Things to Do in Rio De Janeiro

Already known as one of the world's most vibrant cities, Rio de Janeiro will likely see its popularity continue to soar as it hosts the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. A city of six million people, Rio is glittering, vibrant and sexy and is sure to dazzle most first-time visitors.

How to Get to Rio de Janeiro
Your ship will dock at Pier Maua, which is within walking distance of Rio's central business district. Taxis are readily available, or your cruise ship might arrange transportation for you to Copacabana, Ipanema or the city center. Some jewelry stores may also offer complimentary rides to and from their stores, usually located in Ipanema.

One Day in Rio de Janeiro
Start your day with a visit to one of Rio de Janeiro's most famous sites "“ Corcovado, the large art deco statue of Christ the Redeemer that stands over 2,000 feet above the city. Get there by taking the funicular from the Cosme Velho station first thing in the morning to enjoy the views and beat the crowds.

Then, head back to central Rio to explore some of the city's museums and churches. The 16th-century Mosteiro de Sao Bento, the 17th-century Convento do Santo Antonio and the 18th-century Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Candelaria are all worth a visit. Art lovers will then want to make their way to the Flamengo neighborhood, where you will find the Museu de Arte Moderna with its large contemporary art collection and the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, which showcases Brazil's top artists from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Spend the rest of the afternoon walking the length of Copacabana Beach, taking in Rio's legendary beach scene. Continue south to Ipanema, recently named the best beach city in the world. For a quick lunch, you can stop at a lunch counter around Copacabana or Ipanema for a sandwich and fresh fruit juice, or pull up a seat at an outdoor cafe and enjoy the people-watching.

If you have time for dinner before returning to your ship, don't miss dining at an all-you-can-eat churrascaria and sampling a caipirinha, a typical Brazilian drink made of sugar cane rum, lime and sugar.

Port Information
The official language in Brazil is Portuguese, but Spanish may also be spoken. English should be understood in hotels and shops. The local currency is the Brazilian real, but US dollars are widely accepted (change will be given in reales). You should be able to find ATM's and currency exchange offices throughout the city.

Keeping a watchful eye over the people of Rio de Janeiro, the iconic Statue of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) sits atop Corcovado Mountain at 2,300 feet (700 meters) above the city. Unveiled in 1931 and voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, this impressive monument is often credited as the most iconic site in Brazil.

The gigantic Maracana Stadium (Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho) is one of the most iconic soccer temples in South America, built to open the 1950 World Cup. The site holds the record for the largest attendance at a World Cup Final thanks to the 199,854 paying spectators who crammed into the stadium in 1950 and also hosted the FIFA World Cup Final again in 2014 and the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. Officially known as Mário Filho Stadium but called Maracana after the small river that runs alongside it, the arena is now a historical site dedicated to its former use as a world-class arena and event venue.

While it may be hard to pull away from Rio’s white sand beaches, there’s more to the vibrant Brazilian city than sand and Sugarloaf Mountain. One of those spots is Tiradentes Palace, a soaring, concrete, exquisite palace that’s named for “Tiradentes,” a Brazilian revolutionary who was jailed while fighting for the nation’s independence. While his cell once stood on the very ground where the palace stands today, when the palace was constructed in 1926, it not only adopted the hero’s name, but was also built with sculptures atop the dome that represent independence. When standing in front of the spectacular palace and admiring from the outside, gaze upwards at the concrete, Corinthian columns rising 40 feet in height. Inside, paintings by Brazilian Rodolfo Chambelland accompany displays recounting the building’s modern political history. The palace was where the National Congress gathered until 1960, and is used today by Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro. 

Having reopened in 2010 after an exhaustive $35 million renovation, the stunning Teatro Municipal in downtown Rio de Janeiro looks as well-crafted and intricately designed as a Carnival float. Golden statues on the roof sparkle in the tropical sunshine while stately neoclassical columns buttress the façade. Inside, grand spectator suites and elegant balconies offer superb views of the stage where Sarah Bernhardt, Maria Callas, and Igor Stravinsky once captivated the audiences of the Brazilian capital, and where Brazilian presidents Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, and U.S. president Barack Obama more recently captivated audiences worldwide.

Inspired by the Paris Opera and inaugurated in 1909 as the most expensive theater ever built outside of Europe at the time, the Teatro Municipal hosted international orchestra and ballet performances for its first two decades, featuring French and Italian theater companies almost exclusively. Only in 1931 was Brazilian talent organized into the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Orchestra, which focused on international as well as domestic works, including a grand production of the seminal Brazilian opera O Guarani, a melodramatic love story between a Guarani Indian warrior and the daughter of a wealthy Portuguese landowner in Brazil, based on a novel written in 1854 that was the first mainstream Brazilian work of literature to feature an indigenous protagonist.

Squeezed on a curved slice of land at the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain and its shorter, wider companion at the other end of the cable car, tiny Urca remains one of Rio’s most unique neighborhoods in that it has retained its intimate feel and close-knit character for decades, despite rapid and unrestrained development in other sections of the city. Facing west across an inlet of Guanabara Bay and overlooking the stately districts of Botafogo and Flamengo, Urca is home to several restaurants and bars that make the trip from other parts of town worthwhile if only for the ambiance.

The site of a Portuguese fort erected in 1565 to fend off the nascent city from French colonial ambitions, Urca developed as a neighborhood much more recently. In the 1920s, the amount of buildable land in the area was expanded with landfill and the first housing developments sprung up. By the end of the decade, the district was a thriving commercial and residential community with its own casino, built to compete against the luxe but barely-accessible Copacabana Palace Hotel. Much of the architecture in the area reflects the development of the 30s and 40s, with a mix of faux Spanish and Tudor-style stucco houses and apartment buildings that render the entire neighborhood a historical treasure.

Whether you’re looking for the surf, the golden sands or to soar in the skies above, visiting Sao Conrado Beach is a highlight of Rio de Janeiro. Here in this affluent, oceanfront neighborhood that’s sometimes called Praia Pepino, visitors will find an eclectic combo of people, many of whom are surfers or paragliders. The juxtaposition of social classes is evident out on the streets—yet everyone seems to equally enjoy the combo of sunshine and surf.