Brazil – Rio de Janeiro – Woke and Awake Travel

To & From:

We flew to Rio via Heathrow with BA, bones of a 12-hour flight, you can shave a couple of hours off from Lisbon, but the longer flight to Lisbon from Dublin negates the overall benefit. BA have a mid-morning flight out that will get you to Rio that evening, and upon return with a late departure from Rio back home early the following day, oddly Rio is only -4 hours GMT.

Brazil is the largest country in South America, and in the Southern Hemisphere, the 5^th largest in the World and the 6^th most populous, whilst Brasilia is the Capital, Rio is the tourism Capital, and home to the world famous Carnival, starting on the Friday before Ash Wednesday, expect skyrocketing prices around New Year when we visited and Carnival.

Climate is Tropical with hot and humid summers and warm winters, December to March is prime time to enjoy what Brazil does best –party on the beach at Copacabana or Ipanema.

Landing into RIOgaleao Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG), is an experience, whilst you do not need any VISA as a tourist, expect long lines and some confusion upon arrival. This delay appears quite normal, and no need to worry if you pre-booked a taxi/car, the driver is very familiar with the time it takes to transit through the airport, so will still be waiting for you in the terminal building.

Rio gets a very poor press and petty crime and indeed muggings seem commonplace, albeit less frequent in the well-lit areas of Copacabana/Ipanema Beach, where we had decided to stay at the Royal Rio Palace Hotel just off Ave Atlantica.

See 1 under Useful Links

Having taken no risks with taxis, the driver we had booked duly took us the 25 Km to Copacabana in relative quick time, the benefit of a late enough arrival is that the roads are clear, there can be serious hold ups during rush hour.

Check in was seamless and they had kindly upgraded us to a high-level suite, complete with its own Sauna, although not required in the height of a Brazilian summer.

Awake Tip: Pre-book transport from the Airport, rather than chance the local ones and or Bus from the Airport.

Woke Tip: The hotels around & along Avenue Atlantica overlooking Copacabana beach are at a premium, there are plenty of good quality hotels a few blocks back that provide value.

Figure 1 Boutique Hotel Santa Teresa

Day 1.

After a great buffet breakfast, we set out to explore the local sights, a short stroll down R. Duvivier brings you onto the main promenade of Avenue Atlantica and Copacabana Beach.

Figure 2 Ave Atlantica

Copacabana beach runs in a horseshoe East to West, stretching over 4 Km, to a point at which Ipanema backs onto it and runs in turn in a similar shape for another 2 Km.

Both beaches have station numbers along there stretches, Ipanema has a post for each persuasion, number 8 a mecca for the LBGT community.

Figure 3 Looking along Copacabana with Sugar Loaf in the background

Life is easy on the beach so having walked along the entire length of the strip we relaxed for the remainder of the day, taking in the sights sea and beer provided by very enthusiast beach vendors.

Figure 4 Ipanema Beach

Day 2.

Copacabana covers a large area, so it is worth getting to grips with the Metro, it is easy to use and runs through Ipanema- Copacabana-Botafogo -to Centro and further North, so covers most of the tourist spots. It shuts relatively early at mid-night and in certain parts not somewhere you would want to hang around. Favelas circle around Rio and whilst you can visit, we decided against.

Figure 5 Cool down on the Metro

So, from our location we took the Metro to Jardim de Alah, and checked out the shops in Leblon

Figure 6 Shopping in Leblon

Mission accomplished we strolled towards the Botanical Gardens, a truly spectacular collection of flora and fauna, nestled against the lower part of the Parque National da Tijuna, which hosts Rio’s most celebrated landmark, Christ the Redeemer,Seven Wonder of the New World.

Figure 7 Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer from Afar

See 2 under Useful Links .

Figure 8 Botanical Gardens

There are plenty of lunch options in the vicinity, we opted for Brazier da Gavea, good honest food at realistic prices.

See 3 under Useful Links.

Gavea is the district south of Jardim de Botanico which leads you back towards Leblon and Ipanema, and is full of trendy cafes bars and restaurants, Leblon is a bit more up-market with some high end fashion shops together with some lovely French Bistro eateries.

Having covered plenty of ground we headed back to our hotel and stayed local for dinner, there are loads of eating options around the hotel location, it has a fine restaurant itself, but we picked a Brazilian Steakhouse.

See 4 in Useful Links.

Awake Tip: As with most Metro systems, download the Giro app and pay online as you go, save queuing and trying to fathom the ticket machines

Woke Tip : If you want to eat well but a bit more cheaply, buffets at plenty of eateries, hotels particularly, charge by weight of your plate.

Day 3/4 .

We decided to rest on day 3 and moved early the next morning for a walking tour around Santa Teresa an area made famous by Ronnie Biggs.

It is a charming hilltop district, overlooking Guanabara Bay and Centro, with cobbled streets, boutique hotels and a tram connecting it with its neighbour Lapa at the foot of the hill.

Figure 9 Interesting Art in Santa Teresa.

A prime example of the areas recent revitalisation is the Boutique Hotel Santa Teresa, it was known as the Hotel dos Descasados ( Hotel of the divorced ), where recently separated men and women could rent a room until they found a place of their own. As a tribute to its history, the bar is named Bar dos Descasados.

We have a great lunch outdoors on a four-poster bed around the pool.

Awake Tip: Wear comfy shoes around Santa Teresa, as the steep uneven and cobbled streets take their toll.

See 5 under Useful Links.

We took a car from our hotel into the Centro where you will land close by the Municipal Theatre, you can also take a tram.

See 6 under Useful Links.

Centro is an edgy area, especially at weekends and evening time, we were warned by everyone to avoid as much as possible, when we arrived there was a protest by native Indians campaigning for the preservation of their tribal lands in the Amazon taking place which was getting attention from the security forces, heading the advice we headed for the Metro and back to Copacabana.

Figure 10 Municipal Theatre

Day 5.

We had booked a tour guide to visit the Christ the Redeemer statue as you need a driver to reach it or negotiate via a bus. There is also a train that departs from Corcovado train station, but if you have not pre booked it is unlikely you will be able to access without a very long wait. Crowds to this attraction are epic at peak season.

Figure 11 Dinner at the Palace

Awake Tip: Make sure you book a reputable tour guide or arrange with your hotel; the top attractions have huge demand in high season, and you need to plan and book well ahead.

However, as it was New Year we prepared for the upcoming celebrations, crowds form early on the beach, it is estimated that up to 2 Million pour onto the beach to watch the fireworks –and we were two of them that night .

Figure 12 Fireworks on Copacabana Beach NYE

New Year’s Day

Remarkably the night after the party the area returns to some form of normality, and plenty of people flood back onto the beach to relax.

Figure 13 New Year’s Day on the Beach

Following a day of recovery, we decided where better to finish things in Rio other than at the Copacabana Palace for dinner.

Awake Tip : Based on all the visitor health & safety advice we didn’t wear any jewellery or carry much cash /credit cards in fact Michelle didn’t even carry a handbag but we never have any issues !

Another fabulous New Year trip & well worth the long haul for a few days !!

Catch all our updates on Insta :@wokeandawaketravel

Twitter:@WokeTravel

Useful Links