Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf 5-Hour Express Tour Rio de Janeiro

Corcovado and the ride through Tijuca Forest

Corcovado, the hunchback, is the 710-metre granite peak that rises behind the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, inside the Tijuca National Park. The road to the top winds through dense Atlantic rainforest, and from the vehicle you see tall trees, hanging vines and sudden openings over the lagoon and the beaches far below. The forest was replanted in the nineteenth century after coffee farms had cleared the slopes, which is why it looks so lush today.

A Corcovado tour from Rio starts early for a reason: pickup is between 07:45 and 09:30, so the group reaches the statue before the crowds and the midday haze. In high season traffic can lengthen the journey, which is why the tour is timed at five hours rather than four. The final approach to the summit is by official shuttle, included in your ticket.

Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer is the thirty-metre statue of Christ with open arms that stands on an eight-metre pedestal at the top of Corcovado. Completed in 1931 and clad in pale soapstone tiles, it has become the symbol of Rio de Janeiro and of Brazil. From the terraces at its feet you look across the whole city: Sugarloaf and Guanabara Bay to the east, the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon and the beaches of Ipanema and Leblon to the south, and the Maracanã stadium to the north.

A Christ the Redeemer tour with tickets saves the queue at the ticket office and lets the guide explain the statue's story while you take photos. Expect to spend about an hour at the summit. Clouds can wrap the peak at any time of year; the tour runs rain or shine, so if the view is hidden, enjoy the forest and the statue up close.

Urca and the Sugarloaf cable car

From Corcovado the vehicle descends to Urca, a quiet residential neighbourhood on a peninsula at the mouth of Guanabara Bay, where the cable car to Sugarloaf Mountain starts. The first cable car here opened in 1912, and the modern glass cabins climb in two stages: first to Morro da Urca at about 220 metres, then on to the summit of Sugarloaf at close to 400 metres. Each ride lasts only a few minutes but the views grow with every metre.

Sugarloaf Mountain cable car tickets are included, so the guide walks you straight to the boarding area. At Morro da Urca there is a terrace with views of Botafogo and the bay, and at the top a path circles the granite summit. Allow about an hour and a half for both stages, the terraces and the return ride.

The view from the top of Sugarloaf

The summit of Sugarloaf gives the 360-degree view that Corcovado cannot: Christ the Redeemer small on its distant peak, the long curve of Copacabana beach, the entrance to Guanabara Bay with the city of Niterói on the opposite shore, the historic fortresses guarding the strait and the open Atlantic. Ships pass below, and on clear days you can see the Serra dos Órgãos mountains far inland.

Many travellers ask whether Sugarloaf is worth visiting after Christ the Redeemer, and the answer is that the two complete each other, which is why this express tour combines them. Late morning light is good for photographs towards the bay. The granite dome also shelters small marmoset monkeys that live in the trees around the paths; look but do not feed them.