Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second-largest city, spreads between forested mountains, Guanabara Bay and the Atlantic, and is home to about 6.2 million people. Founded by the Portuguese in 1565, it became the seat of the Portuguese royal court in 1808 and remained Brazil's capital until 1960; today it is the capital of the state of the same name, and in 2012 UNESCO listed its landscapes between the mountain and the sea as a World Heritage Site.
Travellers come for the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon, the statue of Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado, the cable car up Sugarloaf Mountain, the forest of Tijuca National Park and the music of samba and bossa nova. Carnival and New Year's Eve on Copacabana Beach draw the biggest crowds of the year. Renting an apartment suits the city: the beach districts for first-timers and families, hillside Santa Teresa for couples and artists, and Barra da Tijuca for extra space. Petrópolis, Paraty and Búzios are classic trips beyond the city.
Most visitors stay in the South Zone, or Zona Sul, along the Atlantic beaches. Copacabana has a 4-kilometre beach and promenade and plenty of apartment buildings. Ipanema and Leblon, further west between Arpoador and the Dois Irmãos hill, feel calmer and more upmarket, with the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon behind them; Leblon is regarded as one of the most affluent parts of the city. Botafogo and Flamengo face Guanabara Bay, with views of Sugarloaf and their own metro stations.
Santa Teresa, on a hill beside the centre, has winding narrow streets, artists' studios and grand houses from its days as an upper-class quarter around 1900, and appeals to couples and creative travellers. Just below it, Lapa is the place for samba and late nights. Barra da Tijuca, in the West Zone, is a newer district of long beaches, lakes and apartment towers, built around the car, and suits families who want more room.
The statue of Christ the Redeemer, built between 1922 and 1931, stands 30 metres tall on an 8-metre pedestal at the top of the 700-metre Corcovado mountain, inside Tijuca National Park, and was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. A cable car first opened in 1912 climbs to Morro da Urca, at 220 metres, and then to the 396-metre summit of Sugarloaf Mountain. Tijuca National Park itself is largely the product of reforestation begun in 1861 under Emperor Pedro II, and it became a national park in 1961.
The Botanical Garden shows around 6,500 plant species across 54 hectares, and Flamengo Park runs along the bay between the centre and Copacabana. In the revived port area, the Museum of Tomorrow, a science museum designed by Santiago Calatrava, opened in 2015. Nearby stands the Valongo Wharf, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2017. The Maracanã stadium hosted the final matches of the 1950 and 2014 World Cups.
Portuguese explorers reached Guanabara Bay on 1 January 1502, and the bay's name, Rio de Janeiro or January River, passed to the city. While fighting French colonists who had settled in the bay in 1555, the Portuguese, led by Estácio de Sá, founded the city on 1 March 1565. In 1808 the Portuguese royal court settled here. The city then served as capital of the Empire of Brazil until 1889 and of the republic until 21 April 1960, when the government moved to Brasília.
Between 1811 and 1831, from half a million to a million enslaved Africans arrived through the Valongo Wharf. Most of the samba schools that parade at Carnival, such as Mangueira, are based in the North Zone. Rio is also known for bossa nova: Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes wrote 'The Girl from Ipanema'. The 2022 census counted 6,211,223 residents, and the city hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (GIG), usually called Galeão, handles international and most domestic flights and lies about 20 kilometres north of downtown. The TransCarioca BRT bus line links its terminals with the suburban rail network at Madureira, and a direct BRT service runs to the Gentileza intermodal terminal for the light rail. Santos Dumont Airport (SDU), on the bay beside the city centre, is used mainly for flights to São Paulo and other domestic routes.
The metro has 41 stations on about 58 kilometres. Lines 1 and 4 operate as a single route from Tijuca through the centre and the South Zone to Jardim Oceânico in Barra da Tijuca, and Line 2 runs from Pavuna to Botafogo. A light rail network, the VLT, serves the centre and the port, ferries leave Praça XV for Niterói and Paquetá Island, and buses cover the rest. A car is mainly useful in Barra da Tijuca and for trips out of town.
Petrópolis, in a valley of the Órgãos Mountains north of the city, was the summer retreat of Brazil's emperors and aristocrats in the 19th century. The town is named after Emperor Pedro II, who is entombed in its cathedral. Closer still, Niterói lies across Guanabara Bay and is reached by ferry from Praça XV.
Paraty, on the southern coast of the state about 258 kilometres from Rio, sits on the Bay of Ilha Grande. Its historic centre was listed by UNESCO in 2019 together with protected forest, coast and islands around the bay, including Ilha Grande, and in colonial times the town was linked to the gold mines of Minas Gerais by the stone-paved Caminho do Ouro, or Gold Trail. Armação dos Búzios, about 173 kilometres east of the city, occupies a peninsula with 23 beaches and remained little known until the French actress Brigitte Bardot visited in 1964. Both are better enjoyed with a night or two than as a single day out.
Rio has a tropical wet and dry climate. Summer, roughly December to March, is hot and humid, with long periods of heavy rain; inland districts can exceed 40°C. Heavy summer storms have at times caused floods and landslides, so keep an eye on the forecast and local alerts. Winter, in the middle of the year, is warm, sunny and less rainy, and passing cold fronts bring the occasional cooler day, which makes it a pleasant time for hiking in Tijuca National Park.
The busiest dates are New Year's Eve, when more than two million people gather on Copacabana Beach for the fireworks, and Carnival, held in the days before Lent, usually in February or early March. Carnival brings the samba school parades in the Sambadrome and street parties called blocos in almost every neighbourhood. Plan well ahead for either period.
For a first visit, Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon put the beaches on your doorstep, with Ipanema and Leblon the calmer and more upmarket pair. Botafogo and Flamengo face the bay and have metro stations, Santa Teresa suits couples and creative travellers, Lapa is for nightlife, and Barra da Tijuca offers space for families.
Rio de Janeiro/Galeão International Airport (GIG) is about 20 kilometres north of downtown, and the South Zone beaches lie further south, so allow extra time in traffic. Taxis and BRT buses serve the airport. Santos Dumont Airport (SDU), beside the city centre, is closer to the beaches but handles mainly domestic flights.
Winter, in the middle of the year, is warm, sunny and less rainy, which suits sightseeing and hiking. Summer, from about December to March, is the beach season but is hot, humid and often stormy. New Year's Eve and Carnival are the most exciting and the most crowded times to visit.
Four or five days allow time for Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Tijuca National Park, the Botanical Garden, the centre and port area, Santa Teresa and some beach days. With a week or more you can add Petrópolis, or spend a night or two in Paraty or Búzios.
Not if you stay in the South Zone or near the centre. The metro links Barra da Tijuca, Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo and the centre, and the light rail, ferries, BRT and buses cover much of the rest. A car helps mainly in Barra da Tijuca and for trips to Petrópolis, Paraty or Búzios.
Yes. The beaches, the cable car up Sugarloaf, the Botanical Garden, Flamengo Park and the Museum of Tomorrow all appeal to children. An apartment gives families space and a kitchen, and Barra da Tijuca, with its long beaches, or the beach districts of the South Zone make easy bases.
Rio is known for Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain and the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, for Carnival and the New Year's Eve fireworks on Copacabana, for samba and bossa nova, and for a setting of mountains, forest and sea that UNESCO listed as a World Heritage Site in 2012.
Researched and written with AI assistance, then fact-checked against the sources below. Last checked .