Rio the Guide

Welcome to the guide to Rio de Janeiro that will help you quickly and easily discover what you need to see and do while you are in one of the world’s most exciting and beautiful cities (and how to get there). No fuss, no puff, just what you actually need to know to plan a visit to Rio de Janeiro, be it on business or leisure. The pleasure – in Rio and Brazil – is a given.

Affectionately known as Cidade Maravilhosa – the Marvellous City – Rio de Janeiro will not disappoint. Whatever your expectations, Rio is more beautiful, breathtaking and vibrant than any words or photos can do justice. Don’t take our word for it, go and see for yourself why UNESCO awarded the city World Heritage status in 2012 – based on its iconic setting and landscape.

Rio can be visited in its own right, but it can also act as your doorway to visiting the rest of Brazil, be that you are on business or pleasure, with daily flights linking Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and, of course, Latin America, to Rio de Janeiro and beyond. But whatever choice you make, do make sure that when you do visit Rio you leave enough time to do the city justice and enjoy it to the full.

Lying on latitude 22º 54’ 24” south and longitude 43º10’ 21” west, on the Tropic of Capricorn, metropolitan Rio is home to over12 million Cariocas, as the local residents are known. Covering a metropolitan area of 4,539.8 km²(1,1760 sq miles), Rio is, after São Paulo, Brazil’s second largest city.

Rio, which hosted the finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Parlaympic games, and in 2027 will host the FIFA Women’s World Cup, is both a major cosmopolitan city and a tropical resort.

As a major city it has all you might expect. First class restaurants, fashionable bars, sophisticated and cutting edge night clubs, musical extravaganzas and festivals, theatres, cinemas, museums, art galleries, world class sport, designer stores and stylish shopping centres.

As a resort, Rio has miles and miles of golden beaches (over 56 miles / 90 km to be exact), great weather for most of the year, accommodation to appeal to almost every taste and budget, folklore, typical foods and music, sightseeing, and that feeling that you have really travelled somewhere special and very different.

Download a map of Rio de Janeiro

During 2024 Rio and Brazil hosted the G20, the group that includes the world’s largest economies. The Summit of Heads of Government and State, was held in Rio on 18 and 19 November 2024. In 2025 Brazil hosted COP30 in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, between 10 and 21 November.

Note on the photos: To see any of the photos or graphics on this site in more detail, such as the satellite of image of Rio above, please simply click on the respective image. The photos of Rio at the top of the site are randomly generated, so do not necessarily apply or relate to the topic on the page .For Terms & Conditions.

Rio the Guide

The Insider's Guide to Rio de Janeiro

Welcome to Rio the Guide