Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio

Sugarloaf Mountain on Guanabara Bay

If you are watching the Summer Olympics in Rio, in almost every aerial shot of the city is the Christ the Redeemer Statue, and just across Guanabara Bay you’ll see the iconic cone shaped hill that also defines Rio de Janeiro…Sugarloaf Mountain, or Pão de Açúcar in Portuguese.

Rising 1,299 feet, it sits at the mouth of the bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean overlooking the harbor.  It gets its name from the traditional shape of concentrated loaf sugar, a name coined by the Portuguese in the 16^th century during the heyday of the sugar cane trade in Brazil.

Cable car ride up to Sugarloaf Mountain

It is known for its cable car ride to the summit and the majestic 360-degree views of Rio from the top.  The first aerial tram opened in 1912 and those wooden cars were used for 60 years.  In 1972 the tram system was upgraded to carry ten times the passengers, up to 65 people.

To reach the summit, passengers actually take two cable cars.  Sugarloaf is only one of many hills to rise along the water’s edge in Rio.  The first car rises from Praia Vermelha (Red Beach) to the shorter Morro da Urca for 722 feet, and the second ascends to Sugarloaf Mountain. 

The 360-degree views you'll enjoy along the ride and from the top of Morro da Urca and Sugarloaf Mountain encompass Rio beaches – Flamengo, Botafogo, Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon – the Corcovado, Guanabara Bay, downtown Rio, the Santos Dumont Airport, the Rio-Niterói Bridge and Dedo de Deus (God's Finger), a peak which rises from Brazil's coastal range (Serra do Mar) in Teresópolis, RJ, about 50 miles from Rio.

Sunset at Sugarloaf Mountain

The entire ride in the bubble shaped cars takes about six minutes.  The cable cars run from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. in 20-minute intervals.  Currently tickets are about $20.  One of the best times to visit is sunset for the spectacular views.

Visitors can watch rock climbers on Sugarloaf and neighboring Morro da Urca (Urca’s Mountain) and Morro da Babilônia (Babylon Mountain).  Together they make up one the world’s largest urban rock climbing locations. (And incidentally, you just learned your first word in Portuguese…morro = mountain!)

Sugarloaf Mountain has made its mark in cinema.  It was featured in the 1942 Bette Davis movie Now, Voyager.  In 1979, James Bond shot a fight scene for Moonraker in one of the cable cars.  And even The Simpsons cartoon featured the iconic mountain in an episode.

Watch this video and enjoy a virtual ride on the Sugarloaf Mountain cable car.