Originally Posted by
Dieuwer
I would like to advice against spending more than 4 days in Rio. I am here for almost a week now and I am becoming annoyed with the bad service and quality of the Ipanema/Copa restaurants (apart from Rua Bolivar). Gay nightlife is extremely boring as well.
Sightseeing you can do in 4 days:
1) Morning visit to Corcovado (on a clear day) + late afternoon/evening visit to Sugarloaf.
2) Walking/shopping at Ipanema
3) Jardim Botanico
4) Downtown
LOL at this. In November I'm embarking on my 5th trip to Rio in 2 years. If you are going to Rio for the service and the food, you are in the wrong place. Stay in Sao Paulo. If you want to lounge around, drink bad but palatable beer, see a few sites, and live the relaxing life of the carioca then Rio is paradise. I admit that for such a heavy tourist area its surprising that every single restaurant along Av Atlantica sucks. The nightlife is non-existent. The service though? I'll take a lazy underpaid Rio waiter over the stuck up & rude waiters in Paris any day! Different strokes for different folks though