I was fortunate recently to receive a travel bursary to present at a conference in Rio de Janeiro. While I was away from Friday 24 April to Saturday 9 May (15 days), the trip only took 10 days of annual leave, due to a bank holiday. I flew with TAP airlines, who have one of the best stopover programmes in the world. For free I was able to edit my flights to include a stopover in Lisbon on the way to Rio and a stopover to Porto on the way back to London. While I have written posts on both of these stopovers, as well as one on Rio itself, the focus on the present post is on our travel around Brazil and the logistics of that travel.
The Full Itinerary
- Friday 24 April – Saturday 25 April: Lisbon Stopover and Travel
- Saturday 25 April – Thursday 30 April: Rio Barra da Tijuca
- Thursday 30 April – Friday 1 May: Rio Santa Teresa
- Friday 1 May – Monday 4 May: Ilha Grande
- Monday 4 May – Wednesday 6 May: Rio Centro
- Wednesday 6 May – Friday 8 May: Iguazu Falls
- Friday 8 May – Saturday 9 May: Porto Stopover and Travel
Friday 24 April – Saturday 25 April: Lisbon Stopover and Travel
On Friday 24 April we had a flight 6am-8:50am 3h London Heathrow LHR to Lisbon LIS, followed by a stopover in Lisbon overnight. Our next flight was on Saturday 25 April 11:45am-5:45pm 10h Lisbon LIS to Rio De Janeiro GIG. The flights cost us £652.45pp return including the stopovers.
On arrival into GIG, we ignored all of the people shouting taxi to us and followed the signs to the Uber pick up location. Uber was very easy to use from the airport and cost us only £13.45, all the way to Barra da Tijuca (~36km one way).
Saturday 25 April – Thursday 30 April: Rio Barra da Tijuca
During these days, I was attending my conference so I didn’t get up to much. But in this area my partner would recommend going to Pier de Barra for the view looking up to the mountains and Bosque da Barra Nature Reserve to see the capybaras, herons and crocodiles
One evening we walked to Jardim Oceânico (20 mins) to get a boat for a few minutes across the water to a small island, Ilha De Gigoia. Most people pay with Pix (a payment app for locals) but cash could be used too. It felt like a proper adventure! In about 30 mins we had walked the entire island and had already run out of things to do, especially because it is quite quiet on a weekday! But we headed to a waterfront bar and had a couple of delicious Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail made of cachaça (a Brazilian sugarcane spirit), fresh lime and sugar. My partner recommends doing a boat tour around this island, bookable from the same pier.
One of my favourite things to do in the area was to spend some time on the beautiful sandy beaches. If you needed the toilet on the beach, there were some located in the lifeguard buildings or the kiosks (bars/restaurants) on the seafront have them in so you could grab a beer there.
I also really enjoyed watching the sunset from the rooftop pool. As it was April, the sun was setting around 5:30pm - something which surprised me because that’s much earlier than the UK at this time of year and something I should have anticipated!
Overall, Barra da Tijuca is located far from the sites of Rio but felt very safe to wander around (especially compared with Centro!). The streets had guards and we never came across anyone who appeared to be unsavoury. It was nice to be able to spend time at the beach without being harassed by salespeople like you are at the more popular beaches like Copacabana. Overall, if you’re comfortable spending a little extra for the Ubers to get around, I would really recommend Barra da Tijuca as a place to stay for tourists. For 5 nights our hotel, Windsor Tower, cost £338.69 so around £68/night. It had breakfast included, a gym, outdoor rooftop pool and a sauna and was only across the road from the beach, Praia da Barra da Tijuca.
- Hotel £68 per night total
- Activities £1pp (boat fare)
- Groceries £12.17pp
- Meals out £37.93pp
Thursday 30 April – Friday 1 May: Rio Santa Teresa
After the conference had finished, I made the decision to check us out of the hotel in Barra da Tijuca to one that was more central to some of the sites we wanted to see, Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain. Also we had planned to get a transfer to Ilha Grande on Friday 1 May and the transfer company didn’t depart as far out as Barra da Tijuca. So it just made sense logistically to check out, get an Uber to Jo&Joe Hostel and store our bags in a more central location to do both sites in one day. The hostel had some lockers which came with locks and keys already so we felt really safe going off and adventuring for the day. We had a private room and it cost £29.88 for the night. The building was beautiful and the location was perfect for Christ the Redeemer but the room wasn’t the nicest.
The first stop was Christ the Redeemer, just a short walk from our hostel. I had booked us into the second Corcovado train of the day at 8:30am. We had next to no queues to get onto the train. We read the best place to sit on the way up is the right side but it didn’t really matter because you get even better views from the top anyway. After a 20 minute journey through the Atlantic Forest (part of Tijuca’s National Park), we found ourselves at Christ the Redeemer! It was beautiful! Both looking up to the statue and down across the panoramic views. There were multiple free toilets as well as multiple free water refill points. It was crowded and busy, despite the early hour, and hot! I definitely recommend booking as early as possible. I really recommend going up it, the views really are worth it.
On the train back down, the queues were a little long and pushy. We were told that the train was full but if we wanted we could still ride it and have to stand, which was fine for us, or wait for the next one in 20-30 mins. We took the train, checked into our hostel and went out for some lunch.
We took an Uber to the Sugar Loaf Cable Car, ready in time for our 4pm entry ticket, hoping to catch the sunset. One thing we didn’t know is that there are parties every Thursday-Saturday during sunset. It was horrendously busy and there was no chance of us making sunset. The queues were atrociously long just trying to get to Cable Car 1 to the first base at Urca Hill. There was then a full blown party happening at the entire stop, which was very noisy and difficult to push through the crowds. By the time we got to arrived at the Sugar Loaf Peak, following Cable Car 2 it was already dark.
I would actually recommend people skip Sugar Loaf Mountain. Unlike Christ the Redeemer, it was incredibly commercial. It was just restaurants and bars and advertisements. There was a jungle walk which they had closed when we arrived (how do you close the jungle?). There were free toilets and water refill points. We turned around and decided to leave, realising the place just wasn’t for us and we weren’t having a good time. For each of the two cable cars down the mountain, there were giant queues snaking around the whole of the summit points. We had to queue over 2 hours. What was worse was that the queue wasn’t properly managed, people that people were queue jumping throughout. I do not recommend the experience.
We took an Uber back to our hostel, just as a storm was drawing in.
- Hostel £29.88 total
- Activities £50.64pp (£20.02 Christ the Redeemer, £30.62 Sugarloaf Mountain)
- Uber £16.58 total
- Meals out £19.42pp
Friday 1 May – Monday 4 May: Ilha Grande
We paid £63.78 for return transfer from Rio to Ilha Grande (Abraão) in advance. We booked through the Green Toad website but the actual local provider of the transport was Top Transfers. When leaving Rio we got picked up from our hostel (Jo&Joe) on 1 May 9am, arriving ~5pm. We purposely stayed in this hotel for the night to make the travel easier.
The transport was a small mini bus, without toilets, for 3h followed by a speedboat for 30 mins. When the minibus arrived at the port, there was a lot of shouting. The driver was messing around with people’s bags on the minibus. By the time we were able to collect our bags, the boat had departed without us so we had an hour wait until the next one. Fortunately during that hour wait there were toilets, shade and a small shop. But the experience wasn’t the best!
On arrival into Ilha Grande, however, the difficulties of the travel were soon forgotten by how wonderful a place it is! Abraão is a collection of brightly coloured buildings by the beachfront, surrounded by mountains. We checked into our hotel, Pousada Albatroz, which had super cute wooden huts with porches in the jungle for £228 for 3 nights = £76 night. It also felt very safe and I would have been comfortable walking around at night alone with ease.
In Ilha Grande we had planned to do two days of diving but the bad weather had other plans for us. Instead we did one day of two dives (with Dive & Cia) and then did a hike through the beach to Praia de Abrãaozinho. The hike was a lot more intense that I had expected, including wading through the steep points, but was some adventure through the jungle!
Instead of our second day of diving, the storm led us to do another hike. We were planning on doing the easy loop through the jungle to the ruins of an Aqueduct but the river was flowing too fast to cross so we ended up heading back the way we came and doing it a second time in the opposite direction. As part of this walk, exploring Ruínas do Lazareto e do Presídio, a quarantine centre turned prison turned deserted jungle ruins, is definitely worth it!
Our transfer back to Rio started on 4 May at 10am and dropped us off directly outside our City Centre Hotel.
- Hotel £76 night total
- Activities (diving) £83.60pp
- Meals out £48.05pp
Monday 4 May – Wednesday 6 May: Rio Centro
After three wonderful days on Ilha Grande, our transfer dropped us directly outside our next hotel, Windsor Asturias Hotel, in Rio Centro. The hotel cost £129.58 for two nights and had a lovely rooftop pool with views across the city towards Christ the Redeemer.
However, the surrounding area was quite a contrast to Ilha Grande. This was the only place during our entire trip to Brazil where I genuinely felt a little unsafe. You could walk down one street that felt perfectly normal and then turn a corner and suddenly the atmosphere changed completely. We were much more aware of our surroundings here than we had been anywhere else in Brazil.
After checking in, we headed straight up to the rooftop pool to enjoy the view of Christ the Redeemer before setting off to explore.
Our first stop of our self-made walking tour was the Escadaria Selarón, Rio's famous colourful staircase. It was incredibly busy, with people queueing to take photographs, but we managed to grab a few pictures ourselves before walking to the top and back down again.
From there we continued to the Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. From the outside it looks like a giant concrete pyramid and is unlike any cathedral I'd seen before. I would definitely recommend going inside, where huge stained-glass windows stretch from floor to ceiling. As the sunlight shines through, it creates an enormous rainbow cross across the interior, something I never would have expected judging by the outside of the building.
Afterwards we headed to a rooftop bar to watch the sunset with a drink and something to eat before getting ready for the evening.
That night, at around 11pm, we took an Uber to Pedra do Sal for the famous Monday samba night. We'd heard great things about it and wanted to experience it for ourselves. It actually reminded me a little of the night markets in Bangkok, but even busier! By the time we arrived there wasn't much live music playing, so I suspect we'd missed the best part of the evening. Instead, it felt much more like a huge outdoor nightclub than a samba event. There weren't many people dancing. Instead it was a sea of people all trying to move in different directions. If you're claustrophobic, this probably isn't the place for you! That being said, I'm still glad we went to experience it for ourselves. We were aware of the safety advice for the area, so we took an Uber there and back and left all valuables at the hotel.
The following morning we explored some of Centro's cultural attractions. Our first stop was the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, one of the most beautiful libraries I've ever visited. I was very Harry Potter! We then walked to see the enormous Kobra "Etnias" mural, passing several other beautiful historic buildings along the way.
From there we took an Uber to Copacabana Beach to see the iconic black and white wave patterned promenade and find out what all the fuss was about. The beach itself is certainly beautiful, with incredible views of the surrounding mountains, as we walked the entire 4km length of Copacabana. While we walked I noticed we were constantly approached by people trying to sell drinks, food and souvenirs. It was worth visiting because it's such an iconic part of Rio, but if I were choosing somewhere to spend a relaxing beach day, Barra da Tijuca would win every time.
On our final morning in Rio Centro, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before spending a couple of hours relaxing by the rooftop pool in the sunshine. After checking out, we took an Uber to Hangar Rio Hostel, where we stored our luggage from 6–8 May while we flew to Iguazu Falls. At £42.56, this worked out far cheaper than paying the airline's checked baggage fees. Once our bags were safely stored, we took another Uber to the airport ready for our domestic flight to Foz do Iguaçu.
- Hotel: £64.79 per night total
- Luggage storage: £42.56 total
- Uber: £17.78 total
- Groceries: £8.28pp
- Meals out: £45.59pp
Wednesday 6 May – Friday 8 May: Iguazu Falls
After almost two weeks exploring Rio and Ilha Grande, it was time for our final destination: Iguazu Falls. We flew from Rio (GIG) to Foz do Iguaçu (IGU) on 6 May (5:15pm–7:35pm). Our return domestic flights cost £82.97pp.
We stayed at Hotel Colonial Iguacu, which we booked directly. The hotel cost £89.33 and included breakfast, a complimentary welcome dinner and return airport transfers, making it excellent value. One thing we did notice in Foz do Iguaçu was that there was a much bigger language barrier than we had experienced anywhere else during our time in Brazil.
The following morning we took part in Dawn at the Falls, which I would thoroughly recommend. Our hotel was only around a 20 minute walk from the entrance to the national park, making the early start more bearable. Dawn at the Falls runs from 6am–9am, with breakfast served between 7am and 9am. It was surprisingly affordable and included access to the falls before the park opened to the general public, allowing us to watch the sunrise over the waterfalls with hardly anyone else around. Afterwards, we enjoyed an incredible buffet breakfast overlooking the park, which even included prosecco! It felt like such a luxurious treat.
The Iguaçu Falls trail was only around 1.8km and took us approximately 30 minutes to walk, while stopping for photos all the way. The waterfalls themselves were absolutely breathtaking and seeing them without the usual crowds made the experience even more special.
Originally, we'd considered visiting both the Brazilian (Iguaçu Falls) and Argentinian (Iguazú Falls) sides of the falls on the same day. However, once I had looked into the logistics, it didn't make much sense for us. We would have needed to buy an additional Argentinian park ticket (£24.11pp) on top of our Brazilian entrance fee (£35.91pp), pay around £93.83 for a return taxi and factor in time to cross the international border. We'd already had a very adventurous holiday, so we decided to slow the pace and enjoy the Brazilian side properly before spending the afternoon exploring the surrounding area. However, if I were planning the trip again, I would take an earlier flight in or a later flight out, giving us enough time to visit the Argentinian side of the falls at a more relaxed pace and use the much cheaper public buses instead of relying on expensive taxis.
After spending the morning at the falls, we walked next door to Parque das Aves, which cost £16.11pp. We decided to visit because my partner loves photography so it was a good opportunity to take some wildlife snaps. I was pleasantly surprised by how good and big the park was.
We flew back to Rio the following morning, 8 May 10:15am-12:15pm. One thing to note is that domestic flights in Brazil have much more relaxed security rules than we are used to- we were even able to take a can of beer through airport security to enjoy while waiting for our flight!
- Hotel: £89.33 total
- Domestic flights: £82.97pp (return)
- Activities: £52.02pp
- Uber: £20.32 total
- Meals out: £32.42pp
Friday 8 May Stopover and Travel
Our domestic flight back from Foz do Iguaçu departed and landed back in Rio at 12:15pm. As our international flight to Porto wasn't until 8:40pm, we had several hours to fill before heading back to the airport.
Rather than paying to check our luggage onto the domestic flight, we had left our bags at Hangar Rio Hostel, which worked out much cheaper. We took an Uber from the airport to the hostel, collected our luggage and decided to make the most of our final afternoon in Brazil.
The hostel was only a short walk from the nearby beach of Praia da Bica, so we wandered down for one last look at the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, this was probably the only beach in Brazil that I wouldn't recommend. The sea was brown in colour and there was even a visible line of rubbish floating offshore. It was the first time during our trip that we didn't feel comfortable getting into the water.
Instead, we found a beachfront bar and toasted the end of an incredible holiday with a couple of final Caipirinhas while looking out across the sea. It felt like a fitting way to say goodbye to Brazil.
Afterwards, we took another Uber back to the airport for our overnight 8:40pm TAP Air Portugal flight to Porto, where we would spend one final stopover before returning home to London.
Final Thoughts
Brazil was a country that completely exceeded my expectations. The variety was what made the trip so special. Within a short space of time we experienced a huge vibrant city, peaceful island life surrounded by jungle, and one of the world's greatest natural wonders at Iguazu Falls.
One thing that really stood out to me compared with other countries I have visited was how relaxed the dress culture felt. I was surprised that there was no expectation to dress modestly and it felt very normal to wear beach clothes, shorts and swimwear throughout the day.
I was also surprised by the food. Before visiting, I had expected a more varied cuisine, but many of our meals were actually quite simple, often centred around good quality meat. A highlight for my partner was definitely experiencing a Brazilian churrascaria!
Overall, I found Brazil to be a beautiful country with incredibly friendly people. Once we were there, many things felt relatively affordable, although it was clear that tourist areas came with tourist prices, particularly around some of the major attractions. Given the limited time we had, I think we made the absolute most of our trip. We managed to experience so many different sides of Brazil, and it was a country that left us wanting to come back and explore more.
Total Costs
- International Flights £652.45pp
- Domestic Flights £82.97pp
- Hotels £815.48/2=£407.74pp
- Uber £68.13/2=£34.07pp
- Transfer £63.78pp
- Groceries £20.45pp
- Meals out £183.41pp
- Activities £205.34pp
- Luggage storage £42.56/2=£21.28pp
- Cash £100
Total £1,771.49pp
