Rio de Janeiro boat tour: the view from the water

A Rio de Janeiro boat tour on the sunset sail traces a loop across the entrance of Guanabara Bay. The listing sets it out plainly: 40 minutes of cruising on the bay, a 15-minute photo stop at Sugarloaf, 30 minutes by the Santa Cruz da Barra fortress with an optional swim, a 30-minute photo stop at Boa Viagem Island, 25 minutes of views on the way back and a 10-minute stop by Santos Dumont Airport.

In practice that means you see both shores of the bay in one evening. The Rio side gives you the airport, the green Flamengo waterfront, the curve of Botafogo and the granite domes of Urca and Sugarloaf. The Niterói side gives you the old fortresses, the chapel on Boa Viagem Island and the white saucer of the contemporary art museum. The map further down this page marks each place; tap a pin to read what it is.

The order can change. The itinerary is subject to the weather and to the captain's call, and the swim stop in particular depends on wind, currents and rain. Treat the route as the plan for a calm evening rather than a fixed timetable. On a breezy day the crew may shorten one leg and linger on another, usually to keep the boat comfortable and the sunset in view for everyone on board.

Sugarloaf is the first stop. Riotur gives its summit as 396 meters above sea level and notes that its cable car opened in 1912, the first in Brazil.^6,15 From the water you see the rock from its base, where the granite drops straight into the sea, and the cable cars look like small beads sliding along a thread between the summit and Morro da Urca, the lower hill where the first stage of the ride stops.

At the foot of Urca, on the point that marks the Rio side of the bay mouth, stands the São João fortress. The national heritage institute IPHAN identifies this headland as the spot where Portuguese settlers set up the city in 1565, when they came to drive out a French colony.⁷ Its building went on for almost 300 years, between 1602 and 1864, and the Army still uses it today.¹⁶ From the deck you can see its walls running along the waterline.

IPHAN also points out that only 2 fortresses in Brazil, São João and Santa Cruz da Barra across the water, keep the style of casemate battery for horizontal defense.¹⁷ From the boat you can see the low gun ports set into the stone, facing each other across the channel like a pair of guards at a gate. It is a reminder that this beautiful entrance was, for centuries, a heavily defended gateway to the colony.

Across the bay, the sail stops for about 30 minutes at Boa Viagem Island. Niterói's city government says a chapel has stood here since 1650, and that seafarers came to it to give thanks after a safe crossing.^10,39 French attackers wrecked it in 1711; the neoclassical church you see from the deck went up in its place in 1780.⁴⁰ It is one of the quieter moments of the evening, with the city across the water.

At the island's reopening, Niterói's archbishop recalled that an image of the Virgin once stood outside the church, and that everyone passing by boat would stop to honor it before sailing on.⁴¹ Today you can still see the small white chapel above the rocks. On land the island receives visitors from 10 AM to 5 PM except on Mondays, free of charge, which makes it a good extra for a day in Niterói.^34,35

Just behind the island, on the Boa Viagem headland, sits the Niterói Museum of Contemporary Art. The city records that it opened on 2 September 1996 to a design by Oscar Niemeyer, who reportedly said it would look like a bird landing or a flower sprouting.^11,42 From the water the building appears to float above the cliff, and the evening light on its curved white walls makes a memorable photograph.

On the way out toward the bay mouth, Sugarloaf and the Urca forts lie on the Rio side and the fortresses of Niterói on the other. Ask the crew where the sun will sit on the way back, when it sinks behind the city. On a small boat you can move around freely, but the spots at the bow and stern fill up fast, so claim one early and share it with the rest of the group. Small boats rock less near the middle, which helps steady photos too.

For photos, a phone is enough on a calm evening, but a polarizing filter or a camera with a fast lens helps once the light fades. Shoot Sugarloaf on the way out, when the light is still bright, and save the skyline for the return, when the Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado, a hill the federal government gives as 709 meters above sea level, stands out against the evening sky.²² Keep a cloth handy: spray from the bow fogs lenses quickly.

Above all, put the camera down at some point. The point of a boat trip in Rio de Janeiro is the feeling of the city rising from the sea all around you, with mountains, forest and buildings packed between the beaches. The moment to remember is often a quiet one, when the engine is low, the drinks are poured and the sky turns orange behind the hills: that is the moment that stays with you.