Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Rio de Janeiro
The beaches and Sugarloaf in six hours
Ipanema to Copacabana along the sand, the fort at the point, then the cable car up the rock.
The three-hour route does the old centre, which most visitors skip entirely. This is the Rio of the postcards and it is genuinely a walk: the beachfront promenade runs unbroken from Ipanema to the far end of Copacabana, about four kilometres of black-and-white Portuguese pavement. Finish on Sugarloaf — the second cable car stage at sunset is the single best hour in the city.
The route, stop by stop
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Ipanema Beach
Numbered lifeguard posts divide the sand by tribe; posto 9 is the famous one. The sunset applause at the west end is a real habit, not a story.
40 min here Walk here → -
Arpoador
The rock between the two beaches, free to climb and where everyone goes to watch the sun drop behind Dois Irmãos.
30 min here Walk here → -
Copacabana Fort
An early-1900s coastal battery at the eastern end, still army-run, with the best view back along the whole curve of the beach and a Confeitaria Colombo branch inside it.
40 min here Walk here → -
Copacabana Beach
Four kilometres of sand and the Burle Marx wave pavement along it. Kiosks the whole way; agua de coco is the correct order.
55 min here Walk here → -
Sugarloaf Mountain
Arrive by taxi from the previous stop
Two cable car stages, the first to Morro da Urca and the second to the summit. Go up about ninety minutes before sunset and come down in the dark.
More in Rio de Janeiro
Every walking route in Rio de Janeiro, or the full Rio de Janeiro guide for where to stay and what a day costs.