Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · South America

7 ideal things to do in Rio de Janeiro

The short list, pulled out of the long essay. No opening hours, because they change and I would only get them wrong — just what is worth your morning, roughly when to turn up, and where I have wasted time so you don’t have to.

By Ščenza

Last checked November 13, 2025

1. 01

   Sunset from the Pedra do Arpoador

   The rock between Ipanema and Copacabana·Arrive forty minutes before the sun goes

   Low rock promontory at the eastern end of Ipanema where the city collects every evening to watch the sun drop behind the Dois Irmãos, and then applauds it. Not ironically. Several hundred people clapping at the horizon, every night, and then walking home to dinner. We watch the sun go down behind Šolta most evenings in Split and it has never once occurred to anybody to clap, which I now regard as a failure of nerve.

2. 02

   The Corcovado rack railway from Cosme Velho

   Cosme Velho, climbing through Tijuca forest·First trains of the day; the slot is booked in advance

   Dom Pedro II opened this line in 1884 and it still climbs just under four kilometres of Atlantic rainforest to the foot of the statue, slowly enough that you look at the forest you are moving through rather than at the summit you are aiming for. The vans are quicker. The train is the reason to go. Take a morning departure: by eleven the terrace at the top is a shoulder-to-shoulder negotiation about who gets to do the arms photograph.

3. 03

   The cable car up Sugarloaf

   Urca, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay·Go up with daylight left, come down in the dark

   Morro da Urca at 220 metres first, then the sugarloaf itself at 396. A cableway has run up here in some form since 1912, the third built anywhere in the world, although the cars you actually ride in are Swiss, modern and disappointingly reliable. This is the one place where Rio's geography — bay, beaches, forest, granite, the lot — finally resolves into a single legible picture instead of a series of postcards.

4. 04

   Parque Lage, under Corcovado

   Jardim Botânico, at the foot of the mountain·Mornings, when the courtyard is still cool

   Public park in the forest at the base of Corcovado, laid out around a 1920s mansion with a colonnaded courtyard and a swimming pool in the middle of it, and the statue sitting dead centre above the roofline if you stand in the right place. Free to walk into. The mansion is an art school, so there are students smoking on the steps, and the whole thing feels borrowed rather than curated. Forest trails run uphill from the back gate.

5. 05

   The Jardim Botânico and its avenue of royal palms

   Jardim Botânico, Zona Sul·Weekday morning; it opens early

   Founded in 1808 by a Portuguese king in exile who wanted somewhere to acclimatise nutmeg and cinnamon, and now 140 hectares holding around 6,500 species. The set piece is a 750-metre avenue of royal palms, all 134 of them descended from one original tree. Toucans, marmosets, and a great deal of shade. I once spent an entire afternoon in here recovering from a morning on the beach, a sentence that would embarrass me in any other city.

6. 06

   A roda de samba at the Pedra do Sal

   Saúde, in the old port district·Evenings; ask locally which night it is running

   Stone steps cut into a rock in the old port quarter that Cariocas call Little Africa. This is quilombo ground, still home to a community of descendants, and it is where samba and choro were effectively assembled — Donga, Pixinguinha and João da Baiana all played on this street. The roda still happens on the steps, outdoors, no stage. Ask your host which night is on this month instead of trusting a two-year-old blog, which is how I once ended up standing alone on a rock.

7. 07

   Coffee standing up at the Confeitaria Colombo

   Rua Gonçalves Dias, Centro·Weekday mid-morning; it is a working city café

   Belle époque tearoom from 1894, with crystal mirrors brought from Antwerp set in rosewood and a stained-glass skylight over the upstairs room, and it is still full at eleven on a Tuesday with people from the surrounding offices eating standing up at the counter. That combination is the whole point. Upstairs is where visitors sit down; downstairs, on your feet, slightly in the way, is where you find out the place is alive.