Brasileira! My experience in Rio de Janeiro.

When I started my research on where to stay, I quickly learned that quadruple occupancy is NOT a thing outside the US! If we wanted to opt the hotel route, we would’ve needed two suites. I felt that for what we would’ve been paying, airbnb was the better option.

With a destination as stunning as Brasil I was not willing to compromise on two things:

location & views

and we got exactly that!

Throughout the week we spent our first four days in Rio and stayed right on Copacabana Beach.

We took a quick two day trip to São Paolo and stayed in Pinheiros.

We then came back to Rio for our last two nights in the more inland Copacabana area.

Getting to & through Rio:

Flights:

American Airlines offers a direct overnight flight from Miami International Airport (MIA) into Galeao International Airport (GIG). Total travel time of approximately 8 hours.

Transportation:

Uber!

To my surprise – ubers are safe, commonly used and easily accessible throughout Brasil at significantly affordable prices. The Brasilian real exchange rate to USD was R$5.80 to USD$1, the furthest distance we traveled was from the airport to our AirBnb in Copacabana which was R$107 or USD$17. On average, each uber cost me around R$40-70 which is about USD$6-11.

befriend a driver

This one may seem a bit risque considering many of the travel advisories in Brasil, but this is something that my family and I have done on most of our international trips. Using your own precautions of course, I wouldn’t recommend getting just in anyone’s car lol. But, we met a driver through Uber and he ended up showing us around Rio through a locals P.O.V. He became a part of the family by the end of the trip.

Andre was born and raised in Rio and does uber to help support his family. He owns and operates his own tour company, “Andre Tours” in which he offers different packages depending on the amount of destinations you would like to visit in a day.

Taking into account the cost of ubers vs what his rate was, it was roughly around the same. The difference we felt was the personalized experience he gave us. It was a warm welcoming to his beautiful country and shared laughs even with the difference in languages.

Our experience with Andre truly is why I began to travel to begin with. Although we were not speaking the same language,through broken Portuguese from my 130 day streak on Duolingo (RIP) and the help of google translate we understood each other, we shared stories of our families, cracked jokes, sang songs, he walked us through some of the rich history of Rio and of the several neighborhoods we visited. We felt fortunate to have crossed paths with him and to be able to support his business directly. If you are visiting Rio I would highly recommend contacting him and telling him I sent you!

Andre Tours Brasil: whatsapp: +55 21 98128-6224

Must Do’s vs. Nice to Do

must:

• Cristo Redentor: Christ the Redeemer
  • Get there EARLY. Most tour companies aim for the 8am slot, you can choose to hike or take a cable car up. (take the car, don’t do that to yourself)
  • The lines can get extremely long, with 1-2hrs of wait time. Aim to be on the first cart up at 8am, it took about 20-30 mins to get to the top.
  • Wear comfy shoes, bring a fan, mentally prepare for crowds.
• Pao de Açúcar: Sugarloaf Mountain
  • Get there by 7:30am to beat the line, doors open at 8:00am.
    • No need to buy tickets online, they sell them on site for the same price.
  • There are SO many restaurants in the first mountain, would definitely recommend waiting to have breakfast and eating up there. The views were incredible.
• Terra Brasilis
  • This restaurant is under the Sugarloaf mountain, with stunning views of the mountain and the beach. Would recommend to plan a beach day after experiencing the Sugarloaf and having dinner at Terra during the sunset.
• Praia de Ipanema: Ipanema Beach
  • I personally preferred Ipanema over Copacabana beach 1000000x
  • People begin to gather on the rocks to the left side of the beach to see the most incredible sunset in Rio.
• Praia de Copacabana: Copacabana Beach
  • The most famous beach in Rio, there was plenty to do in this area making it a full day activity for sure.
• Escadaria Selarón: Selaron Steps
  • The iconic steps!
  • I may or may not have listened to Beautiful by Pharrell + Snoop 50 times on this trip
• Catch a game in the Maracana!
  • 10/10 experience
• Museu do Futebol: Museum of Futbol
  • If you head to Sao Paolo – we had a BLAST here!

nice to do:

• Museo de Amaha: Museum of Tomorrow
• AquaRIO: Aquarium
• Confeitaria Colombo: historic bakery in the city center
• Cathedral Saint Sebastien
• Museo de Arte São Paolo