How many days in Rio de Janeiro?

The real question in Rio is not how much of the city fits in a trip, but whether you also leave it. The longest days in our Rio catalog are the ones that go out of town, to the islands and the mountains, and each takes twelve to fourteen hours. Inside the city, the days are shorter and can be joined together. Here is how they add up.

The long days

Three trips in our catalog leave the city. Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande take about fourteen hours, the Arraial do Cabo island day also about fourteen, and Petrópolis, the imperial city in the mountains, about twelve.

Inside the city, the longest day is Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, and the Selarón Steps together, at about nine hours. The Pedra da Gávea hike takes about eight and is a demanding walk.

In Rio, a week is shaped by the days that leave the city, not by the ones that stay.

The shorter days

Tijuca, with its waterfalls and caves, and Copacabana with its promenade take about five hours each. A cooking class runs about four and a half, the walk up Dois Irmãos from Vidigal about three and a half, and Santa Teresa with Lapa about three. A dinner show at Roxy, a sunset sail on Guanabara Bay, and an afternoon in Ipanema fill about three hours each.

Then the short hours: hang gliding and samba at Pedra do Sal about two and a half, the Hippie Fair, the Museum of Tomorrow, and a guided visit to Rocinha about two, the Samba City and the sunset at Arpoador about an hour and a half, and a samba lesson, surfing, or Maracanã about an hour. The Real Gabinete reading room takes about 45 minutes, and a helicopter flight about 30 minutes.

Three days

Three days stay in the city. In our free three-day route, the first day keeps to one neighborhood, the second is the nine-hour day of Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf, and the third opens the rest of the city. No day leaves Rio at this length, whatever your pace, so the coast beyond it waits for a longer trip.

Five days

Five days add the first day out. In our five-day route, after the short first day and the nine-hour day, one day takes in what the day before left, a day out of town joins when there is room for it, and the last day stays light. Even at five days, Rio holds more than the trip can take.

Seven days

A week can hold two days out of town. In our seven-day route, a quieter day lets the week breathe after the first long ones, and a second day out joins if your pace allows it. Three long trips leave the city, and a week has room for two of them, so the choice among Ilha Grande, Arraial do Cabo, and Petrópolis is the real decision of a Rio week.

Choosing the days out

The islands are for water: Ilha Grande for its beaches, Arraial do Cabo for the clearest water on this coast. Petrópolis is for the imperial history, up in the mountains. Each starts early and comes back in the evening, so the day after it is best kept in the city.

We wrote about the nine-hour day in Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf in one day, about the distances in Rio is farther than it looks, and about where to base yourself in Copacabana, Ipanema, or Leblon? Where to stay in Rio. The days are laid out in order in our free routes for 3 days, 5 days, and 7 days in Rio.