Rio de Janeiro was the first destination of my trip and to be truthfully honest, I was kind of freaking out about coming here. After reading lots of horror stories online about how dangerous it was and how I should not go out alone and warned not to carry valuables or take taxis, I was pretty worried about my safety as a female solo traveller who didn’t speak a word of Portuguese.

Nevertheless, I was aware of the dangers and took precautions and ended up having the most amazing time here and totally loved the city. I stayed in hostels, never felt unsafe once and met the most awesome people. I am not denying that Rio is not a dangerous place and that crime doesn’t happen; of course, it does and very regularly, however this experience taught me to challenge the negative stereotypes and try things for myself. 

There are so many things to do in Rio de Janeiro that you could spend a long time here. Whether you are here a week or a month here are my top 10 best things to do in Rio.

Climb the epic Pedra da Gavea

This is one of the most challenging hikes in Rio which offers spectacular views over the city and beaches.

The round trip hike will take around 4-5 hours and is just over 5km in total. It is a mixture of hiking and climbing and is located in the Tijuca forest in the Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood.Read my blog post ‘The best hike in Rio de Janerio- Pedra da Gavea’ to find out more about this awesome hike.

Visit the famous Christ the Redeemer statue

A trip to Rio is not complete without visiting one of the new seven wonders of the world- Christ the Redeemer. Situated on the Orcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park, this 38m statue of Jesus Christ overlooks the city of Rio. I visited with an organised tour however you can easily go yourself if you would prefer. The tour included pick up and drop off, the scenic 20-minute train ride experience from the bottom and around an hour at the top. From the top you can take in a panoramic view of the city, the beaches, the mountains and the forests.

Experience the sunset at Sugar Loaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar)

Another popular place to visit is Sugar Loaf mountain. Sugar loaf mountain sits at 1299 ft and offers amazing view over Guanabara bay and the city of Rio. The journey to the top of sugar loaf is divided into two sections. The first section starts at Prairi Vermelha and takes you by cable car to Morro de Urca mountain. You will then table another cable car from here to Sugar loaf mountain. Both cable cars only take a few minutes each. The views are breath-taking and offer 360 degrees views over Rio, Ipanema and a spectacular view of Christ the Reedmer statue. I went at approximately 4pm and stayed there to watch the sunset. There are places to eat and drink so you can easily spend a couple of hours here enjoying the views and relaxing at the seating areas with some food and drink.

Learn about the culture of Rio by going on a favela tour

Take the opportunity to learn about the culture of Rio and experience one of the most colourful favelas in Rio by taking a favela tour. This favela is located in Botafogo and is named after the community’s patron saint. It is also well-known for being the film site of one of Micheal Jackson’s music videos ‘They don’t care about us’ which was recorded in 1996. In commemoration of this event, the neighbourhood built a statue of him at one of their viewpoints. It is a great opportunity to engage with the families and learn about their communities. We were also able to meet the president of the favela whilst we were there and speak to him about life in the favela. There are more than 1000 favelas in Rio which are home to more than 1.5 million people. Many favelas are now becoming pacified and some are safe to visit with local guides who can give you first hand perspectives about the communities, the history and the progress of the favela. Read more about my favela tour here.   

Lapa steps- Escardia selaron steps

Named one of the world’s most beautiful staircases, this fabulous and unique piece of artwork is located in the neighbourhood of Lapa. Jorge Seralon, a Chilean traveller and artist fell in love with Rio after a visit and bought a house at the top of the staircase. He began renovating the staircase in 1990 as a small project and over the years, the project grew and grew and Seralon’s work became more well known. Travellers started donating ceramic tiles from their countries to add to the staircase. Today there are more than 2000 tiles from numerous different countries around the world. I visited the steps during a guided tour which included Christ the Reedmer, Maracana stadium and these famous steps. You can also take a ‘free downtown Rio walking tour’ where you will visit this site and Lapa.

Explore the night life of Rio at a street party in Pedra do sol

Rio is the birthplace of samba and where better to experience it than a truly authentic street party with the locals. Located in the downtown area, every Monday and Friday hundreds of locals’ head here to enjoy live music, samba, food and drinks. A group of us went on a Friday evening and it was a brilliant atmosphere, super lively and very busy. Everyone was extremely friendly and so many locals offered to teach me how to samba. It is not a very touristy place; I think I probably only saw one other tourist the whole night- it was a real taste of Brazil. If you go, make sure you try the famous caipirinhas here, they are cheap and tasty but very strong (beware!)

Rent electric scooters and whizz around the city

Everyday when walking to the beach, I noticed lots of people using these electric scooters. They looked super fun and went surprisingly fast. One evening a group of us from the hostel decided to rent the scooters for an hour to explore the beaches and enjoy the sunset. They are very simple, easy to use and are a good laugh. There are 3 main companies offering rentals, these are: Grin, Yellow and Tembici. All you need to do is download the app and it will show you where there are scooters available for you to use. You need to add credit to your account and when you have found your scooter, you can release it by scanning the QR code. After you have finished, you should return your scooter to a specific point and lock it by logging out of your account.  If you have a couple of hours to spare or want to explore the beaches or neighbourhoods of Rio, I would definitely recommend giving the scooters a try, we had so much fun and ended up using them several times during the trip

Go hand gliding!

What better way of viewing those marvellous views than going hand-gliding over them.  There are plenty of hand-gliding companies in Rio that offer this experience for a reasonable price. They will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel/hostel, explain all the safety procedures before taking off on the ride from the mountains. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to do this, although I met a lot of people that did and they said it was a fantastic experience. When I return this will definitely be on my ‘to do list’. One of the companies recommended was ‘Rio ASA Delta’. http://rioasadelta.com.br/

Maracana stadium – go and watch a local football match if you can

This stadium is very well known to people worldwide, mainly because of the world cup and the Olympics. It is a very popular stadium for sporting events and is home to the famous Brazilian football team, Flamengo. If you get the chance, go and watch a football game here. The Brazilian fans are some of the best football fans in the whole world and the atmosphere of a live game will be ecstatic. I was unable to get tickets to a game whilst in Brazil but was able to see Flamengo in the Copa Libertadores final in 2019 in Peru and the atmosphere from the fans was unbelievable.