Rio de Janeiro pt.2 — the sightseeing bits
Sightseeing in the most touristy city of Rio in February
2024/02/02–02/09.
The beaches
Rio is probably most famous for its sun and beaches, especially Copacabana and Ipanema. These two beaches are literally sat across the two neighborhoods of the same name. They are very beautiful, extending across much of Rio’s south. No matter which day it is, there are always lots of people — so if you are looking for a serene beach with nature, they are not it. But if you are keen on people watching, having a caipirinha, or jogging long the beachfront, these beaches are incredible. Because of the season I visited, it was so hot I would only go there closer to sunset time.
Leblon is right next to Ipanema, right next to the mountain in the picture above.
The Copacabana beach — the beachside long walking area is a great place to soak in all that it has to offer without touching sand.
Havaiana concept store
One of the things that failed to meet my expectation was how dirty these “rich neighborhoods” appeared (especially Copacabana). In most countries even in South America, if you visit a posh neighborhood, there would barely be any homeless people, the streets would be clean and appear to be maintained. This was not the case in Rio, despite the high prices. I had just left Bogota after staying for almost 2 weeks, and I had expected something similar as the Chapinero neighborhood, or at least how clean Laureles seemed in Medellin.
My absolute highlight of my little stroll across Ipanema was definitely the Havaiana concept store. Those who know me would know that I adore the brand and would buy almost anything they produce. This branch, as it turned out, was 4-story tall, and fully designed with lots of flipflips all over the interior.
They have everything ranging from shoes, both closed and open-air types, apparel, accessories, and decorative items. They have some of the most unnecessary items that I ended up still buying, like the cloth that can only be used to wrap around the flip flips for a different style. Yeah I’m a big fan.
Centro
Many of the touristy sites of Rio are located in the city center, which is about 15-20 minutes away on the metro from Copacabana, located in the south of the city. I went there a week before Carnival in February, and I’m not sure why but the streets were so empty I felt like I needed to watch out for my safety (not that anything ever really happened).
I joined a free walking tour by googling exactly that and choosing one of the top results. It starts at 3pm every single day gathering outside of one of the stations in the city center (I think it was Carioca). The 3pm sun in Rio was no joke, and I quickly got really hot and bothered.
My group was the English speaking group, and there was a Spanish group alongside us too. There were almost 40 people in the group, so it suddenlyf felt like a school trip and not as intimate or easy to mingle around.
We got to one of the very famous bakery / sweets shop. They also serve gelato. It was ok. Quite overpriced but understandable given how incredibly touristy it is.
Very quickly I could no longer stand the was the tour was operated. We would walk for a long time in the 30+ degrees humid heat, and then stop at a place for them to wait around and introduce the history to the most ordinary-looking wall or some run-down street. And I’m just not the biggest fan of standing on the streets to be lectured about the history — especially if the place itself doesn’t seem that impressive to begin with. It was not my style.
At one point I just found a chance to disappear from the tour. I went to the waterfront within 10 minutes of walking distance, and it immediately made me feel much better.
The stairs
There’s a really famous staircase in Santa Teresa, which is made by a Chilean artist and painted with mostly green, yellow, and red (the colors of Brazil and Chile), and blue tiles that mildly resemble the portuguese tiles. Much like any tourist spots in Rio, it was super crowded.
The centro area of Rio honestly just seemed quite sketchy. Either the streets had no people with all the stores closed, or there were homeless people roaming around. It was definitely not my favorite.
On the way back to the south, I got on the same metro. At one point, a guard started talking to me after 2 or 3 stations. After some pointing and gesturing, I figured he asked me to move over to one side. Turned out, I was in a women exclusive part of the train. I had no idea these things exist apart from Manila. The designed seemed to be more obvious and segregated in Manila, whereas in Rio the signposting aren’t as obvious (at least to someone unsuspecting of this type of facilities existing). I walked to a different carriage feeling amused by the encounter.
Christ the Redeemer
Rio is a city that runs on tourism, and is not afraid to charge high prices for these experiences. To get to the famous statue, one has to take an special shuttle bus to be able to enter the “protected land” that is the surrounding area of the statue. It costs around 20 USD to get inside and that includes the ticket. For a city where a 20-minute Uber ride costs less than 10 dollars, the price there was quite high in comparison.
There is only one word to describe the experience: crowded. I went on a weekday at 9am, not yet 9:30 — it was jam-packed, especially the front side of the statue.
Pro tip: when you book the transport, just book a round trip in and out of the statue. It’s located on top of a hill/small mountain. I could barely get an Uber out of the area considering how remote it was. Even when I did get a driver to pick up, the prices were so high but I had no other choice to get down the mountain.
Pão de Açúcar — the Sugarloaf mountain
One of the most well-known tourist attraction of Rio de Janeiro is the Sugarloaf mountain. It’s said to have “the best view of Rio” according to some travel pages. The entrance fee is quite expensive, so I was a bit debating whether it would be worth it. The regular price for adults is 160 Reais (32 USD), and the student price was around 90 Reais (18 USD). Officially, the student price only applies to students in Brazilian institutions, but I took my Hong Kong student ID and it worked. I was so happy to have saved the price of two meals there.
I went there about an hour or so before the sunset. It’s basically two massive rocks connected by some cable cars, surrounded by the ocean.
There are two parts sections where the cable car takes you. The further one is the real Sugarloaf mountain. Regardless, other big rock in between was very beautiful as well. I would even go as far to argue that it’s the better spot to hang out.
The viewing platforms are panoramic. I think for the view of the city, it was quite worth it just for the experience — well, for 20 dollars. 32 was still a bit steep for me.
I ended up staying in the area waiting for the sun to set. It was so worth it as the sky turned purple and orange, as I found myself a bar up there sipping on a glass of caipirinha.
Looking out to the edge overlooking the ocean, it was such a beautiful sight.
I posted a few stories here and my Hong Kong friends replied saying that it looked like Hong Kong. I actually do see the resemblance — it’s very much a combination of Sai Kung / HKUST plus all the tall residential buildings of TKO, with a extra taste of Ocean Park.
I waited until the second to last cable car down, hanging around as the sky turned into darkness, illuminated only by the artificial city lights of Rio. It was definitely worth doing once for the experience.
