Rio is a fun, vibrant and beautiful city and it didn’t take us long to completely fall in love with it. It is a great place to visit with friends and we were lucky to have our friend Krystal, who was living in Saõ Paulo, come join us. In fact, if it wasn’t for Krystal we probably would have skipped Brazil altogether but we are so glad we didn’t!
Rio (and Brazil in general) are very different to the destinations that we had visited in South America so far. In some ways Rio is very European but at the same time it’s tropical climate, vegetation and colourful buildings give it a Caribbean feel. Obviously everyone speaks Portuguese and we had to get by using a mix of Porteñol (Portuguese plus Español) and English. It was fun but terrible for our Spanish.
To me Rio is one of those cities that you just want to enjoy – sit in a cafe, chill out on one of its beaches, or wander around the neighbourhoods admiring the architecture and the amazing street art. So this is what we did.
Arriving Monday afternoon, we wanted a few casual drinks and some snacks for dinner and headed to Bar Blue Peacock in Copacabana. A simple local bar with outdoor plastic tables and chairs serving super cold cervejas (beers) and local food such as bolinhos de bacalhau (salt cod fishcakes). It didn’t take us long to start chatting to the three Chileans at the table next to us – two were visiting whilst one of the group now lives in Rio and works as a tour guide. After many cervejas and conversations in Spanglish we hopped in a taxi with the two visiting Chileans to go watch some samba. The three of us had no idea where we were going! Little did we know that we were heading to Pedra do Sal, a samba street party in Centro that takes place every Monday night. I’m guessing we arrived sometime after 10pm – the fairly narrow street lined with abandoned buildings was heaving with people. As we walked further along there were samba bands playing on small stages, small makeshift kiosks selling drinks and many people dancing, drinking and having a great time. The atmosphere was amazing and we couldn’t believe that we were at a massive street party in Rio on a Monday night! We bought a few drinks, found a band we liked and spent the next few hours dancing and enjoying the party. As it started to get more packed, almost uncomfortably so, we pushed our way back to the main road and caught a taxi back to our accommodation. An awesome first night in Rio!
One of the joys of being in a city like Rio is that you can get good coffee – a luxury when you are travelling for coffee snobs such as ourselves. So our first stop on our second day was Café Secreto (near the Flamengo and Laranjeiras neighbourhoods). This beautiful little cafe serves excellent coffee and the best paõ de quiejo (Brazilian cheese bread). These cheesy balls of goodness made with tapioca flour became one of our favourite snacks.
The friendly barista at Café Secreto wrote down a few other coffee recommendations for us (below). Unfortunately, we only got to try The Slow Bakery in Botafogo. This Bakery has great reviews but we didn’t love it. Botafogo itself though is definitely worth a visit for its street art. Another cafe that I wanted to visit but which unfortunately we didn’t get to was Curto Cafe in Centro. The cafe has no menus or cash registers – they only serve espressos and cappuccinos and customers pay what they think is fair (although there is a cost guide).
We did decide that we had to try to be good tourists and check out a couple of the sights. First on the itinerary was the Escadaria Selarón in Lapa. The famous steps are decorated with mosaic and tiles and were created by a Chilean artist as a tribute to the Brazilian people.
The steps border Santa Teresa, an artsy neighbourhood with winding streets, colourful buildings, and beautiful little boutiques selling art, souvenirs and various artesanal goods. We loved wandering around this area and our lunch at Bar do Mineiro – a buzzy restaurant with cool decor, yummy Brazilian food and friendly staff. It was one of our favourite places. We also checked out Armazém São Thiago which is a historical bar set in 1920s style warehouse. Whilst I have read great reviews about this place, when we visited in the late afternoon the bar was practically empty apart from a few dodgy looking characters. I can only assume that our timing wasn’t right and it is best to go there in the evenings.
Our second touristy destination was Christ the Redeemer. The statute is huge! It is also located very high up so there are great views of the city. However, as you would expect the experience is very touristy – you are surrounded by hundreds of tourists trying to get ‘that instagram picture’. So we took a few quick snaps and quickly headed back down. We found getting an uber or taxi at the top quite challenging and walked half way down before we managed to flag a friendly taxi driver.
Our next stop was without doubt the highlight of our time in Rio. We headed to São Conrado where we were taken up to the top of a cliff (600 meters high) and from which we ran off the edge of a cliff and hang glided, landing on the beach. It was INCREDIBLE!
We contemplated heading to Sugar Loaf Mountain but decided that our views from the hang glide were probably better so we skipped it. Time permitting I would have liked to have done some walks/hikes around the city. In particular the hike up Morro Dois Irmãs which sounded great and was recommended to us by another traveller. All in all, I would have liked to have stayed longer in one of my favourite cities!
Of course Rio also has its dark side and life is tough here – you only have to look up at the favelas to remember this. The city also doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to safety and most blogs or articles mention that you should exercise caution. Krystal was warned several times by her friends in Saõ Paulo about taking care, catching only taxis/ubers and leaving valuables and jewellery at home. We always exercise caution whenever we travel and in Rio we were probably extra cautious but we didn’t have any issues and felt safe at all times.
We stayed in an AirBnb apartment in Ipanema which is one of Rio’s most affluent neighbourhoods, nestled between the world famous Copacabana and the more ritzy Leblon. We thought our location was perfect – safe, close the beach, and with all the necessities, including a supermarket, nearby. Getting around was super easy, we caught ubers everywhere which were cheap and safe. The metro system is also meant to be very good but we didn’t get to test it out. Overall, Ipanema was a great location and I would definitely recommend this area for first time visitors.
Next: Buzios, the St Tropez of Brazil (but we are already pondering when we can return to Rio. Maybe Carnival 2018!?).
