Rio de Janeiro Tourism - A Quick Overview

Rio de Janeiro is a large city in Brazil, on the South Atlantic coast. Rio is famous for its breathtaking landscape, its laidback beach culture and its annual carnival.
Districts
Rio de Janeiro is largely divided into four regions:

• Zona Sul (South Zone) including Copacabana and Ipanema. Contains some of the more upscale neighborhoods and concentrates the largest part of the city's tourist activity.
• Centro including Santa Teresa. The city's financial and business center also has many historic buildings from its early days.
• Zona Norte (North Zone). The Maracanã stadium and more.
• Zona Oeste (West Zone), a suburban area including primarily the districts of Jacarepaguá and Barra da Tijuca, popular for its beaches.

It is not an uncommon mistake to point out Rio as Brazil's capital, as in fact it was until 1960. Beaches such as Copacabana and Ipanema, the Christ The Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) statue, the stadium of Maracanã and Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar) are all well-known sights of what the inhabitants call the "wonderful city" (cidade maravilhosa), and also the first images to pop up in someone's mind, along with the Carnaval celebration.
Sadly, most people also know Rio for its violence and crime. The drug lords and the slums or favelas are the tip of very old social problems. The favelas are areas of poor quality housing, slums usually located on the city's many mountain slopes.
The inhabitants of Rio, called cariocas, are known for being easy-going and friendly, in contrast to the more reserved citizens of other cities like Sao Paulo.
Get In

Copacabana

 
Rio is one of the country's major transportation hubs, seconded only by São Paulo.
Distance from some capitals:

• Belo Horizonte - 450 km (280 mi)
• Brasília - 1160 km (725 mi)
• Porto Alegre - 1550 km (970 mi)
• Salvador - 1730 km (1080 mi)
• Sao Paulo - 430 km (270 mi)

By plane

• International and most domestic flights land at Tom Jobim International Airport (better known as Galeão). Tel. 3398-5050 (fax 3393-2288). This airport is 20 km away from the city center and main hotels.
• Santos Dumont airport Tel. 3814-7070 (fax. 2533-2218). Gets flights only from Sao Paulo and a few other domestic destinations. Located right in the city center, by the Guanabara bay. Airlines that service Santos Dumont are: GOL, Varig, TAM, OceanAir, and Team.
• Air-conditioned bus service operated by Real[2] departs every 30 minutes and runs between both airports and further to Zona Sul (along the beachfront in Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon) and Barra da Tijuca. A single ticket costs R$ 6. Taxis, though considerably more expensive, are also a convenient way to reach the tourist areas.
• Flying to Rio de Janeiro from the USA and in general from anywhere in the world is getting expensive. Airlines are charging customers fuel surcharges between 25 and 85 dollar each way. Still we want to go to Rio de Janeiro and it is worth the visit and every cent we spend to get there. From the US there are non stop flights to Rio de Janeiro only from Miami with American Airlines and from Atlanta with Delta Airlines. From New York, Dallas, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and most of the USA, you have to make a stop in Miami or in Sao Paulo to get to Rio.
  The best seasons to travel to Rio de Janeiro with low airfares are from February (after Carnaval) to May and from August to November. Tickets from New York, for instance, can cost as low as U$699.00 including taxes. Buy your flights far in advance, do not wait till the last minute hoping to get a US$300 round trip ticket.

By train
Rio's glorious Central Station, or Central do Brasil, made famous by a movie of the same name, serves mostly local commuter lines (SuperVia [3]), so it's unlikely that you'll arrive through here. It's worth a visit just to see it, though.
By bus
The long-distance bus depot, Rodoviária Novo Rio, is located in the North Zone's São Cristovão neighborhood. Taxis and coach buses can get you to the South Zone in about fifteen minutes; local buses take a bit longer. Frescão air-conditioned coaches can be caught just off the bus station. The coaches connect the station to the city center and main hotel areas of Copacabana and Ipanema. Bus companies include :

• Itapemirim
• Penha
• Cometa
• 1001
• Expresso Brasileiro   
• By car

Rio is connected by many roads to neighboring cities and states, but access can be confusing as there are insufficient traffic signs or indications of how to get downtown.
The main interstate highways passing through Rio are:

• BR-116, which connects the city to the southern region of Brazil.
• BR-101, which leads to the north and northwest, and
• BR-040, which will take you in the central and western areas.

By boat
Ferries (barcas) connect neighboring Niteroi to Rio de Janeiro and arrive at Praça XV, in the city center.
By taxi
A cab is one of the best ways to move around Rio. Most of the tours will cost around R$15, and the car can usually hold four people. You can ask a cab for a city tour, and arrange a fixed price (maybe around US$20). The main taxi companies include Central de Taxi, Ouro Taxi and Yellow Taxi. After getting into the taxi, check if the taximeter has been started. If not, ask the taxi driver to do so. You may be ripped off by some taxi drivers. Avoid the blue, green, and white taxis as they tend to charge considerably more for the same ride.
By car
Traffic within some parts of Rio can be daunting, but a car may be the best way to reach distant beaches like Grumari, and that can be an extra adventure. In Rio, most road signals are placed after the curve you were supposed to take, and do not help unless you already know how to go there. Buy a map, and have fun.
By bus
Buses are a cheap and nice way to get around by day. By night they are more scarce but you can ride them anyway. Buses usually cost R$ 1.90, but some buses with air conditioning charge higher fares. Keep an eye out for pickpockets when the bus is crowded, and don't be surprised if your driver goes a little faster than you'd like.
Bus lines with a * means that this bus has a variant. It means that there may be a bus with the same name, same number, same origin, even same destination but with a complete different tour. Ask the driver, he won't mind.
Buses with air-conditioning will have a little higher fare than those without.
By subway
The Metrô Rio subway system is very useful for reaching areas from Copacabana to Downtown, although the rest of Zona Sul is not particularly well-served and it closes after midnight (it's open 24 hours during carnival). The air-conditioned subway is clean, comfortable, and quick, and in 2006 it received bilingual Portuguese-English signs and maps to make the life of millions of foreign tourists easier. There are two main lines. Line 1 has service to Copacabana, the Saara district, and much of Downtown, as well as Tijuca, where you can visit Corcovado. Line 2 stops at the zoo, soccer stadium, and State University. The two lines intersect at Estácio.
Recently the last wagon of each train has been marked women-only with a pink window sticker, in order to avoid potential harrassment in crowded trains. Some men, however, are still to get used to this separation and many women, who are accostumed to hassle-free everyday travel in Rio's subway, also think the measure is unnecessary. Anyway, if you're a man, avoid getting into trouble with local security and stay off the pink-marked wagons.
Beaches
Rio's beaches are undoubtedly one of the main reasons why travellers visit the city. Copacabana and Ipanema are by far the most famous, but there are many others, each with a distinct character. Travellers should be aware that most beaches are polluted, and bathing is not advisable in any of the non-oceanic beaches (except for those in the island of Paqueta). The beaches that are often proper for swimming are Copacabana, Recreio dos Bandeirantes, and Grumari. Some of the most noticeable are (ordered from North to South):

• Flamengo (by the bay)
• Botafogo (by the bay)
• Praia Vermelha (oceanic, but often polluted)
• Leme (oceanic)
• Copacabana (oceanic)
• Arpoador (oceanic)
• Ipanema (oceanic)
• Leblon (oceanic)
• São Conrado (oceanic, but often polluted)
• Barra da Tijuca (oceanic, but often polluted)
• Recreio dos Bandeirantes (oceanic)
• Grumari (oceanic)
• Praia da Moreninha (on the Guanabara Bay, but often proper for swiming)

Sights

• Corcovado
• Pão de Açúcar
• Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas
• Maracana
• Parque Lage
• Jardim Botanico

Buildings

• Mosteiro de São Bento (Saint Benedict's Monastery) (1663)
• São Francisco da Penitência church (1773)
• Biblioteca Nacional (National Library) (1910)
• Theatro Municipal (1909)
• Ilha Fiscal Palace (1889)
• Lapa Aqueduct (1750)
• Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (1906)
• Casa França Brasil (1820)
• Paço Imperial (1743)

Museums

• Museu Nacional
• Museu Histórico Nacional
• Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts)
• MAM - Museum of Modern Art
• Museu da República
• Museu do Índio (Museum of the Indian)

Parks

• Jardim Botânico
• Parque Lage
• Parque do Flamengo
• Parque Guinle
• Campo de Santana
• Quinta da Boa Vista

Do
Carnival
Still the greatest reason for visiting Rio seems to be the Carnival. This highly advertised party lasts for almost two weeks and it is well known for the escolas de samba (samba schools) that parade in Centro, on a gigantic structure called Sambódromo (Sambadrome). During Carnival, Rio has much more to offer though, with the blocos de rua, that parade on the streets. There are now hundreds of these street "samba blocks", that parade almost in every neighborhood, especially in Centro and the South Zone, gathering thousands of people. Some are very famous, and there are few cariocas that have not heard of "Carmelitas", "Suvaco de Cristo", "Escravos da Mauá" or "Simpatia É Quase Amor".
The rest of the year, samba shows are popular with tourists, and are held at several venues like Plataforma and Scala. These are expensive and not really representative of Brazilian culture, they present a lot of almost naked women and bad musicians, a tourist trap (much like the real thing.) Much more interesting and genuine, though, are the night practice sessions held by the various samba schools in the months leading up to Carnival. You will find only a small number of tourists here, and I promise you will be served the best caipirinhas of your trip! These go on into the wee hours of the morning, with the fun really only starting at 1-2 A.M. A good cab driver should be able to hook you up, and cabs will be available to take you back when you are samba-ed out. Salgueiro [11] and Mangueira [12] are good choices, as they are two of the larger samba schools, and are located relatively close to the tourist areas in a fairly safe area.
Note that a change is afoot that may make this genuine experience a thing of the past (or more convenient, depending on your viewpoint) for all but the most savvy tourists. The local government is in the process of building a complex of buildings where many of the samba schools are expected to move their practice halls and float-construction facilities from the gritty warehouses typically located in or near their home favelas. One can expect many more tourists, and shows made-up for the tourists as the tourist bureau milks this facility for all it's worth year-round.
The following is a list of some of the samba schools:

• Mangueira
• Salgueiro
• Acadêmicos da Rocinha
• Beija-Flor

The newest addition to the municipality's attempt to make money off of tourists is the Samba City. 

Contact : wmsantiago 22-8818-6940