If there are only two tourist attractions you are going to do in Rio, make sure it is Cristo Redentor and Pão de Açúcar and make sure you do them right!
Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer)
I don’t think you can buy a postcard from Rio without the iconic Christo Redentor being in it. The statute itself is 30 metres tall (38m including the base) and stands on the 700 metre peak of Corcovado mountain overlooking the city. Proposed by the Catholic Circle of Rio group in 1920, it is a symbol of peace and Brazilian Christianity. It was designed and created by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski and construction of the monument occured between 1922 and 1931.
To get to the statue, take a taxi or jump on a ‘Cosme Velho’ bus which will take you to the bottom of the mountain. From there you have two options, a minivan or train (recommended). The train itself was regarded as an impressive engineering feat when it was inaugurated in 1884, as it covers quite a steep terrain and was the first of it’s kind in Brazil to use electric energy. If you decide to use the train, make sure you buy your ticket online at http://www.corcovado.com.br so you don’t miss out. Ticket prices include train fare and entrance to the statue, so you also avoid queues when you get there. If you decide to catch the minivan, it only takes you half way up, then you have to buy your ticket from the office (we waited for 2 hrs during World Cup), then you have to jump in another queue to take a second minivan up the remainder of the way.
Once you finally make it to the top, you will have breath-taking views over the city of Rio, which even if you caught the minivan up will make the hassle worth it! Try to go early in the morning to avoid crowds, otherwise you feel a bit like a sardine crammed into the platform surrounding Cristo and every step you take you will be photo-bombing someone’s picture!
Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf)
The second iconic attraction in Rio is Pão de Açúcar, which is a natural rock formation 396 meters high. Because of it’s location on a peninsula at the mouth of Guanabara Bay, it too gives spectacular views over Rio. A cable car originally built in 1912, carries people first to a smaller mountain Morro da Urca (220m high), where you must get out and change, to continue on to Sugar Loaf. An alternative is to walk half an hour up to Morro da Urca (free) and then jump on the cable car. Please note; you CANNOT buy tickets on Morro da Urca to take you to Sugar Loaf, so you either have to buy them at the bottom or online before you go.
It’s a 20-30 min walk from Botafogo station to Sugar Loaf or you can catch an ‘Urca’ bus to get there. Again to avoid queues you can pre-purchase your ticket online at http://www.bondinho.com.br, otherwise you can buy them from the ticket office at the bottom (when we were there the line was a 3-4 hour wait). The best time to visit Sugar Loaf is late in the afternoon, so you can watch the sunset from the top.
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