Jump to content

Suggestion on things to do in Rio De Janeiro for the day??


Kiwi_cruiser
 Share

Recommended Posts

We have never been to Rio De Janeiro before.

 

I know Rio is quite a big and busy city... (From photos/Video I have seen).

 

I was wondering would you recommend doing here for the day??

 

and if you have been to Rio, what did you do there for the day??

 

Does the cruise ships dock near the city? or do we dock a long way from it?

 

Any ideas / suggestions are very welcome :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hire a guide and driver. We had a few extra days in Rio in January 2017. We booked a full day guided tour with Tour Guide Gus (http://tourguidegus.com/) and a private driver. I know he also does disembarkation day tours. His English is excellent (he was a foreign exchange student in high school and worked frequently in the US for a few years) and his knowledge of and love for Rio is wonderful. Check out his TripAdvisor reviews: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...e_Janeiro.html. This is my sister's review:

 

"Gus gave us a terrific day in Rio. He knows how to organize the day so that we were efficient in seeing and experiencing the sights, but we were never rushed. His English is terrific and his knowledge of the city is exhaustive. He is very funny, companionable and energetic. Highly recommended!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Rio port is just in downtown, walking distance to some of main attractions. Should you have just one day, hire a private guide to do sugar loaf, Christ and some other main spots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The obvious two main attractions are Corcovado Mountain (Christ the Redeemer statue and high but comparatively-distant panoramic views of the city) and Sugarloaf Mountain (comparatively lower, but right in the city near Copacabana beach.

Google them both for images and more info.

 

Corcovado.

 

Sometimes it's covered in mist. If you pre-book (eg with the ship) you run the risk of no views. If you have a choice of days, be flexible with your plans & go up on the first clear day.

 

We went up twice (post-cruise in Rio), by cog-railway & by taxi.

 

- by cog-railway you'll need transport (taxi?) to the lower station. Train goes right to the top and your train ticket includes admission. But - and its a big but - waits for the train can be long. You join a (hopefully not too long) line to buy your tickets, those tickets show the time of the first train you can take - might be 10 minutes, might be a couple of hours - and you can wander or sit and wait then join the reasonably short line to take your assigned train.

When we arrived at the lower station, before we joined the ticket line we asked folk leaving the ticket office what time was showing on their tickets. It was only about 20 minutes so we joined the ticket line. When we got to the front the time had gone out to over two hours :eek: - this was because travel agencies such as ships' tours had previously block-booked a whole stack of tickets for the popular intervening time. So if you want to go up by cog-railway you need to get there early, I'm guessing before 10am. If that's not possible, I'm guessing that late in the day is more suitable. Around 11am involves that big wait.

For whatever unfathomable reason - and I've experienced the same in many places around the world - despite the waits to go up we've never had a long wait to come down :confused:

 

- by car (eg taxi). Negotiate a price with taxis at the port to take you up, wait (say, 90 minutes) for you, and bring you back down. Pay at the end, it's the norm. The fare won't include admission at the top, so check out admission prices and factor them in.

Ignoring the taxis at the port & hailing a metered taxi in the street is much much cheaper for a simple A to B journey such as port to lower cog railway station or to the beaches, but I'm guessing that when it involves a long wait at the top of Corcovado a metered taxi would be more expensive.

The taxi takes you to a parking lot almost at the top. Here you are taken the last mile or so to the top by included shuttle vans (no long wait). You pay your admission at the parking lot gate or at the top, I forget which. There's no good views from either the road or the parking lot, so don't go thinking you can cheapskate on the admission fee.

And there are no taxis available at the top, you need your driver to wait there for you.

 

We negotiated a taxi price which took us from the port to Corcovado, waited for us, brought us down and took us to Sugarloaf.

(the driver had left his meter running, we noticed that the fare we'd agreed & which we paid was a worthwhile amount less than shown on the meter)

 

Sugarloaf.

This is accessed by cablecar, IIRC in two stages.

We went up after Corcovado, I guess it was mid-afternoon, and there was no appreciable line.

We rated the views much better. Pretty-well 360degrees, high above but right in the city. Magnificent. For instance we looked down on aircraft taking off & arriving at the regional airport.

 

We then walked Copacabana beach (huge, but pretty featureless & backed by high-rise hotels, I don't know why its so highly-rated) before hailing a metered cab back to the port - our post-cruise accommodation was the ship.

 

I recommend that you negotiate a taxi at the port to take you up Corcovado, wait for you, then take you to Sugarloaf. Then hail a taxi (or take the metro plus shorter taxi ride) back to the ship. If you don't have local currency, check whether the driver accepts USD (many do) or plastic (I don't know)

Others may advise differently, and I'll defer to more-qualified advice - we've only visited the one and that was about 5 years ago.

 

JB :)

ps. Jot down the name / address of the port. We don't speak Portuguese but with our very limited Spanish and sign-language we got the taxi driver to understand that we wanted to go to the port. When we arrived at the ferry port we realised we needed to brush-up on our language skills :D. Fortunately it was only a short drive further to the cruise port.

Edited by John Bull
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were in Rio in February on Celebrity Infinity for Carnival. We did a three day Rio tour and also booked Carnival tickets and transport through Do Brazil Right.

 

https://www.dobrazilright.com/product/rio-de-janeiro-full-day-private-tour-with-bbq-lunch-cruise-ship-passengers/

 

They provided an excellent service, the guides were great, we saw lots in the three days. They have a one day tour you can do as well. You can see the one for the different cruiselines, perhaps you are on one of those mentioned?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For our day in Rio we went through toursbylocals and had a great tour with Michael S. He picked us up at the dock and we were on our way to all the sites we wanted to see. We weren't interested in going up to Sugarloaf so he showed us around some of the more interesting neighborhoods in Rio. Really enjoyed it.

 

There is a light rail station at the dock that will take you downtown. Your ship may have a shuttle as well. Near the terminal is the aquarium and the museum of tomorrow (that might not be the exact name). We visited there and enjoyed it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are going during carnival and am reliably told that it takes almost twice as long to get anywhere as many streets are blocked off for parades and parties. Worth considering if youre going that week. David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
For our day in Rio we went through toursbylocals and had a great tour with Michael S. He picked us up at the dock and we were on our way to all the sites we wanted to see. We weren't interested in going up to Sugarloaf so he showed us around some of the more interesting neighborhoods in Rio. Really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

There is a light rail station at the dock that will take you downtown. Your ship may have a shuttle as well. Near the terminal is the aquarium and the museum of tomorrow (that might not be the exact name). We visited there and enjoyed it.

 

 

 

We will be using Tours by Locals for many ports on our cruise next year. One of the things I really like is that they say they will refund 100% if the cruise ship cancels the port. Thanks for the recommendation on which guide to use in Rio!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

When we were there for the carnaval last year we took a couple of 1/2 day trips through DoBrazilRight and booked our carnaval tickets and shuttle through them. The guide was fantastic and took us to all the main attractions. You may be able to do the main things in 1 day with them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are there for two days Dec 30 and 31, we have a guide for the first day. I am told that they close down the port by 3 pm. So looking for something else to do outside of the major attractions that our guide day one will take us to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are 2 excellent free walking tours (tip based) that I have taken, and easily took the tram, to the pick up locations, walkable from the ship. I've done just walk up for both the Reedemer and Sugarloaf.

 

MOST important. Be careful. I've done 4 cruises here, and every single one, had multiple people robbed from. A further alarming factor, is the physical assaults that more often happen compared to the rest of South America- where you are just "robbed". One woman was beat up in Ille de Grande, which was atypical. Way too many people simply- are ripe and have extremely poor habits. Items in pants pickets, noticeable jewelry, neck wallets swinging in full view, along with ship card lanyards, not having a firm, close in grip with phones (taking selfies is prime for a grab),

 

All I can think, these people will be way ahead on the list.

 

With cabs- Count out your payment to the driver- don't just hand the driver a wad of cash. A major scam is switching bills, and claiming you owe more because you gave a 20 instead of a 50. eg .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whenever I see some third hand posting about random violence in Rio/Brazil, I wonder how many people who had a perfectly nice, uneventful trip did not post that fact.

There is some opportunistic street crime (pickpocketing and snatch/run mostly), so don't give anyone the opportunity. Plan well. Carry/wear nothing you would not want to lose, for emotional or financial reasons. Be aware of your surroundings. Simple bad luck can occasionally find you, but the odds are against it.

I've spent a lot of time in Brazil, much of it as a solo female, and never had a problem.

--------

As for seeing the sights, the main ones are, as mentioned, Corcovado and Sugarloaf. Near the cruise pier is an area recently rediscovered from slavery days. Ride the tram to Santa Teresa. See the Seleron steps. Have a coconut water by the beach. Have a pastry or snack at Cafeteria Colombo downtown.. See a museum. Go to the Botanical Garden.

You can do it by taxi or you can hire a tour guide with a vehicle. Try this good guide: http://donrafaguestsinrio.blogspot.com/?_sm_au_=iVVkk6FDRSsN8trq

 

Enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
5 hours ago, cruisin'teach said:

Just be careful walking around on your own. We were there during Carnaval 2017. Dear friend had necklace pulled off his neck and a crew member had her purse stolen as they were walking in area near the ship.

Well, the instructions are always very clear that you should wear no jewellery in this port because it is sure to be snatched.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
On 7/18/2018 at 9:08 PM, Budget Queen said:

There are 2 excellent free walking tours (tip based) that I have taken, and easily took the tram, to the pick up locations, walkable from the ship. I've done just walk up for both the Reedemer and Sugarloaf. snip......

 

 Looking at the Free walking Tours in Rio and Buenos Aires.... I know you're supposed to tip the guide, but can someone give me some guidelines for amount please, would they want local currency or prefer US dollars?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been several years so I don't remember the name of the private guide we hired but he didn't show up.  One of the other private guides called him and he said he had a flat tire or some other problem.  There were several taxi drivers there and we, along with a couple we had met on Cruise Critic, hired him for the day.  It worked out great! We we went to Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer plus in downtown we went to the Library and a church.  That evening he took us to a Brazilian steakhouse.  Quite expensive but very good.  Then he dropped up at our hotels which were both near Copacabana beach.  We took off the next morning for Igazu which we planned on our own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/3/2019 at 9:30 AM, t60 said:

 Looking at the Free walking Tours in Rio and Buenos Aires.... I know you're supposed to tip the guide, but can someone give me some guidelines for amount please, would they want local currency or prefer US dollars?

 

I recently spent 10 days in Brazil and took 4 or 5 half and full day tours. All the other passengers were Brazilian.  Nobody gave a tip and the drivers and tour guides did not seem to expect one.

That being said, for a free tour I would tip. The half day tours we took included coach transportation, a driver and a guide and still only cost $15 US a person so personally I would give 10 reals as a tip for a free tour up to 4 hours (per person). 

In Argentina, a half day walking tour can be had for $15 US  so for a half day free tour I would give $70 -75 pesos pp.  I am sure some folk from the US would tip more lavishly but many countries do not tip at all and S. Americans usually keep to 10% or less. I would give the local currency.

Edited by Lunenburg
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
On 7/19/2018 at 9:12 AM, RiverBlues said:

Whenever I see some third hand posting about random violence in Rio/Brazil, I wonder how many people who had a perfectly nice, uneventful trip did not post that fact.

There is some opportunistic street crime (pickpocketing and snatch/run mostly), so don't give anyone the opportunity. Plan well. Carry/wear nothing you would not want to lose, for emotional or financial reasons. Be aware of your surroundings. Simple bad luck can occasionally find you, but the odds are against it.

I've spent a lot of time in Brazil, much of it as a solo female, and never had a problem.

 

I just found this thread and want to say thank you.  We've never had a moment's problem in Rio and have spent weeks and weeks at a time here.  Don't be stupid. The only place we've ever traveled where there was a problem was when we got pickpocketed in Barcelona.  The violent crime in Rio is mostly in the favelas/the slums up on the hillsides.  You don't just wander into them without knowing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/1/2018 at 12:56 PM, 150edmiston said:

We are going during carnival and am reliably told that it takes almost twice as long to get anywhere as many streets are blocked off for parades and parties. Worth considering if youre going that week. David

We were there for three days during Carnival.  A lot is closed. All the museums, art galleries etc. are closed all week.  Many of the shopping districts are closed.   We went to a block party with our guide and most of the shops for several blocks around were closed but there was one small supermarket open and several vendors selling hot dogs, drinks etc. around the square.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Lunenburg said:

We were there for three days during Carnival.  A lot is closed. All the museums, art galleries etc. are closed all week.  Many of the shopping districts are closed.   We went to a block party with our guide and most of the shops for several blocks around were closed but there was one small supermarket open and several vendors selling hot dogs, drinks etc. around the square.

Good point.  Over 30 years ago my husband was there on business.  Everything shut down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...