground, don't get me wrong, but it’s only when we got an aerial view that we realized just how stunning it is. The bay itself is even one of seven "Natural Wonders of the World."

According to Lonely Planet, one of the best places to see the city is from Sugar Loaf, and the best time to visit it is during sunset. So that’s where M and I headed right after our favela tour. 

There’s no subway that takes you to the entrance of Sugar Loaf, so we took a taxi there and back, not wanting to risk walking aimlessly or in the dark. It might seem like a severe caution to take, but our caution never failed us! No pickpocket stories here. 

To get to the top of Sugar Loaf, we had to take two cable cars – one goes up to Morro da Urca, and the next one takes you up to Sugarloaf. Morro da Urca had a food and shopping complex and stunning views of the west side of Rio. I actually preferred this smaller mountain because there were more places to sit and relax, and the views were more panoramic and unobstructed. 

On Sugar Loaf, there were really only two places to take those iconic photos of Copacabana Beach and Guanabara Bay – and both spots were insanely packed with other people trying to take the same photo as we were!

We eventually gave up and went to sit on a terrace looking out over the photo takers. The views were a bit obstructed because of the greenery and construction – so much construction! Parts of the terrace here were closed, and although we saw a neat elevated walkway, it wasn’t finished and either being constructed or repaired. 

The best place to take a photo was when we were getting back on the tram to take us down to the smaller mountain. We got into trouble though because we weren’t allowed in the loading area… but come on, what else are we supposed to do when the rest of the viewing areas are under "restoration"? #noregrets

We settled in to watch the sunset from Morro da Urca. Right here, with the sun setting behind Christ the Redeemer, the sky all alight in flames and rays of sunshine magically painted on like stripes of gold, was a sight I could have looked at for hours and never gotten tired of. 

Sugar Loaf didn't disappoint. Our time spent on these hills made me fall even more in love with Rio. How could you not? IMHO, Drake has no idea what he's talking about when it comes to #views in Toronto... everything just pales in comparison to this. 

Should I Go On a Favela Tour?

When I first started doing research into Rio de Janeiro, I came upon something curious – favela tours. After much googling and blog reading, I soon learned that people were divided on the question of "Should I go on a favela tour or not?" 

Half of the popular opinion said that doing a tour through the favela was disrespectful, like being led around a zoo staring into the private lives of poor people. The other half said the experience was insightful and worth it. Keep in mind, they charge you about $30 per person, so it's not a decision one makes lightly. My deciding factors in favour of were:

1. City of God and Elite Squad, two of my favourite movies, are set in Rio’s favelas. It's not like I wanted to relive the movies exactly (they're super violent!), I just wanted to live them a little bit. 

2. Also, with 1000 favelas in the city of Rio de Janeiro alone, and 25-30% of the city’s residents living in one, it felt strange just visiting the privileged side of Rio. I wanted to see a fair picture of the city, and learn as much as I could about it. 

A few of our hostel friends were interested in the tour as well, so off we went to Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro. We got dropped off at the top of the favela, and then spent the next 3 hours walking all the way from the top to the bottom, making a few pit stops on the way down. 

Our first stop was a gallery with a beautiful patio looking out on the favela. One of the reasons why tourists are allowed to walk around inside is because of the money the local artisans and residents get from the tourists. Each stop we went to, we were encouraged to purchase something or to donate money/give tips. 

Another instance of this was the “samba show” when locals played on garbage pails and children danced in front of us. We were strongly encouraged to tip them – but honestly, I don't know for certain where any of that money went. I’m hesitant to believe that the kids got to keep any of it. 

Next we stopped at a bakery, one place that I was glad to buy things from. I’m not easily swindled into paintings or bracelets, but with a table full of fresh baked goods in front of me… here’s my money, take it, take it all!

The streets of the favela are more like claustrophobic inducing alleyways that twist and turn and wind down the hill. At times we saw sewage floating by, the holes in the ground left open and exposed as traps for you to trip over if you’re not careful where you step. There were dog turds left, right, center, and left again. Piles of garbage. Children playing with boxes and items that we place in the recycling bin. This is poverty –intense poverty – and with a pang I was reminded of similar conditions in India. 

The further down the hill we went, the more the streets opened up. At the bottom, there’s a public pool where kids can spend their days. The alternative to swimming lessons isn’t a good one – many kids and teens are involved in the drug scene. Even though technically Rocinha is supposed to be “pacified”, there are still large areas of it that aren’t police controlled, or the police are paid to turn a blind eye. 

At one point during our walk down, our guide told us to put our cameras and phones away. There was a young teen sitting in the corner of a dilapidated open-walled home, with a machine gun on his lap. He wasn’t ashamed of us seeing him, but rather looked back at us with deep, defiant eyes. 

Rocinha isn’t a place to wander into alone. Our tour guide said that just the day before, 2 Germans walked into the favela on their own and accidentally waltzed straight up to the drug dealer’s den. The German guys turned and ran – not the wisest thing to do, since the drug dealer’s thought there was a reason they were running. So, they shot them, and a bullet badly skimmed one of the Germans who then had to go to the hospital. 

Here’s the thing though – when I tried to look up this "incident", I couldn’t find any information about such an event happening. And I found it odd that the tour guide knew exactly when we had to put our phones and cameras away. Horrible things do still happen in the favelas, and tourists do get harmed, but from what I’ve read, it’s only in an accident or in crossfire. A part of me can’t help but wonder if they told us these stories and staged what we were seeing, a crafted view inside the favela, meant to alarm and shock the tourist. 

So, should we have went on a favela tour? I think it was worth it. It’s an interesting perspective into the lives of many residents in Rio, even if I did think that perspective might be slightly contrived. We kept an open mind, smiled at everyone we passed, and weren’t like the other obnoxious tourists in our group who posed for photos with the samba-dancing favela kids #whitesaviour style. 

On our last day, we headed to a favela minus the tour, Vidigal, a short taxi ride away from Ipanema. M and I came here to climb the Dois Hermanos, and at first I was super tripped out that we had to go through a favela to get to the beginning of the hike. I was still thinking about our tour guide's story about the Germans, but apparently Vidigal is the most "tourist-friendly" favela of them all. 

Honestly, it felt nothing like a favela, at least the parts that we were in. The road was wide and open, we felt very safe walking even with our cameras and backpacks, and we even bought some pastries at a bakery. No one stared at us awkwardly or uncomfortably – they just let us be, and we let them be.

One of the most exciting experiences in Rio was the motorbike ride to the top of Vidigal to get to the starting point of the hike. Since the taxi only took us to the entrance, we had a choice of walking up (not advised, since we didn’t quite know where we were going), or taking a white van up (they didn’t appear to be leaving).

As soon as we stepped out of the taxi, the favela residents spotted us white gringos in an instant. They called us over, passed us some helmets, and away we went. M filmed the whole thing – a crazy endeavour, since that means he was only holding on to the bike with one hand! It’s a wonderful memory to look back on now, and even though the fog at the top prevented us from seeing anything (ugh, Rio, your weather is so rude!) that motorbike ride more than made up for it. 

We also saw a monkey that heard us coming and made himself noticed once we were closer. We fed him some chocolate for being such a good photo subject!