City guide · Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
A carnival city between mountains and sea: Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf and Ipanema
Rio is squeezed between granite peaks and the Atlantic: Christ the Redeemer spreads his arms on top of Corcovado, Sugarloaf guards the mouth of Guanabara Bay, and on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema people are always playing football and sunbathing. Every Carnival, the whole city dances the samba.
History
Los orígenes de la ciudad
Founded in 1565, Rio was first the seat of the Portuguese captaincy of Rio de Janeiro; in 1763 it became capital of Brazil. In 1808, fleeing Napoleon, the Portuguese royal family moved to Brazil, and Rio became the seat of Queen Maria I's court until Brazil's war of independence began in 1822 — the only time in modern history a colonial power moved its capital to a colony. Rio was then capital of the Empire of Brazil and, from 1889, of the Brazilian republic, until the capital moved to Brasília in 1960. Between 1922 and 1931 the statue of Christ the Redeemer was built on top of Corcovado.
- 1565Rio was founded
- 1763Became capital of Brazil
- 1808The Portuguese royal court moved to Rio
- 1912The Sugarloaf cable car opened
- 1931The Christ the Redeemer statue was completed
- 1960The capital moved to Brasília
Stories
Historias de la ciudad
Historia · Christ the Redeemer, Rio
A Parisian sculptor and a Romanian's face
In the 1850s a priest proposed building a Christian monument on the summit of Corcovado, dedicated to Princess Isabel, daughter of Emperor Pedro II, but it was not approved. Today's statue was built between 1922 and 1931, created by the French sculptor Paul Landowski and built under the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, with the French engineer Albert Caquot responsible for switching to a reinforced-concrete structure and the face carved by the Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida. The statue is 30 m tall, not including its 8-m pedestal, and weighs 635 tonnes.
Historia · Feijoada (Brazilian black-bean stew)
From slaves' food to national dish
In northern Portugal, bean-and-meat stews use white or red beans. In 18th-century colonial Brazil, enslaved Africans used black beans native to the Americas and leftover pork to create the Brazilian feijoada; a 2015 study by the University of São Paulo argues that it blended Portuguese, African and Indigenous food traditions during slavery. By the 19th century it had gone from labourers' supper to Brazil's national dish.
Historia · Sugarloaf Mountain
A mountain shaped like a sugarloaf
In the 16th century the sugar-cane trade in Brazil was at its height. Refined sugar was then pressed into conical 'sugarloaves', and the Portuguese thought the peak at the mouth of the bay looked like one, so they called it 'Pão de Açúcar' — Sugarloaf. The name later became a general term for such dome-shaped peaks around the world.
Local life
Gastronomía y vida cotidiana
Before you go
Normas que debe conocer en Rio de Janeiro
Brazil: don't go to city beaches after dark
- Take only a little cash to the beach
- If you are robbed, hand over your things and don't resist
- Going to city beaches after dark
- Taking valuables to the beach or using your phone in the street
Gangs carry out mass beach robberies known as 'arrastão'; phone snatching peaks between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Verificado el 19 oct 2026Fuente: GOV.UK: Brazil travel advice
Brazil: e-cigarettes are completely illegal
- Leave your e-cigarette at home before you travel
- Carrying e-cigarettes, pods or accessories
All e-cigarettes and accessories are illegal, and customs confiscate them from checked and hand luggage.
Verificado el 19 oct 2026Fuente: GOV.UK: Brazil travel advice