Rio de Janeiro's Hidden Gems

7 June 2019

Everyone coming here wants to "tick off" the most famous and known attractions such as Corcovado with the Christ the Redeemer statue, Sugarloaf or Copacabana beach. And that's totally fine especially if you are in Rio de Janeiro for just a few days. Holidays doesn't stretch left or right so it's natural you want to do the most and not too miss the important bit.

But if you are like me and try to avoid tourist crowds, like to explore new places and discover corners that are not necessary that visible and known but equally beautiful and unique this is the tourist guide to Rio de Janeiro for you.

Imperial Palace

or Paco Imperial in Portuguese is a beautiful baroque colonial building at XV Square (Praca XV) in the centre of the city. It's been the first home of Pedro I, the emperor of Brazil after he arrived from Portugal escaping from Napoleon. Before was the governors' and viceroys' palace. Today, after lots of restoration work and remodelling, is used as exhibition centre of various Brazilian artists and also presents briefly its own history.

It's worth a visit for seeing how the historical interiors have been converted to serve modern purpose and also to get a feeling of the imperial Brazil. The entry is free and its doors are open from Tuesday to Sunday until 7pm.

Etnias

The work of Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra. It’s an impressive graffiti stretching across long chain of buildings along the sea front in the centre of Rio de Janeiro. It’s been created in memory of Ayrton Senna, Brazilian racing driver and in time for olympic games in Rio in 2016. For this it’s sometimes called Olympic Mural. It’s the longest mural in the world.

See more pictures of Etnias in my Instagram profile.

Paqueta Island

This charming island is not the main tourist attraction in Rio but it's for sure one of the best places to escape from busy city. If Rio is the only place you'd visiting in Brazil so far and you would like to experience rural side of the country - the island is a perfect place to visit. It's located in the Guanabara Bay and just one hour and twenty minutes away by ferry. Read more about attractions of Ilha de Paqueta.