This huge pyramid shaped cathedral in Rio was consecrated in 1976 after 12 years of construction. In addition to the cone shaped building you find sculptures and artwork. The four colorful stained glass windows that extend 60 meters into the ceiling. The cathedral can accommodate up to 20,000 people.
Av República do Chile 245, Rio de Janeiro
Phone. +55 21 2240 2669
www.catedral.com.br
Many want to leave Rio for a few days and northeast of Rio is a peninsula Búzios. It is an exclusive resort that extends out into the ocean with 23 beaches and is known as “Rio’s Saint-Tropez”. It iss one of the hottest beaches throughout Brazil - Búzios was originally settled by European pirates and slave traders and elected as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Outside the peninsula you have swimming turtles and humpback whales and it was not so long ago a humpback whale stranded on Praia de Geribá.
Read more
http://www.buziosonline.com.br/home/english/
Cariocas (people from Rio) love their beaches. Sun, romance, swimming, picnicking for the family, surfing, football,sunset, no shame party…Rio has beaches for all!
If you want to see guys in a speedo this is the right place.
- Ricky Gervais, Episode when Karl Pilkington went to Rio
The two largest and most famous beaches in Rio de Janeiro are Copacabana and Ipanema, both are crowded with little space between people, and have different postos or sections with fine sand.
35.2 km (21.9 miles)
Cobacabana with the well-recognized pavement is one of the longest and most famous of all beaches. Walk a bit up and down the first few days and discover that families with children, transvestites, prostitutes, football teams, bikini girls, bodybuilder s…The people play soccer and volleyball and a lots of other activities going on an butts everywhere of course. Lots of bobbing silicone breasts and you will probably notice why Brazil is No 1 country in plastic surgery.
The over 60 kilometers beaches are not the place where you can read a book half asleep and there are even outdoor gym for people who want to flex their muscles. Along the Copa Cabanas white beach and classic and famous wavy pavement there are many hotels and restaurants Copa Cabana stretches across 3 km and looks the Guanabara Bay and gives a fantastic view of the Sugarloaf Mountain. You have Copacabana’s Posto 6, furthest towards Ipanema with the cool beach people. The red light district is located on the Copacabana boardwalk.
32,3 Km (20.1 miles)
Maybe you have heard about the tall, young, beautiful and brown girl from Ipanema?
Ipanema is more residential, saferand counted as more fashionable and trending than Copacabana. People go rollerblading while they tighten the muscles and often more than 30% of the women wear thongs. Posto 9 is hip. Posto 10 you find skaters and girls with right T-shirts.
Rio has it’s famous gay beach section with the rainbow flag after Posto 8 and directly outside the Armeodo Rua Farm is the largest gaybeach throughout Brazil. Rio was chosen as the sexiest gay destination in 2010 by TripOut Gay Travel Awards. At the gay beach you will find good-looking men playing volleyball and several who have gone through plastic surgery just to get nicer breasts.
Hotels close to Downtown Copacabana
Close to Ipanema at the underground Station General Osório / Ipanema you can take the elevator up to Cantagalo and visit the terrace Mirante do Paz.
1,3 km (0.8 miles)
Beaches for surfistas
Arpoador (near posto 7) is the most talked surfing beach in town and meeting place for all young surfistas and at the beaches of Barra, Recreio, Joatinga (Praia do Joa) a 220 meter long beach, and the red beach Grumari, and Macumba with large waves wich is the Mecca for surfers – you’ll certainly find some surfers here. ASP World Master Championship was held at Arpoador in 2011.
Read more about surfing at Rico Surf.
29.4 km (18.3 miles)
You probably want to spot beautiful people at the beach and then you should go to exclusive Leblon, directly below the district Leblon, where you will find the wealthy and rich people.
26.0 km (16.1 miles)
São Conrado is famous for its hang gliding and fashion mall with over 150 stores and it is close to the largest favela Rocinha. Pedro Bonita is launching pad for the delta wing flight. Landing is at the São Conrado beach.
Praia do Leme
Praia do Flamingo
Wide park with skateboarding, jogging, soccer museums and large marina.
15.7 km (9.7 miles)
Three times as long as Copacabana, filled with the drive-middle class, plus a large part of the sportiest clientele.
3.1 km (1.9 miles)
33.9 km (21.1miles)
49.8 km (31 miles)
****************
The beaches in Rio are also known for their New Year celebrations also called Reveillon. New Year’s Eve is one of Rio de Janeiro’s most important celebrations, second only to Carnival in popularity. The event attracts over 2.5 million of people to Copacabana every year!
One great place is Forte de Copacabana (Copacabana Fortress). The second most visited place in Rio de Janeiro, the Copacabana Fortress, is located between the two most famous beaches.
If you have time and a car, you should go to Prainha.
Northeast of Rio you also find one of the hottest beaches throughout Brazil – Búzios.
Búzios is a peninsula that extends out into the ocean with 23 beaches and is known as “Rio’s Saint-Tropez”.
Next largest Christ statue in the World!
If you visit Rio de Janeiro, you must see the Jesus thing. The iconic Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) overlook the city from the more than 700 meters high Mount Corcovado (Humpback mountain). The statue is one of the world’s most famous landmarks, has become a symbol of the city with his arms outstretched pointing towards the city, and among the new 7 Wonders of the world.
Facts about the Christ statue in Rio
The 38 meter (125 feet) long art deco statue sculptured by Frenchman Paul-Maximilien Landowsk. Christo Redentor is 30 meters between the fingertips and weighs 1145 tons. It is the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro who manages Christ the Redeemer.
The statue in Rio de Janeiro was inaugurated in 1931and is today the second largest Christ statue after a new built statue in Swiebodzin (Poland). Annually about 1.8 million tourists visit the monument. Swedish sailors have called the statue Limhamn Jesus. The reason is that parts of the statue’s base were made with cement from the small Swedish town Limhamn.
Practical information
The trail for the trekking to Jesus begins at the top of Santa Marta. Cog trains to the statue leave every 30 minutes from Rua Cosme Velho. The lift up to Christo Redentor takes about 30 minutes and costs 18 real. At the top center remains over 200 steps, but views are well worth inconvenience.
Brazilians are naturally very proud of Cristo Redentor and a good idea is not to criticize the statue since they are extremely sensitive to criticism….
Helicopter to get a great view!
You can also take a helicopter ride to see the statue. If you would like to explore the statue online I really recommend the Tours from above showing amazing arial photograhy over Christ the Redeemer.
Zoological Park:
At the foot of the Corcovado mountain, where the city’s large Christ statue stands, lies one of Rio’s wildest parks with monkeys, waterfalls and a tropical aquarium with small sharks. In the middle of the park you will find sugar baron Henrique Lage’s mansion today home to Rio´s art of school.
Address: Rua Jardim Botânico 414, Jardim Botânico.
The view from the Pão de Açúcar – Sugar Loaf – is nothing less than outstanding.
The 396-meter (Sugarloaf Mountain) offers an incredible view over Rio de Janeiro. The majestic mountain is shaped like a sugar loaf. You get up with cable car from Praia Vermelha (Red Beach) to Morro da Urca (Urca Hill) and after that to the top of the Sugarloaf Mountain. The military also has its headquarters nearby.
One can easily reach up via cable car. Cable car goes up to Morro da Urca on the mountain 220 meters above sea level and Guanabara Bay. The last distance goes by cabin and the 6 minutes ride goes every half hour (between 8.00-22.00). Avoid times 10-11 and 14-15, when most people are going up
If you take the first cabin in the morning you’ll enjoy a bit of silence at the top where you also have a good view of the city’s most famous landmark, the Christ statue. If you visit during the late afternoon and stay until night – it is magical when lit candles beneath the mountain.
Information: Praça General Tibúrcio
Tel. +55 21 2546 8400
Price: 30 real
Best place to chill out is the seafood restaurant , Rua Candido Gaffrée 205, Urca.
If you are the adventurous type, you can also climb on the rock wall west of the Sugarloaf mountain – you need to be very experienced.
Moonraker – James Bond and Jaws in Rio de Janeiro:
All we’ll remember the scene where James Bond fought with the metal-toothed “Jaws” in the cable car going up to the sugarloaf mountain. The movie Moonraker from 1979 is about a spaceship mysteriously hi-jacked casted Roger More as James Bond and Richard Kiel as nasty villain Jaws.
James Bond vs Jaws
Rio is perhaps best known for her colorful and musical annual carnival. It is time to look forward to the next Rio Carnival 2012 between February 17th until February 21st - it will be a nice spectacle with samba, beer and sparkling sensuality!
In March 2011, 800 000 people make pilgrimages to Rio to take part in the annual samba festival also called the baddest party on the earth. The carnival (or Carnaval in Portuguese) lasted for 4 days and 4 nights.
At the opening ceremony the mayor of Rio give the city’s keys to “King Momo” (Rei Momo in portuguese) and the carnival king declares the carnival open according to the tradition.
During the carnival is a high pulse and great party-atmosphere with 1,000 blocos (street bands). There are more car accidents and the prices are generally higher, but on the other hand you should not complain since you are at the world’s most famous carnival!
Carnival in Rio is beautiful but can seem a bit monotonous for Brazilians from other regions. Brazilians from other states will tell you with a small touch of envy that the Rio Carnival is almost the same thing every year and they can argue for hours the place for the best carnival. Ok let us face it – gringos in general only have heard about Rio. But the carnivals in Brazil is going on like a tour since the big stars, like Ivette Sangal, can not be in the same place all the time. There are competing carnivals with different flavours in Recife (frevo), Fortaleza and the street carnival in Bahia (Salvador).
The official parade is not free and you must buy ticket for the stadium. The Sambodromo (also known in English as Sambadrome or Sambodrome) is the “stadium” of samba. Carnival on the purpose-built stadium is probably the world’s biggest and greatest show with colorful dancers, drummers and cars for the attention of the audience and jury. It is possible to have a look at the spectacle when they are rehearsal for the Carnival so if you look at some of the big Samba schools you will have a good time. There are also free street parties everywhere.
History of the Rio Carnival
According to one version, the Portuguese from the Azores, Madeira and Cape Verde started the first carnival in Rio in 1723. In the beginning the carnival was a prank in which participants threw water and fruit at each other but the tradition lived on. During the 1800s, the carnival was elegant high society balls, which also usually mentioned in Carnival history. In the 1920s, started the first samba schools.
There are different samba schools that are competing with each other much like sport teams, representing different areas of the city. The subjective competition, when the winner is announced at the ash Wednesday, is very much disputed. The samba schools create floats and costumes, compose music and lyrics and choreograph the dance shows and there’s no cash prize for first place, only a trophy. Tourists can expect to pay between $50 and $100 to hire or buy costumes depending on the prestige of the samba school responsible for creating it.
Karl Pilkington
The Cariocas are rehearsing for carnival, for instance Karl Pilkington went to a training samba in the funny episode when he went to Brazil.
Top 12 samba schools competed in the top league 2011; the lowest-ranking are demoted to the minors.
Excluded Samba schools during 2011 from the competitive scoring – because of the big fire. Only four weeks before the start of the carnival was a major fire in Rio de Janeiro.
Carnival in Rio
The carnival is in February or early March depending on the Easter.
2013 dates: February 8th – February 12th
2014 dates: February 28th – March 4th
2015 dates: February 13th – February 17th
2016 dates: February 5th – February 9th
2017 dates: February 24th – February 28th
2018 dates: February 9th – February 13th
2019 dates: March 1rd – March 5th
2020 dates: February 21st – February 25th
2021 dates: February 12th – February 16th
2022 dates: February 25th – March 1st
2023 dates: February 17th – February 21st
2024 dates: February 9th – February 13th
2025 dates: February 28th – March 4th
2026 dates: February 13th – February 17th
2027 dates: February 5th – February 9th
2028 dates: February 25th – February 29th
2029 dates: February 9th – February 13th
2030 dates: March 1st – March 5th
Official Website about the Rio carnival:
www.rio-Carnival.net