Tijuca National Forest Jungle Jeep Tour

On our last day in Rio, we decided to do a Jeep Tour of Tijuca National Forest. We had been toying around with the idea of going to visit the forest and the botanical garden and on the last day, we got lucky with a sunny morning before afternoon rain came in and we went for it.


One of the things that we learned was that brazilians don't care much about time. Another family was supposed to join us on the same jeep. We waited over 30 minutes for them... they never came. Then, as we were about half way to the forest, the jeep driver got a call that they showed up at the meet-up spot and we had to go back to get them. FAIL!! Since they do an afternoon tour as well, it meant that we didn't have time to stop at the gorgeous un-touched beach that we should have stopped at. Oh well. Overall, it was great.

Tijuca National forest is the largest urban forest in the world. The first sight that you see is the Chinese Vista Outlook. Our guide told us that before this park was turned into a rainforest area, that this particular spot was where chinese immigrants to the area grew tea. And very close-by is the Mesa do Imperador where the Portuguese emperor would sit with his family to eat and had a view of most of the city back in the day. Our tour guide loved taking pictures for Dave and I. He actually insisted that we pretended to eat at the table...

Chinese Vista Outlook


View from the outloook


Eating at the Mesa do Imperador


The emperor's view from his dining area


Next sight is the Cascatinha waterfall. This is right next to an old farm area that was turned into a restaurant. We enjoyed a nice coconut popsicle and the lovely scenery including a map of the forest made of tiles and a cool fountain. Our tourguide insisted we could drink the water from the fountain (and he did) but we decided against it.

Cascatinha Waterfall


Banana flower at the waterfall


Dave pretending to drink from the fountain


Map of the forest



A nice spot to relax in


We then continued on through the forest and were surprised to find a small chapel in the middle of the forest. We later learned that though there are no houses being built any longer in the forest, there are some that remained untouched and thus there is a chapel. It's called Mayrink Chapel and was an interesting shade of pink. We couldn't go inside, but it was a lovely spot.


We ended up doing some traveling by foot through the forest. I had really hoped to spot a tucan or monkeys, but we weren't lucky that day. We did spot what we thought was a turkey up in the trees and some cool flowers.

Our views in the forest:





After the trek through the forest, we were headed out of the forest and weren't able to snap very good pictures in the moving jeep. Once outside of the forest we passed by one of the largest favela's in Rio (which we didn't photograph) and an amazing stretch of beach that seemed to be un-touched. Gorgeous!! We really did see some stunning views on this ride back to our hotel, but I guess that means you'll have to go visit if you want a look!

Here are some of the shots that we managed to snap on our ride back into the city, including one of the large favela which we snapped from a significant distance







I think that this was one of the best things that we did because it really gave us a great view of the city and a chance to enjoy so many of the natural beauties of Rio de Janiero

Sugarloaf Mountain & Helicopter Ride

On one of the mornings that was supposed to be a relatively clear day in Rio, we decided to make the trek to Sugarloaf Mountain. That was pretty interesting because you take these sky trams up to the top to see all the views. It sounds like it's a much more athletic trip than it actually is. We got there and wandered some of the "trails" along the top. We took in all the views from every point and enjoyed every minute. It was very relaxing.











Once at the top, when we were heading down, we were debating whether or not to take our chances to try to see the Christo again. (If you remember the first time, we were stuck in the clouds.) But then we saw a sign for the helicopter tours. Unfortunately the cheaper ride required 3 passengers. We waited around a bit to see if we could find a 3rd person to come with us, but we couldn't... so we decided to go for it anyways and went for the more expensive tour (which was longer as well) and only required 2 passengers. This cost about as much as a tandem skydive would cost back in the US, so we were ok with the price. We had lovely views of the Christo and the beaches below. Overall, totally worth it!