5 Days in Rio de Janeiro: Samba, Beaches and Iconic Views

Scooters Along Copacabana, Caipirinhas at Ipanema and Samba in Lapa

We arrived at Santos Dumont airport and were in our apartment on Francisco Otaviano, a quiet street between Copacabana and Ipanema, by mid-afternoon. The location was close to perfect. The beach was a two-minute walk in either direction.

We rented electric scooters and rode the full length of Copacabana. Stopped outside the Copacabana Palace just to take it in. Had caipirinhas at a bar on Ipanema. That evening we headed to Lapa for the samba.

WHOOSH electric scooters along Copacabana, with the iconic Copacabana Palace in the background.

Roda de Samba at Fundição Progresso, Lapa

Botafogo, Flamengo and Dinner at the Legendary Garota de Ipanema

Day two was slower. We walked through Botafogo and along the Flamengo waterfront, stopping for coffee and people-watching. The views of Sugarloaf from Botafogo beach are some of the best in the city, no cable car required.

That evening we had dinner at Garota de Ipanema, the restaurant named after the famous bossa nova song, not the inspiration for it. The food was good, the atmosphere was warm, and the street outside was exactly as charming as it sounds.

Copacabana beach. The view never gets old.

The Big Day: Sugarloaf, Cristo Redentor, Sambodromo, Maracana, Cathedral and Selaron Steps

Day three was a full itinerary. We started early with the Sugarloaf cable car. Getting up before the tour groups arrive makes a real difference. The views from the top, with the city laid out below and the Atlantic stretching to the horizon, are everything you expect and more.

The Bondinho cable car up Sugarloaf, and the view that waits at the top

From Sugarloaf we took an Uber up to Cristo Redentor. The statue is bigger than it looks in photos. Standing beneath it with the city and bay spread out below is genuinely moving.

Cristo Redentor. Bigger than any photo prepares you for.

Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar), the symbol of Rio

We continued through the afternoon: the Sambadrome (Sambodromo), the outside of Maracana, and then the Metropolitan Cathedral, an extraordinary brutalist cone of stained glass that catches the light in ways no photograph quite captures.

Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro: the stained glass from inside

We finished in Lapa with the Selaron Steps. Jorge Selaron's life work, made from tiles collected from over 60 countries, is impossible not to stop and stare at. Do not rush this one.

The Selaron Steps in Lapa, tiled over decades from 60 countries.

Somehow, after Sugarloaf, Cristo Redentor, the Cathedral, Maracana, the Sambodromo and the Selaron Steps, we still had energy left. We ended the night at a Funk party, dancing, drinking and going until 4am. Rio does not let you stop, and honestly, we did not want it to.

Finally: Ipanema Beach, Arpoador, Beija-Flor Rehearsal and the Cervantes Sandwich

After three days of relentless sightseeing, day four was the beach day. A proper one. We walked to Ipanema, picked a spot, and did nothing more complicated than watch the city come to us.

Vendors walk the sand constantly. The combination to order is mate tea, iced in a plastic cup, and Biscoito Globo, the light ring-shaped biscuits that are a Rio institution. There is no better beach snack on earth.

Mate tea and Biscoito Globo: the definitive Rio beach snack combo

Arpoador, the rock between Ipanema and Copacabana.

That evening we went to a Beija-Flor samba school rehearsal, a weekly event open to the public in Nilópolis. Worth every minute of the commute. Then back to Copacabana and Cervantes for the sandwich.

The Cervantes pork and pineapple sandwich. Order two.

One Last Mate Tea on the Beach and Goodbye Rio

Last mornings in cities you love always have the same quality. We went back to the beach. One last mate tea from the vendor who walks the sand in the mornings. One last Biscoito Globo. We sat and watched Rio doing what Rio does, completely indifferent to time.

Five days is not enough for Rio. It is barely an introduction. But it is a very good one.

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