The hook
A city wedged spectacularly between jungle mountains and the sea, where a giant Christ spreads his arms over the bay, cable cars rise to a sugarloaf-shaped peak, and the beaches, samba, and street life spill into one of the world's most beautiful and exuberant urban settings.
01Why it's worth it
Few cities have a setting like Rio's: forested granite peaks plunge to curving beaches and a dramatic bay, all knitted together with the city among them. The icons deliver, the Art Deco Christ the Redeemer statue with its arms outstretched atop Corcovado mountain, the cable car up the Sugarloaf for the sunset panorama, and the sweeping sands of Copacabana and Ipanema, alive with football, volleyball, and beach culture. But Rio is as much about atmosphere as sights: the bohemian hillside streets of Santa Teresa, the samba bars of Lapa under its arches, the botanical garden, the world's largest urban rainforest at Tijuca, and, at its most intense, Carnival, the planet's biggest party. It is also a city of stark inequality, its favelas climbing the hillsides, and it requires normal urban street-smarts. But for sheer beauty, energy, and joie de vivre, "the Marvellous City" earns its name and rewards several days.
02How to experience it
Do the classics, Christ the Redeemer (early or late), Sugarloaf at sunset, and the beaches, but also wander Santa Teresa and Lapa, hike in Tijuca forest, and catch live samba. Time it for Carnival if you want the spectacle. Keep normal city wits about you, and go in the drier, cooler months for the best weather.
From the locals
Rio's champions are unreserved: "Rio de Janeiro — one of my favourite cities in the world. Beaches, parties, tasty food, good weather… what's not to love?" The specific advice that recurs is to catch the Thursday street party: "make sure to go to the Lapa street party on Thursdays, drink caipirinha and cachaça com mel, and dance to one of the many li[ve bands]." Brazilians also flag that restaurant customs differ from most countries — per-kilo buffets and couvert charges are normal, not scams.