Where is rio de janeiro in brazil

Rio is important for its art and culture scene. It is also important as a transport hub, with its international airport and docks, which enable trade.

These include mining, oil and telecommunications companies. In addition, Rio is a significant centre specialising in clothing, processed food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Rio is an essential centre for research due to the universities and research labs located in the city. The port is essential for the export of iron ore, sugar and coffee. The city is the second most important area for industry in the country.

Rio is also important at an international level. The city hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Games and, in , was a host city for the World Cup. Tourists from all over the world flock to Rio to see one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, the Statue of Christ the Redeemer. They are also attracted by its beautiful beaches, landmarks such as Sugarloaf Mountain, festivals and architecture.

Copacabana beach attracts many international tourists. It is also an international centre for finance and industry. In addition, it is a central international transport hub with three airports and five ports. Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city of Brazil. Interestingly, in the past Rio de Janeiro was the capital city of Brazil almost for one and half centuries i. The city Rio is important business center and largest conglomerate of media and communications companies of South America.

Throughout its history, Rio has seemed aware of its physical assets - the soaring mountains behind it, Sugarloaf towering above its harbor, and its long crescent beaches that are its prime tourist attractions - and has enhanced that landscape with distinguished buildings from each era of its history and with a generous supply of urban parks and open spaces.

Discover the best the city has to offer with our list of the top attractions in Rio de Janeiro. See also: Where to Stay in Rio de Janeiro. Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. The giant statue of Christ overlooking the city from the meter summit of Corcovado is almost as widely recognized a symbol of Rio as the distinctive shape of Sugarloaf.

The world-famous landmark was erected between and , financed almost entirely by contributions from Brazilian Catholics. Made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, the figure itself is 30 meters tall with arms stretching 28 meters; it weighs metric tons.

Inside its eight-meter-high base is a chapel, where it's not uncommon to find weddings and baptisms taking place. The Corcovado rack railway chugs from Rua do Cosme Velho up the 3. A tour upgrade includes a cable car ride up Sugarloaf Mountain for more stunning views. Rio de Janeiro's best-known landmark is the rock peak of Sugarloaf, towering meters above the harbor.

It sits on a point of land that projects out into the bay and wraps around its harbor, and is connected to the city by a low strip of land. From here, you can see the entire mountainous coast that rings the bay and its islands. Few cities are blessed with a beautiful sand beach at its heart, let alone one that stretches four kilometers along one entire side of its downtown. The unquestioned monarch of the area, and of Rio hotels, is the renowned Copacabana Palace , built in the s and now protected as a national monument.

Featured in the film Flying Down to Rio and host to royalty and glamorous movie stars, Copacabana Palace recalls the halcyon days of power, wealth, and elegance, when Rio was capital of Brazil. At the far end of the beach, Copacabana Fort dates from and was the scene of a revolt of officers, who took over the fort and turned its artillery on the city.

The short-lived revolt ended the next day when the government brought in battleships to bombard the fort. Outside, on the fort grounds, are artillery pieces from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These two districts, although best known for their beaches one of which was made world-famous by the song The Girl from Ipanema have a lively cultural life, with art galleries, cinemas, and an avant-garde theater.

One of the world's most famous pre-Lenten celebrations - as well-known as those in Venice and New Orleans - takes place each winter in Rio de Janeiro.

The celebrations begin shortly after New Year, but the splendor and extravagance reaches its spectacular climax in the four days before Ash Wednesday, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators to its street parades, samba parties, and shows.

Other Brazilian cities celebrate Carnaval; it is also a major tourist event in Bahia and Recife, but Rio's is the most lavish. The most spectacular events are the parades of the samba schools, which are held in a unique venue designed by renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

The parade route is meters long and 13 meters wide. It was first used in and updated as a venue for the Olympic Games. Tijuca National Park protects the Tijuca Forest and several viewpoints overlooking the city, and surrounds Cristo Redentor , the giant-sized statue of Christ on Corcovado. To explore the park, you can leave the train up to Corcovado at a midpoint and follow the road through the forest.

The 3,hectare Tijuca Forest, one of the world's largest forests within a city, was planted in the late s on land that had been destroyed by coffee plantations, to safeguard the springs that supplied Rio de Janeiro's water. Most of the trees are native species and provide habitat for Capuchin monkeys, quatis Brazilian raccoon , colorful toucans, hawks, brilliant blue butterflies, and many other species of wildlife, which you may spot while exploring its trails and roads.

From the pagoda-style pavilion at Morro da Vista Chinesa, meters above the shore, are views of the Municipal Park, the Botanic Garden, and a long stretch of the south coast. Several waterfalls drop from the forest springs, including the meter Cascatinha Taunay. Highlights are the Orchidarium , an iron-and-glass greenhouse built in the s and filled with more than 2, species of orchids, and the Japanese Gardens with their cherry trees, wooden bridges, koi ponds, and Bonsai.

A Sensory Garden of aromatic plants and herbs is signed in Braille. The garden, which is a UNESCO biosphere reserve , contains more than 8, species of plant life and the birds and animals that make this their habitat, including Marmoset monkeys and toucans.