By Nathalie, Customer Care and Content & Translations at SeaBookings, who’d like to share her experience on helicopter ride in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Rio de Janeiro is one of the cities that has something to offer for every taste – from sea, over beach, nightlife and culture to incredible nature just on the outskirts of the city. There is so much you can do during your stay in Rio de Janeiro, that it’s hard to choose just a few activities. A visit to Copacabana Beach and a boat tour in Rio de Janeiro are Must-Dos, of course. But did you know that a helicopter ride over Rio de Janeiro is also an amazing thing to do?
A few years ago I was visiting Rio de Janeiro with my family. My father grew up in Copacabana, so he knows the city very well. However, one of his biggest dreams was to fly over the city one day. So luckily, he took me and my sister with him on a helicopter ride in Rio de Janeiro, and it was worth every penny!
The helicopter ride we did starts from the Sugarloaf Mountain, or Pão de Açúcar in Portuguese. You can take the cable car to go up the mountain, or for those looking for a sporty challenge, you can also hike up. Once you’re on top, you can already enjoy an amazing view over the city. While standing up there and soaking in the views, you might notice a few helicopters taking off and landing on the one side of the Sugarloaf. So… that’s where we went!
When you watch the helicopters take off, it looks quite intimidating to be honest – right after taking off, they make a steep curve and go down quite a bit, so from the outside it looked very scary. None of us has ever done a helicopter ride before, so we had no idea what to expect! It looked like a proper rollercoaster, so while we were waiting for our turn, we started to get more and more nervous.
And then, we were up! We walked to the helicopter and got on board in the back, behind the captain. Just sitting there while the rotators started spinning faster and faster was a complete thrill! In that moment I was quite nervous I admit, but also looking forward to flying over the Cidade Maravilhosa for the first time!
And then, off we went! That steep curve and fall down was actually not bad at all! I expected a feeling like when going down a rollercoaster, but it was nothing like it. It was a quite soft feeling actually, and helped to get rid of all the nervousness I had felt before. Although it was quite loud inside, we felt very safe and were able to simply enjoy the helicopter ride in Rio de Janeiro.
The captain flew us from the top of the Sugarloaf around the Christ Statue, Corcovado. In fact, we flew so close to the statue that we could almost touch Christ’s head! We saw all the people standing on the bottom of the statue and felt extremely happy to have such an incredible view from the top of the statue, something you can only experience from a helicopter! So flying past the Corcovado was definitely a highlight during the flight.
The other highlight of the flight was when we were flying over Copacabana Beach! Seeing the long stretch of white sand with all the people enjoying the sun from up in the sky was a very special experience. Especially my dad loved seeing his old neighbourhood from a completely new and different perspective.
After a flight of about 30 minutes we returned to the Pão de Açúcar, full of amazing memories and photos of the helicopter ride in Rio de Janeiro. Anybody who has the chance to do a flight during their stay in the city should take the opportunity to do it. There are a lot of operators online, and prices start at around 1800 Brazilian Real. And while you’re exploring the city from different perspectives, don’t forget to also book a boat ride to get the view from the sea!
