Many people who come to visit Rio de Janeiro believe the city mostly consists of a few beach neighborhoods also known as Zona Sul (plus Barra). As you have probably understood by now, Rio de Janeiro is much bigger than that and it has so much more to offer than the postcard beaches which are nice of course, but also just a tiny detail of the whole city. As mentioned in another post the Grande Tijuca area has a lot to offer to visitors and you can easily spend a few days just to explore this part of town.

One strategy is to stay in one of the crowded hostels in Zona Sul and from there take different means of transportation to reach Grande Tijuca, São Cristóvão, Tijuca Forest, Corcovado, the Chinese View, Méier and all the other places to see. Since it is impossible to visit all of them in one single day people have to drive back and forth every day (from Zona Sul to Zona Norte and back to Zona Sul) which is quite tiring especially due to traffic volume in the city.

Be smart and think of an alternative: stay in Tijuca or Grajaú for 2-3 days, where you can find nice hostels as well. This way, you can explore the city from another angle. After that, move back to a hostel in Zona Sul and spend a few days on the beach.

Interesting options when staying in Grajaú or Tijuca

• Spend one day exploring the whole Grande Tijuca region by foot.

• Spend one day in Benfica and São Cristóvão visiting the Municipal Market (CADEG) and then Quinta de Boa Vista and Feira Nordestina. Keep in mind, that most stores at CADEG are open all night and close at 11 or 12 in the morning. This means you could actually go there at 9 or 10 in the morning, later have lunch at CADEG and then head on to São Cristóvão. An alternative is to visit CADEG on Saturday in the morning when many people go there to buy and have lunch. Or you look for the real feeling and go there at midnight or later. That is the time when wholesale trading is taking place at CADEG.

• Spend one day in Alto de Boa Vista and Tijuca Forest visiting the Chinese View and Corcovado and the waterfalls in the national park.

• And at night? At night you can always choose between having dinner at one of the many restaurants in Tijuca, Vila Isabel, Grajaú and going to a bar or party area like Praça Varnhagen (and others) or visiting a samba school like Mangueira, Salgueiro, Vila Isabel, in case carnaval is approaching. If you enjoy doing exercises you can also join the crowd at Maracanã stadium in the late afternoon and early evening. Maracanã is a huge open-air gym where people run and do exercises every day and night.