Some Cities to Visit in Brazil and Why You Should Go: Rio de Janeiro
Whenever planning a trip to Brazil, one needs to be very careful when selecting the cities to visit. If for nothing else, the simple fact that Brazil is such a gigantic country requires good planning! Unless you will be traveling around the country for a whole month, it makes sense to plan some sort of themed trip, like “beaches” or “wine country” (yep! Brazil does have a wine region) or “mountains”, etc.
Try to keep it within regions - for instance, if you are going to Rio de Janeiro, you should probably stay in Rio and do some road trips if you have the chance (just off the top of my head, I can think of Buzios, Cabo Frio, Petropolis and Paraty as some of the places you could go for the day or weekend).
Let’s talk a little about Rio de Janeiro, best known as “Cidade Maravilhosa” (Wonderful City).
Rio de Janeiro
Some reasons to visit Rio de Janeiro
#1. It is probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
Mother Nature was probably very happy when she created Rio - maybe having some caipirinha on a Friday evening, after a long day’s work creating beautiful things here and there. The city is smacked between the Atlantic ocean and the mountains. And to top if off, Rio has a huge lake in the middle of the city…literally!
They have:
Christ the Redeemer (on the photo) on top of the Corcovado mountain at around 2,326 feet above sea level. The statue itself is almost 125 feet tall, with 26 feet being the height of its pedestal. It took around 5 years to complete its construction and in October 12th 1931 it was opened for the public. In 2007 the Christ the Redeemer statue was elected as one of the New 7 World Wonders. Pretty cool, huh?!
You can either take the train (from Santa Teresa station in downtown Rio) or you can drive to the top of the mountain. The train is a lot more fun, as it goes through the trees and, if you are lucky, you can spot some fruits and small wild animals on your way up.
The Sugarloaf Mountain is a pretty cool place to visit. Take a look at the photo above. Sugarloaf is the tall, illuminated mountain with a little white thingy on its top - it feels like Christ The Redeemer is looking right at it! There are two mountains that are connected by cable car. The “shortest” one is called Morro da Urca (722 feet high) and the tallest one is the Sugarloaf mountain (1,300 feet high). The trip from the main station to the top of the Sugarloaf is broken down into two cable car trips: from the ground level main entrance to the top of Morro da Urca and then, if you dare to, from the Morro da Urca to the top of the Sugarloaf mountain, where you have one of the most magnificent views of the city - probably only surpassed by the view from the top of Corcovado.
Rodrigo de Freitas Lake is the lake I mentioned before, which is smacked in the middle of the city. The lake is surrounded by some of the most upscale neighborhoods in the city: Ipanema, Leblon, Lagoa, Gavea and Jardim Botanico. The lake is over 4,6 miles in circumference, where you can find bars and restaurants (with selections such as Japanese and German cuisines), parks, rollerblading, jogging and biking runways. The lake is connected to the ocean by the Alah channel, which basically separates Ipanema from Leblon. During the Christmas season, the city’s mayor office installs a enormous floating Christmas tree in the middle of the lake. Great photo ops!
The Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro is amongst the 10 most important ones in its genre. Besides being the hosting place of some of the most rare plants on earth, it is also a place for families to gather and have fun. The botanical garden has 600 different species of orchids alone and around 8,200 plants, including some that are very close to extinction.
The Botanical Garden was created in 1808 to house the imported spices that came from the West Indies.
The beaches are something you cannot avoid, even if you want to (you weird, you!!). The city has some very beautiful beaches - Ipanema, Copacabana, Barra da Tijuca, which are open sea and Botafogo, Urca and Flamengo beaches, which are part of the Guanabara Bay - the last time I checked, the water was quite nasty, but some brave people still swam in its waters. I am quite sure things are cleaning up now!
One of the most amazing things you will ever see is the proximity of the ocean to the city itself. We are talking about one street separating both! This closeness to the ocean has a wonderful side effect, which is the way people live in Rio. The quality of life, when it comes to personal care, is fantastic. One can wake up in the morning and go for a walk by the sea, go back home, take a quick shower and go to work. Same thing can be done after you are working. It is very relaxing - and a lot of “eye candy” as well.
There is so much more about Rio. But I want to keep you wishing for more.
The next cities I will cover are:
Sao Paulo
Salvador
Fortaleza
Belo Horizonte
Ouro Preto
Florianopolis
Would you like to see any other city covered here? Send me a note.
