Corcovado/Cristo Redentor (The Christ) VS. Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf)

As with seeing any other tourist sight in a large city anywhere in the world, timing is everything.  If you go at the wrong time of day and the place is rammed, you will not only have a thoroughly unpleasant experience jostling through crowds of people but you will also have paid through the nose for it.  Therefore, I am about to pass on to you three very important pieces of tourist advice if you want to make the most of seeing both Corcovado and Pao de Acucar during peak tourist season (i.e. January):

1.     Corcovado – GET UP EARLY & CATCH THE FIRST TRAIN UP THE MOUNTAIN.  Why? The queue to get tickets is short, you will not get jostled around, it’s not schvitzing, it will not be wall-to-wall bodies when you get to the top, you can actually get some decent shots of you in front of the statue, the view from the top is clear (if you go later in the day, sometimes the Corcovado clouds over and you can’t see anything).

2.     Pao de Acucar – GO AT THE END OF THE DAY AND WATCH THE SUNSET.  Why?  Again, it’s not busy, you will not get jostled, you can get up without much fuss, the ‘recreational areas’ aren’t packed, the sunset over the city is sensational.

3.     DO NOT GO TO EITHER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY.  Are you mad???  Why, why, why do people do this to themselves???  It will be packed, people will be knocking into you left right and centre, it will takes ages to get up, longer to come down and worst of all it will be boiling hot.  Don’t do it!  If you’re going to pay an arm and a leg, make it worth your while!

Visiting both the Corcovado and Pao de Acucar is not cheap.  We took the train to the top of Corcovado, which set us back R$43 (£16) each.  You can take a van up there for a few reais less, but we’ve been told it’s not as pleasant an experience and the extra cost is worth it. 

To go to the Corcovado, we got up at the crack of dawn around 6.30am & left the apartment about 7.45am (I take a while to get going in the morning – sue me).  We got to the little train station about 8.20am and took the very first train of the day at 8.40am, arriving at the top around 9am. 

The train journey was lovely, the views from the top were great, the statue was very impressive, but they could have done a bit more to make the facilities up there a bit nicer considering how much money they must be making on the thing.  Also, some complete bastard of an insect got under my t-shirt and bit me VERY hard while I was taking a picture of the Christ, which made me really paranoid about being bitten again, so we can’t have spent more than about an hour up there.  To be honest, that’s all we needed because it was starting to fill up about 10am anyway.  Glad I did it, but I’m never doing it again.

 

One of the trains coming down from the top of Corcovado & me looking like a bloody tourist

View from the top!

Pao de Acucar was a totally different kettle of fish.  It costs R$10 more to take the cable car (R$53/£21) but it’s a far better experience & view (in my humble opinion). 

You actually take two trips to get to the top: one cable car takes you to the peak of Morro da Urca (Urca Mountain) then you take another from there to the peak of Pao de Acucar. 

The facilities on Morro da Urca are quite impressive: shops, cafes, plenty of viewing decks, ample seating on very comfortable chairs, tables, an amphitheatre displaying a film about the history of the mountain & the cable car company, and a small museum area showing the inner workings of the cable system.  Everything is clean and cared for, all the staff speak some level of English, they don’t sell the usual tat in the shops – the souvenirs were actually really nice.

The peak on Pao de Acucar isn’t as flat so the cable car company didn’t have as much room to work with, but again they’ve made the most of the space they have: viewing decks, comfortable seating, tables, shops and snack bars.  They also have well-maintained paths and stairs going down the mountain into the ‘ecological park’ that they have cultivated on the forested side of the mountain.

But the most impressive thing of all was the view.  It. Was. Amazing. You could see the whole of Rio de Janeiro from up there: the city, the mountains, the Christ, the beaches & the sea.  The sunset was simply breathtaking.  We got to the top about 6.45pm and stayed until the very last cable car was leaving at 8.30pm.  I could have come earlier and stayed all afternoon and evening: it was that fabulous up there.

The only improvement I would suggest would be to open a really fancy bar/restaurant on Morro da Urca, like they have at the top of Tower 42 in London or the CN Tower in Toronto.  I have paid through the nose to have dinner at the top of the CN Tower and I have never regretted it – I would have paid more.  They have a lot of spare space on the Morro da Urca complex that they’re not doing much with.  They could make it a real evening hotspot.

All in all, Pao de Acucar was well worth the R$53 price tag and we’re actually thinking of doing it again before we leave.

Botafogo beach & surrounding area

Morro da Urca viewed from Pao de Acucar

Sunset over Rio - Copacabana beach on the left

Night view of Flamengo beach