2025 Rio By Bike

After a long but comfortable series of flights, thanks Emirates, I arrived in Rio. I decided that to combat jet lag that I needed to do something physical and outdoors. What better than a 7 hour bike tour of the place by Rio By Bike.

The tour would take me to all of the major districts nearby to the coast and beaches so would give me a good feel for Rio whilst also resetting my body clock 13 hours…

I met my guide for the day, Duco, out the front of a non-de script building called Galeria Felisberto de Menezes, not far from Copacabana Beach. I had gamed the system a bit as there are meant to be at least two participants by paying for two.

The Ultimate Rio Tour

Duco gave me an overview of the day, basically:

ULTIMATE RIO TOUR INFO

The daily Ultimate Rio Tour showcases the best of Rio de Janeiro in one day. As well as exploring the popular South Zone, famous for the iconic Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, you will pedal through less well-known but equally fascinating Carioca neighborhoods such as Botafogo and Urca.

After taking these in, you head for the old city center, where you’ll stop in the bohemian quarter Lapa. The historical Cinelândia Square will take you back to Rio’s post colonial past, while a visit to Jorge Selarón’s psychedelically decorated staircase shows you how art can be truly public in this city.

Here you’ll enjoy a typical Brazilian lunch – included in the tour – at a local restaurant. The last stretch of the cycle tour passes by the beautiful lake, officially named Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, surroundedby hills clad with with lush Atlantic rainforest.

Last but certainly not least, there will be lots of great views of Rio’s most famous landmarks the Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer (please note, we will not visit these attractions during this tour).

What is missing from the above is a visit to Cemitério de São João Batista.

The Pics

Outdoor Gyms

One thing that you notice very quickly is how many people are outdoors doing something associated with fitness. Whether it is playing beach tennis or volleyball, all forms of football, going for a bike ride or a run, you will see people outside all day and most of the night doing something to keep themselves fit. The one activity that really caught my eye was the outdoor gyms.

These are free gyms that use concrete blocks as plates and the weight for barbells. As a friends of mine mentioned a cave-person gym.

Parque Brig. Eduardo Gomes (Aterro do Flamengo)

Parque Brig. Eduardo Gomes or Flamengo Park was built as a part of the land reclamation project that created Flamengo Beach as it is today. When they decided to reclaim the land to create the beach they decided not to just reclaim enough land to create a beach but to create an entire precinct for sports and leisure activities, which includes this great park.

Unfortunately Brazil is in the middle of a significant drought at the moment, one of the reason your daily coffee has gone up in price, and the reason why the grass areas in Rio are so dry.

Cannon Ball Trees

The park was designed by Burle Marx who provided a plan for the types of flora to be planted, when and where. Including some palm trees that bloom once every 50 to 75 years and then die after the bloom and the dropping of a significant amount of seed. This one is in the final stage of its blooming period of around 2 years.

Tailpot Palms

Surprise View

As you ride along the park there are a few surprises, this one I was sort of primed for, hence the video.

What did you see in the distance?

Escadaria Selarón

Escadaria Selarón is in the middle of the Lapa District. The steps are also known as the Lapa Steps.

These steps were originally a dilapidated staircase that Jorge Selarón decided to rejuvenate as a way to say thank you to Rio for taking him in.

The way that Selarón beautified the steps was to use tiles that he painted with his own artwork. Including around 300 that depict a pregnant woman (an homage to someone from his past). When word got around people from all over the world started to send Selarón tiles with their own artwork on them and he added them along with his.

The reason that there are so many people on the steps posing for a specific photo is because Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams filmed a part of their Beautiful music video on the steps. The filming was on the very last day that Selarón completed his work on the 215 steps. The photo every one tries to recreate and then post on instagram is the one taken of Michelle Martins on the steps as a part of the music video.

Sadly Jorge was found dead on his steps burned in January 2013. To honour him he was buried in Cemitério de São João Batista by the state. His burial site is marked by a number of his tiles.

Cemitério de São João Batista

One place most people seem to avoid in a city is it its cemetery. Cemeteries are filled with a lot of history and are usually a quite oasis in a bustling city. Cemitério de São João Batista was definitely a place for all of the above. Rio by Bike are apparently one of the few tour groups who visit it.

One of the more ornate grave sites is the one of more ornate is the one of Alberto Santos Dumont. He was the first South American to fly. Some in Brazil still believe he was the first person to fly.

This one caught my eye, it is the grave of José Otaviano Pinto Soares, another Brazilian Aviator of note.

More Pics

The Route

Rio by Bike

Duco definitely knew his stuff and adapted the ride to accommodate me, ie giving me more time to take pictures and to answer my questions. I stumped him only once, what was a building used for, it was the PetroBas building that was currently going through a renovation, found this out on my tour the next day.

I would recommend Rio by Bike. Their tours are well thought out and take routes that are not too difficult to ride.

The Ultimate Tour

For this this tour you need to have a decent level of fitness and cycling experience. It is not too strenuous from a cycling perspective, a bit over 30kms (20miles). The duration of the tour is the challenge, especially if it is a hot day and there is some wind around.

Bring water, wear sunblock etc. If you are regular cyclist I recommend wearing cycling gloves as your hands are not used to the sun.

As always make sure you are taking note of your surroundings, especially as traffic in Rio is most likely not like where you are from.