Rio de Janeiro Travel Guide
Rio de Janeiro
It is a very pleasant city to visit and tell, Rio de Janerio. That’s why we kept the guide a little longer this time and tried to explain it to the smallest detail.. As you know, the road is long, Rio is beautiful. Then, of course, we had plenty of stories too!
Then let the guide begin!
Rio de Janeiro Travel Notes and Places to Visit in Rio de Janeiro
This is once a very lively city, its beaches, streets, people, caiphirinhas. Although we are a couple who love Istanbul very much and long for Frankfurt, no friend, Rio is not like any other city, Rio, you hit many European cities, sorry.. Anyway, let’s get into our topic..
Full name ‘Sao Sebastiao Rio de Janerio’. But we will call it Rio for short, with your permission.
We went to Rio by bus from Paraty, another city in Brazil, and the journey took about 6 hours.. Never be afraid of long bus journeys in Brazil, bus seats recline almost 180 degrees and become beds. (We wish you a good sleep as a ‘Blog on the road.)
We said that 3 days is enough for Sao Paulo and Paraty, but the situation is different for Rio.. Rio’s activities are plentiful, beaches-coasts-streets are plentiful, islands are plentiful, places to visit are plentiful, and places to hang out like locals.. Therefore, it is useful to allocate as much time as you can here.. We were not bored for a second of the 1 week we spent in Rio.
Rio, although a little cheaper than Sao Paulo, is an expensive city in general.. It should not be said that South America is cheap anyway, any activity you will participate in will make you open your purse a little.. Currency Real, you can roughly think of it as 1 Real = 1 Lira.
Since Brazil is in South America, naturally the seasons go against us. It’s summer for us and winter for them.. But when you say winter, don’t think of an Ankara winter.. The lowest temperature of men in winter is 18 degrees.. We went in September and it was 24 degrees.. When it’s 20 degrees in Sao Paulo, people wear coats. Anyway, people from Sao Paulo are weird anyway.. We mentioned them here (let’s go)
Rio de Janeiro City Transportation
Public transportation in Rio is advanced and cheap. Metro goes to most parts of the city and there are buses to places where the metro cannot reach.. That’s why you can easily use public transportation from the moment you get off the airport.. We took the taxi several times on the way back to the hotel at night.. Let’s say, you calculate, the distance between our hotel and the place we took the taxi was 12 kilometers and it cost 28 Reals.. Neither cheap nor expensive.
Accommodation in Rio
The stars of Rio’s coastal region are the beaches of Copacobana and Ipanema. In the daytime, life revolves around these beaches. Lapa region is the place where nightlife (of course, there is entertainment not only in the venues but also in the streets). We chose ‘Americas Copacobana Hotel’ to stay. It was in the Copacobana area as it was named. We were able to go out during the day and go down to the beach area in 5 minutes, and we were not nervous when returning in the evening, it was in a safe area compared to most parts of the city.. We cut our hotel budget in Sao Paulo and Paraty and invested in Rio.. That’s why we paid 100 USD per night, including breakfast, but if you want, there are more suitable options in the same area, there are even plenty of hostels
Security issue in Rio (To be more dangerous rumors)
For the first time, before our friends and family said ‘don’t forget our magnet’, we said ‘isn’t it very dangerous there?’, before we left, a wolf fell inside us before we came to Rio.
We’ll be honest with you, we went to Sao before Rio. Paulo was indeed a very dangerous and gang-ridden city.. We could not both love and we were always uneasy throughout our trip.. But the good news is we didn’t feel uneasy at all during our one week stay in Rio.. We walked on the beach at night, hung out alone in the Lapa region and even visited the famous favelas (of course, we went with a local guide).. No need to fight, don’t lose your kidney) but we’ve never felt as uncomfortable as we did in Sao Paulo. On the contrary, the dance-filled streets of Rio make one forget that not everything is rosy in Brazil.. But we came to this world once, should we not travel because it’s dangerous?. You’re doing well too.
We found Rio de Janeiro people very friendly.. They are really helpful and have learned to communicate with their body language even though they don’t speak any English. I mean, they’re way better than Sao Paulo people who don’t even understand the ‘one-two-three’ part about it.. If you get lost on the roads, you can turn a person or two off the road and ask about everything.
Places to Visit in Rio
Ohoo… So many! Let’s start with the beach then.
Copacobana, Ipanema and Lebnon Beaches
Copacobana,Ipanema and Lebnon beaches Three beaches lined up on Rio’s coastline. Although Copacobana beach is mentioned as a more shabby version of Ipanema and Lebnon in the literature, we did not see much difference between the three.. Only the hotels on the side of Ipanema beach are a little more luxurious and the shops are a little more expensive that’s all.. The sea is the same sea after all.
Rio people are great at active use of the beach.. Indeed, young and old are on the beach and they are always busy with a sport.. During the day, while the football team of the schools is training, in the afternoon they are replaced by the pregnant plate.. There’s even a large semi-enclosed gym on the beach.. Even the rails of the bus stops are designed in such a way that they can pull up while waiting for the bus.. People are doing pull-ups while waiting for the bus, we are not kidding (Imagine you are waiting for 500T and Hikmet Abi pulls up next to you.. We couldn’t think)! In addition, because the city and the coast are intertwined, people can get out of the beach and walk around the city in a bikini.. In this respect, it is a very comfortable city.. As a reward for being so sporty, you must have guessed that men have the consistency of biscolata men.. The women are also very sporty, but we have never seen Adriana Limas walking around.. We think that women are as hungry as they are sporty!
The sea of Copacobana, Ipanema and Lebnon beaches is not beautiful unfortunately, it is not a sea to swim in.. It is not clear when the extremely wavy and huge waves will crash into you with a “smack”. Of course, these waves do not come to us, but those biscolata brothers and sisters owe their physique to surfing on these waves.. Incompetent people like us usually stick their feet in the sea and go back out and spend time on the sun loungers.. Since all three are public beaches, the entrance is free, you can rent sun loungers and umbrellas for an average of 5 reals per day.. Oh, of course, let’s not go without saying that these beaches are usually overcrowded! (Rod Steward gave a concert for 3.5 million people on this beach during his time!)
Let’s go to the evenings of these beaches.. Since the nightlife in Rio is concentrated in the ‘Lapa’ area, there are not many people around Copacobana.. Before we left, we had read (you get it) that this beach turns to E-5 in the evenings (you get it) and we were very serious about not spending time on the beach side in the evening, but we passed it a few times on the way back to the hotel in the evening and we never really noticed a scene that could be dangerous.. There were young people sitting on the beach drinking beer, those who persistently continued to play football, peddlers and people drinking cocktails in small bars by the beach.. I wonder if there is such a prejudice in people because Copacobana is close to the favelas.. We spent our last night sitting in cafes by the beach until midnight and it looked normal again.. Either we’ve never seen behind the scenes or it’s just an urban legend that this area is very dangerous at night.. You decide!
Ipanema and Lebnon are more or less the same as Copacobana. In this region, instead of young people drinking beer on the beach in the evening, people sit in luxury bars by the beach and sip the national drink Caiphirinha or coconut milk.. For those who want to open their mouths a little, there is a long shopping street called ‘Rua Visconde de Piraja’ in the continuation of Ipanema beach and shank is available here from all kinds of boutiques to luxury restaurants.. We wandered around, but we couldn’t find anything other than the two t-shirts we bought as a souvenir! (Those T-shirts are now pajama tops, but we think that’s irrelevant)
Let’s not go without saying, there are always things sold on these beaches, but all the time! Alcohol, snacks, pillows, swimsuits, bikinis, whatever you can think of.. In the evening, the market is set up and there are all kinds of handicrafts you can think of.. Although it’s not very cheap
you can get souvenir paintings to take home by bargaining. We managed to get oil paintings for 15 Reals each with a lot of bargaining.
Christ the Redeemer Statue – Cristo Redentor
This Statue of Jesus with open arms from the top of Rio de Janeiro is Rio’s largest icon. To give a little information, it is located on Mount Corcovada and is the largest statue in the world.. Its height is 30 meters and as of now it is one of the new 7 wonders of the world.. It was made on the centennial of the declaration of the freedom of Brazil, which was under the yoke of Portugal for many years.. You take the train from the center to go here.. The train takes a different route with palm trees and reaches the top in 15 minutes.. Entrance fee and train fee is around 45 Real in total, but of course there is a discount on the student card.. Don’t forget to take it with you.
Come on, if you get foggy weather in Rio, you can go into what we hoped and found mode! That’s why you will go out by relying on the weather and luck.. If you come across foggy weather, you have the possibility to say, ‘E, it looks like this when getting off the plane, it’s foggy and hazy’. We were on our lucky day and we came across a beautiful Rio de Janeiro scene.. Even though we took very cool selfies, we leave it here because it may not be as cool as the selfie that a Brazilian photographer took on top of the statue recently..
By the way, the front of this famous Jesus Statue looks at the rich parts of the city and the back looks at the favelas known as the ‘slums’.. Some favela people interpreted this as “Jesus opened his arms to the rich and turned his back on the poor.”
Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar)
Let’s face the hills! Just across the hill where the Statue of Christ is located, there is another famous hill of Rio ‘Sugar Loaf’. This is also called the twin peaks of Rio, and together with Corcovada hill, the best view of Rio is here.. It consists of two hills.. First you go up to ‘Marro du Urca’ mountain by cable car and with another connection you reach ‘Sugar Loaf’. The view here is really beautiful! You can see all the beaches, hills and even the Statue of Christ itself from this hill.. I’m sorry Isa, but we liked this one better!
There are many tours that come here, but you don’t need to come by tour.. We took a taxi from our hotel in Copacobana to the starting point of the cable car and paid the taxi for 10 reals (although the taxi driver tried to lengthen the way, but can we eat, there are many like you in Turkey uncle!) and we did not pay for anything except the cable car fee.. (We don’t like this tour, friend, they’re always screwed man)
There are various cafes and bars where you can sit on the hill. This fun part is a bit pricey, but it’s really nice to grab your drink and look down there.. You can come without tour and save your money in this section! (Look, we know again, why should tourists make the money! We were so screwed at the time)
We will give you very sincere advice, if you have time, do not get into any vehicle while returning from ‘Sugar Loaf’ and Walk up to Copacobana’. Even the non-touristy streets of Rio are very enjoyable. While walking on those streets, there will definitely be things you can’t read on a blog.. Walking from Sugar Loaf to Copacobana took 1 hour at our speed and we came across very nice cafes, street art and graffiti on the way.. What impressed us the most was the street library built next to a stop.. While we were thinking, “I wonder if they don’t play these books in the evening,” with a Turkish mind, a local person enlightened us.. It turned out that an innocent child passed by in a gang conflict on this street died 4 years ago, and the library was built on the street in memory of the child by his family.. People who have passed through 4 years and know the story have enlarged this tiny library over time.
Maybe you won’t come across this street with a library, but you will definitely see other stories of the city.
Old Central Square
If you’re done with the hills, you can take the metro to the ‘Cinelandia’ stop and start visiting the old center of the city from there.. Here are the city’s government buildings, churches, cathedrals and, in our opinion, the most beautiful church ‘Candelaria Church’. If you are interested, you can also visit the Naval Military Museum right across from this church.. In this naval military museum, you can pay 20 reals and join a boat tour and photograph a pirate ship.. After visiting churches and cathedrals, we skipped this military museum part.. (It was evening and it was necessary to get ready for the evening!)
Favelas
Let’s come to the favelas part. For those who have never heard of favelas, the equivalent of favelas in us is slums (We will write a more detailed article on this in the future). But don’t think like our little slums. There are 600 favela settlements in Rio alone, and in Rio, where approximately 15 million people live, 30 percent of the city lives in the favela part.. Calculate the number.
Sao Paulo and Rio are different in this regard.. In Sao Paulo, favelas are completely outside the city.. In Rio, geographically and culturally, it is within the city.. In this respect, Rio is a bit like Turkey.. Just as it is possible to come across slums in the gardens of newly built luxury residences in our country, buses that will take you to the street with the most beautiful restaurants can pass through the middle of the favelas, or there are favelas right next to the streets with super-luxury apartments.. Which one is better situation, both are very bad. Unfortunately, there is no happy story we can tell with favelas.
When we are describing a city, we usually avoid saying that you must go to this museum or this cafe, but if you have come all the way to Rio, you should also see the favelas on the other side of the city.. What impressed us the most in Rio was the strange distinction between these two sides of the city.
There are many tours to the favelas.. Generally, tours deal with an outside guide and a house or two from the favela area.. The guide gives you a tour of these two houses and takes you back to the hotel.. We were really lucky to find a local guide from the favela, making it a real favela visit to the ‘Favela da Rochina’ area of Rio.
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This guide, who took us around the Favela Rochina’, grew up in these favelas and was in the drug business at the time, then managed to go to America when she was young, purely by chance.. When he returned to the country as a well-equipped person years later, he decided that he did not want to do another job and became a favela guide.. Unfortunately, he has no friends who stayed in favelas from his time.. They are either dead or in prison.. The phrase he used most throughout the tour was ‘God Bless America.’ tourists are hosted there. Hosts serve you ‘Caipirinha’ and tell their own stories. If you want to support your way out, you can buy their handicrafts.. Since we went with a local guide, we did these as well as visited other parts of the favelas, tasted the dishes in their small buffets, and had the opportunity to talk to the locals.
As a matter of fact, the situation of the favelas today is worse than in 2015, when we made this trip.. The Brazilian government decided that these favelas would not look ‘stylish’ on television at the 2016 World Olympics, so they emptied many favelas without notice and gentrified the city.. Since this issue worries us a little, we close the topic here with a popular saying for favelas (We will write our article, which will explain the favelas at length later). They say ‘the rich look down on the rich, and the rich look down on the poor’
Tijuca National Park (Tijuca Forest)
Let’s talk about beautiful things! (Yes, the best part is the nightlife, of course, but we haven’t come to it yet)
One of the most beautiful places in Rio was Tijuca Forest. Tijuca is known as the largest forest in a city in the world.. At the time, part of this forest was destroyed for coffee cultivation, but when the drought started in the city and the coffee cultivation business was falsified (unnecessary information, coffee buzzards loved water and absorbed all the water around), the forest was replanted by human hands.
In this forest. There is a walking park, waterfalls and monkeys that you can feed by hand.
We had to buy a tour this time, as public transportation is limited here, but we came across a good tour and gave us enough time to visit the forest ourselves.. During this time we took lots of photos, walked and fed the monkeys.. On the way back, the tour stopped at the famous ‘Vista Chinesa’, that is, China Hill, where we can see Rio from the top again, and as you can imagine, we watched Rio again and fed monkeys.. Yes, I think the most common activity we did in Rio was feeding monkeys.
If you want to take a tour, the Tijuca Forest + China Hill tour can be a good option.
Last When we say Rio, let’s not miss the Maracana Stadium’, one of the largest stadiums in the world! We didn’t go because we weren’t very interested in football, but we know that it is a stadium that sports-lovers admire.. You can also evaluate this place.
Food and Drink Moroccan
Unfortunately, this part saddened us a little bit in Rio.. Although Rio is generally cheaper than Sao Paulo, if you want to have a decent meal, you have to sacrifice 25 Reals per person.. A chicken plate in the street kiosks is around 13-14 Real. But we still didn’t give up and we managed to find a few nice places!
Cafecito: If you’ve been to visit the Santa Terasa area in Rio, you can stop by this sympathetic cafe.. Their coffee is good and it’s not overly crowded.. And yes, they’re affordable!
BB Lanches: This fast-food place in Lebnon has a selection of sandwiches-hamburgers and burritos. If you’re in the Lebnon area, it’s ideal not for a long sit-down, but to fill your stomach while you’re passing.. We took two lunches from here.
La Bocca: This restaurant in the famous Lapa area has all kinds of things on its menu. There’s pizza, there’s Brazilian food too. If you want to sit down and have a nice meal before the evening entertainment in Lapa, you can try this place.
Delirio Tropical: Again in the Lapa region (I guess the only cheap eaters in Lapa), this place is also a portion of Brazil. He prepares dinner plates and you can fill up on 15 Reals per person.
Os Ximenes: This is a restaurant around Lapa that also prepares high-calorie Brazilian plates, and the prices are very affordable. delicious.
Casa da Fejioada: We think that this restaurant was the most and only ‘elegant’ one among the places we ate.. If you want to spend a night (or at least the beginning) of Ipanema while you are in Rio, we recommend the food of this place.. But the prices are a bit of a lever, sorry.
Of course we are not a Vedat Milör and these are the places we choose according to our taste and purse
We wrote all this but we kept the secret for the last! If you like to snack on the street, Lapa is a paradise for you and you don’t have to struggle to find cheap and delicious food! Get off from the metro stop in Lapa, you will already see the street lined up with foodies on the left and right as you walk towards the streets with nightlife.. On this street, you can buy the famous Brazilian plates (we named it, think they put a mixture of rice-mixed meat-salad on a plate) and get your fill for 5 Reals, and here, cocktails are sold in huge glasses for 4 Reals, bonus! If you like street food and you found yourself in Lapa, your night will be good.. We spent at least 3 nights eating this way and we are very happy because of that!
Nightlife:
And we’ve come to the part where zurna calls “zırt”! We don’t even need to mention how beautiful and vibrant Rio’s nightlife is.. Latin American people know this business. They go to big music clubs with money, they dance in the streets that don’t exist, but somehow they have a bad time!
There are many night entertainment alternatives in Rio for you too!. Although the center of nightlife in Rio is the Lapa district, we are sure that when you leave the hotel and walk two streets, you will definitely see a lively bar and a dancing venue.. Since there are endless entertainment venues in Rio, it’s best for us to go and tell what we like.
Rio Scenarium The most crowded place in Lapa. There is quite a queue around 12 at night, and if you manage to get in, you’re sure to have fun! But as we said, it is crowded like crazy and there are lots of vulture(!) inside.. We had fun as a couple, but the cowboys alone will definitely have more fun!
Carioca da Gema In Lapa’s most fun street, there is always live music and entertainment on this street.. In terms of atmosphere, this place was one of our favourites.
Bossa Nova is again in one of the most entertaining streets of Lapa and there is always live music.. You can see a Caiphirinha cocktail in everyone’s hands before you even go inside.
Belmonte is a bar in Copacobana and is quieter than the others.. Good prices and good cocktails. If you think very crazy Lapa nights are not for us, you can try this place.
Lapa 40 and Democraticos One of the crazy clubs of Lapa with live music.. You can try one and then the other because they are side by side!
Fundiçao Progresso is a real concert center. Famous Brazilian bands play here most of the time, and the entrance fees are reasonable.. You can regularly check their monthly schedule from their website.. Here are the sites.
And let’s say you’ve tasted Brazilian music and you want to listen to some Rockn Roll, then we’ll take you to Cine Porridge!
These are the places we went on recommendation and discovered while walking on the streets.. But since the nightlife is endless in Rio, it is not clear when and where the entertainment will come.. While you are visiting Lapa, there will definitely be a place where you can sit and enjoy the music (Everyone’s pop is for themselves :))
Let’s talk about the nearby islands you can reach from Rio.. This is the most visited island by tourists coming to Rio and they are right.. This is a place we never regret going. It takes about 4 hours from Rio to reach this island. By bus, you first go to Angra Do Reis and from there the boat departs for Ilha Grande. If you have come to Rio and want a nice beach and sea, since Rio’s beaches are not suitable for swimming, you can come to this island with daily tours.. And even if you have time, you can come and stay for 1 night because the island is very big and when you go with a tour, it is not possible to finish it in the remaining 4 hours, you can taste it.. The aquarium coves on the island amaze you and the beach really begins where the forests end.. So everything is like in the movies. The center of Ilha Grande is ‘Abraao’ and if you go by tour, the tour boats leave you here. If you want, you can walk to explore the island, or you can lie on the beach.. We came here on the day of the end of Rio.
If you have an extra day in Rio, you can use it by staying in Ilha Grande for a day, as there are many coves to visit.. You can come by yourself or with tours for a price of 50 Real per person.. Do not forget that the tour takes 12 hours in total including the round trip and the time spent on the island, and you are not likely to return to Rio and do anything on that day
He says once again how much we love Rio and We end this article here (there is a lot more to be written, we will write it later). Rio is a city that we remember very well and its story has a special place for us.
Have a great story for you too!
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With love.
AU