Originally Posted by
bbtrvl
Thanks to both of you
I wasn't clear what I meant by "tourist". Surely many tourists visit Rio for the weather, beaches and resorts which do not interest me so much. But I want to do other "tourist" things like sightseeing and sampling some local culture.
Also, I'm a "tourist" in the sense of wanting to stay to activities that are easier for tourists to do, and not overestimate my abilities to navigate in Brazil or communicate in Portuguese
I will probably look for a guidebook now.
If you're even a little-bit adventurous or inquisitive you can have a great time in Rio as a tourist. I was in for 12-days January of this year and spent a lot of time in Centro - more than the time I spent in either Copacabana or Ipanema (other than to sleep in Copa).
To get an idea of some of the things you can see and do when away from the popularly-promoted attractions have a look at the photos I uploaded to an online album, which you can access when you click on the link that follows:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/579615169kLJhNA