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Oscar Niemeyer’s UFO

Strangely enough, Rio de Janeiro’s most famous building is actually not in Rio but across the bay in Niterói − a separate municipality that houses the landmark Museu de Arte Contemporânea. The museum is designed by Brazil’s most famous architect, Oscar Niemeyer, and resembles a snow white flying saucer, which stands in sharp contrast with the (usually) bright blue sky.

Arts & Culture

A museum without art

The Museu de Arte Contemporânea (MAC or Museum of Contemporary Art) was inaugurated in 1996. Guidebooks typically offer little information about the artwork on display as the museum doesn’t have much of a collection and hosts various temporary collections of relatively unknown Brazilian artists. The large tinted windows looking out over the bay quickly distract visitors from the artwork. But don’t worry, the building and the location are more than worth the trip across the bay. The MAC is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Take a 10-minute catamaran ride or a 20-minute slow ferry from Rio de Janeiro across the bay to Niterói. From the ferry terminal, you can take a taxi or a bus to the MAC. The coastal road goes from a Portuguese fort with a small beach past a seawall where locals often fish, before passing the Ilha de Boa Viagem − a small island with a colonial chapel − the ruins of a fort and a small beach with Brazilian sunbathers. Around the bend, Oscar Niemeyer’s UFO will come into view.

Fortaleza de Santa Cruz

The bay and the fort

Niterói can be reached either by catamaran or ferry from the ferry terminal at Praça XV de Novembro in Centro, downtown Rio de Janeiro. A stand in the harbour of Niterói offers maps with tourist information, entitled “Niterói in three days”. With an impressive neighbour like Rio de Janeiro, Niterói may be hard pressed to attract visitors for 3 full days, but one can easily spend a day visiting the Ilha de Boa Viagem, admiring the magnificent bay and touring the 16th-century Fort of Santa Cruz. On weekends there is an hourly boat tour that takes in all 3 locations.

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Nature

Beach

Arts & Culture

Nightlife

Nature

West of Rio de Janeiro lies one of the most beautiful landscapes in Brazil: the Costa Verde (Green Coast). No greater contrast is imaginable: Rio’s overpopulated favelas, loud traffic jams and droves of tourists make way for tropical rainforest, colonial towns and quiet tropical beaches. The highlight along the Green Coast is Ilha Grande, the ‘Large Island’, which has been declared a national park.

Nature

Rio de Janeiro is the only city in the world that has a rainforest inside its city limits: the Tijuca National Park. This 'urban rain forest' is a tropical oasis of calm and vast space, gentle murmuring waterfalls and cheerfully chirping birds. Snakes, iguanas, ocelots, sloths, agoutis and howler monkeys – they all live right outside the hustle and bustle of the streets.

Beach

Ipanema is nearly as famous (and as beautiful) as Copacabana – thanks in part to the Bossa Nova classic ‘The Girl from Ipanema’. The ultimate summer hit from 1964 was composed 2 years earlier by Tom Jobim and immortalized by the voice of Astrud Gilberto. The song was recently covered by Bebel Gilberto. And the girl from Ipanema? She really exists and her name is Helô Pinheiro.

Beach

Copacabana is without a doubt the most famous beach in the world. The boulevard was designed by Brazilian architect Roberto Burle Marx, Fred and Ginger danced in the Copacabana Palace Hotel, and celebrities such as Marlene Dietrich and Lady Diana have stayed here. The beach along the crescent-shaped bay is dozens of metres wide and is beautifully situated between rock formations and swaying palm trees. It is always busy here: from daybreak until way past sundown.

Arts & Culture

Admittedly, most visitors come to Rio de Janeiro to enjoy the sun, sea and magnificent views from the statue of Christ the Redeemer on top of Corcovado Mountain. Art and culture are usually not on top of the list. However, the inauguration of various new prestigious art museums may change all that.

Arts & Culture

If you picture Rio de Janeiro as a person, the beach of Ipanema would be the body’s strong tanned legs. Vibrant Lapa would be the swaying hips and above that would be the vital organs. Santa Teresa is the artistic heart of the city, packed with galleries and street art. This is the place to immerse yourself in Rio’s art scene.

Nightlife

Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival is world famous. Every year, this huge exuberant spectacle begins 40 days before Easter and represents 5 days of celebrations. Millions of Brazilians and visitors who travel here from around the world come to experience this extravaganza. During Carnival, the streets are filled with music, dance and colourful parades.

Nature

Rio de Janeiro is the only city in the world with a rainforest inside its city borders. The National Park of Tijuca measures 33 square kilometres and harbours a great diversity of flora and fauna. Iguanas, howler monkeys, snakes and many different kinds of birds make their home just outside Rio’s dense neighbourhoods. A natural paradise in the centre of a metropolis.

Arts & Culture

From the top of Corcovado – at 710 metres – the statue of Christ the Redeemer towers high above Rio. With its arms wide open, the statue has guarded the city since 1931. This 38-metre-high statue is Rio de Janeiro’s landmark monument and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Beach

There are few cities that have a beach as their main attraction, but Rio de Janeiro has several. And no 2 beaches are alike: some are great for surfing, others for partying and then there are beaches for simply kicking back in the sun with a good book. Rio's beaches are the playground of the busy city.

Arts & Culture

The neighbourhood of Lapa is right in the city centre of Rio: combine your sightseeing with a great night on the town. With its colonial aqueduct, colourful art projects, green parks and countless bars, Lapa is fun day and night.