Rio de Janeiro
Carioca Landscapes Between The Mountain And The Sea, UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 2012; Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site Inscribed 2017 · Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is the city most of the world pictures when it pictures Brazil, and the setting earns it: granite peaks drop straight into the Atlantic, forest runs down to the streets, and a curve of beaches lines the south of the city. UNESCO listed it in 2012 not for a building but for that landscape, the first urban landscape on the list. The famous sights are spread out - Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado, the Sugarloaf cable car, Copacabana and Ipanema - and each has its own row here. This row is the city itself: the old centre around Praça XV and the colonial churches, the tiled Selarón Steps, the samba bars of Lapa, the trams of Santa Teresa, the Botanical Garden, and the Maracanã stadium. Carnival in February or March is the biggest party on earth and doubles every price. Rio is also a city with real inequality and real street crime, and visitors who do well here are the ones who learn a few rules of the place early. Give it at least four days; weather decides which views you get.
Centro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A city, so the streets, beaches and promenades are always open, but the sights inside it run on their own clocks. Most museums and cultural centres close one day a week, usually Monday, so plan a beach day for then. Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf cable car open from morning into the evening every day, and both sell timed or queued tickets that run out at peak times. Churches in the Centro keep short daytime hours and may lock over lunch. The Centro itself is a weekday district: busy and safe-feeling in office hours, deserted at night and on weekends, when you should not walk it. Carnival, in February or early March depending on the year, closes large parts of the centre and the south zone to traffic for about a week, and hotel prices can triple. New Year's Eve closes the Copacabana seafront. Football at the Maracanã is on match days only, with tickets sold in advance. Confirm hours for anything specific before crossing the city, because traffic makes a wasted trip cost half a day.